Social Feminism

Question 1

Human nature

Answer 1

• Women are equal to men in both the public and private sphere (expand beyond priv sphere).
• Women are an oppressed class - patriarchal societies assign an inferior gender role for women to be a cheap source of labour.

Question 2

Rowbotham on HN

Answer 2

• Criticise Marxists’ narrow view of women’s oppression by confining themselves in industrial capitalism rather than in domestic life and wider society.
• Men cannot understand the nature of oppression they impose on women (theory not practical).

Question 3

State

Answer 3

• Sees the state as the agent of capitalism and the ultimate architect of exploitation of women.
• Must intervene in both the public and the private sphere.

Question 4

Rowbotham on State

Answer 4

Assists in women’s oppression economically and socially.

Question 5

Economy

Answer 5

• Women are unpaid workforce in the home and during the development of capitalism, women became a vital source of available, low-paid workers that lacked job security.
• Engels points out women have always been deprived of private poverty, just like peasants and workers had been. Modern Marxist Fems take a similar view but criticise Engel’s overstressing importance of property - now they own property but oppression has not ceased as they remain an exploited form of work.

Question 6

Rowbotham on Economy

Answer 6

Marxist perspective - women are a low-paid reserve army of labour.

Question 7

Society

Answer 7

• Reject that class is the only schism in society that has any meaning, arguing both class and patriarchy are sources of oppression - concentrates on the plight of working-class women.
• Extreme modification of capitalism will liberate women from their inferior economic position - so, state ownership of industry will eliminate the need for women to compete against men for employment.

Question 8

Rowbotham on Society

Answer 8

• Women’s inferior position is economically determined - society reflects the dominant position of both capitalists and men in general.
• Best hope for liberation for women lies in a socialist society with complete equality.
• Requires liberation in the private and also the wider public sphere, as a socialist revolution will not automatically liberate women.