Capitalism and Women's Exploitation
In capitalist society, workers are exploited by the ruling capitalist class. But exploitation of workers is not the only form that exploitation takes; there are other particular forms of exploitation. For example, the exploitation of Black and Indigenous people by white colonizers through chattel slavery and genocide, which facilitated further exploitation, creating an underclass within the underclass.
Another very prominent kind of exploitation is gender-based exploitation, which in our current era exists in the form of patriarchy, which is then further shaped by the conditions of capitalism. While patriarchy is harmful to all people, it involves and is facilitated primarily by the oppression of women. Women’s exploitation contributes to the power of the capitalist class; therefore, the liberation of women and the end of gender-based exploitation of all kinds is a necessary component of socialism.
Capitalism and Patriarchy
Gender-based exploitation is not an inherent aspect of human societies – rather, the exploitation of women arises due to social and economic factors, which develop from a society’s mode of production. Before the emergence of class society, humans existed in a state of “primitive communism”, where resources and property were shared equally within social groups. Under primitive communism, humans were largely matriarchal due to the importance of mothers and caretakers in raising children and caring for their social units. While women were primarily in charge of managing the affairs of their social groups, the idea of exploitation and inferiority based on gender would have been an alien concept, since it was expected that everyone’s needs would be met.
However, as property ownership developed, and with it class society, the matriarchal paradigm was replaced with the patriarchal paradigm, in which men held the most power and women were relegated to a lesser status. It is important to note that this shift was not the result of malice or some sinister plot by men to gain power, but was an emergent property of the change in the mode of production. With the rise of agriculture, women still tended to homes and child-raising, but men gained control of things like farming and herding, and thus gained much more power over the means of production. Where once all property had been communal, now property was controlled by smaller family units and passed down patrilineally, from father to son. Thus, did patriarchy become the primary paradigm of gender relation.
So what then is the relation of patriarchy to capitalism? It is true that patriarchy predates capitalism, but the specific characteristics of patriarchy are shaped by the specific characteristics and material conditions of a society and its mode of production. Patriarchy in its current form is therefore a product of the particularities of capitalism, and understanding it is necessary to address the exploitation of women under capitalism.
Capitalist patriarchy is built upon the capitalist idea of a family unit, which is distinct from the social and familial structures in other modes of production. There are two primary forms of the capitalist family unit: that of the working class, and that of the capitalist. Though similar, there are important differences between them.
Under capitalism, the working-class family unit’s purpose is to create new workers, and tend to the needs of existing ones. Capitalism needs a constant supply of workers, and it is women who are expected to do most of the child-raising and caretaking. Additionally, women are expected to tend to the needs of the adult members of their family, usually husbands/male partners.
The labor involved in raising and tending to a family is called reproductive labor, because it involves both the creation of new life, and the maintenance of existing ones. Reproductive labor is necessary for society to function, but does not in and of itself create profits for the capitalists. Thus, it is devalued in comparison with “productive labor”, which involves producing commodities via which capitalists exploit workers for profit. This is why, despite how hard and important the labor that goes into things like raising and caring for children is, reproductive labor often goes unpaid and is seen as lesser.
Working class women, while expected to perform this reproductive labor, are also often expected to perform wage-labor for the capitalists. Whether they are mothers with very small children, pregnant and nursing mothers, or women doing all the work of maintaining a household, most working class women are also employed, adding to their burden. As a result of capitalism devaluing women because of their role in reproductive labor, women are often treated worse than male coworkers, and subjected to additional exploitation based on gender.
Furthermore, capitalism benefits from division between workers. Women make up half of all humans, and more than half of all workers. When workers are caught up in strife with other workers, the capitalist class is able to exercise more control. For the working class to fight the capitalists, prejudices and discrimination between workers must be addressed.
In contrast with the working class family, the capitalist family unit serves to create new capitalists to pass one’s wealth onto, to inherit property and manage the needs of capital as a whole. Women of the capitalist class are often exploited or disadvantaged within the capitalist class, but overall enjoy far more rights and privileges than their working class counterparts.
The Movement For Women’s Rights and its Flaws
From the 1800s to today, the fight for the rights of women has changed and advanced. Gaining the right to vote, the right to work the same jobs as men, the right to hold public office – these are important steps towards abolishing oppression based on gender. But as it stands, the broader movement for women’s rights is flawed.
By and large, the movement for women’s rights does not adequately address the importance of class in gender-based oppression. Many leaders and thinkers in the movement approach women’s oppression from the standpoint of the women of the capitalist class. As the Russian writer and revolutionary Alexandra Kollontai wrote in her 1909 pamphlet “The Social Basis of the Woman Question”:
“For the majority of women of the proletariat, equal rights with men would mean only an equal share in inequality, but for the “chosen few”, for the bourgeois (capitalist) women, it would indeed open doors to new and unprecedented rights and privileges that until now have been enjoyed by men of the bourgeois class alone.”
Even if gender equality was resolved, the working class woman would continue to be oppressed by the capitalist class. Ultimately, as patriarchy is part and parcel with capitalism, true liberation requires the overthrow of capitalism.
This does not mean that small reforms within the existing system are entirely unimportant – lessening the impact of gendered oppression is helpful to improve conditions for the working class. But reforms and improvements of this sort will never be enough – only the end of capitalist exploitation, and the establishment of revolutionary democratic control of society by the working class can bring true freedom from both economic and gendered exploitation.
Workers’ Organizations and Gender Oppression
If workers are to establish control of society, there must be strong, unified workers’ organizations. It is important that these workers’ organizations be committed to addressing chauvinism and sexism. Just because true liberation for people of all genders requires a socialist mode of production, that does not excuse workers’ organizations from the obligation to address social inequalities. After all, revolution is not an event that simply happens instantly; rather, it requires building and laying the groundwork to change both the present and the future.
Of course, workers are a product of the society in which they live, and they carry with them the biases and prejudices they have been indoctrinated with. Given this fact, it is inevitable that workers within workers’ organizations will act in chauvinistic or sexist ways. This kind of behavior should never be tolerated, nor should it be handled with unnecessary harshness.
To harvest a field of wheat, one must first sow seeds and tend to the plants as they grow. In the same way, workers’ organizations need to address sexism and prejudice. As Mao Zedong said:
“Women hold up half the sky”.
The Road to Liberation
The workers’ struggle and the womens’ struggle are not separate, but inextricably linked. To end gender-based exploitation, we must fight for socialism, for a world in which the productive forces of society are used for the benefit of all. To do this, we must uplift women and all those subject to gender-based exploitation, so that the working class can act as a unified force to defeat and overthrow the capitalist class.