Marxist Feminism

One can delineate four separate categories of feminist thought, since the development of the women's liberation movement: Liberal feminism concerned with attaining economic and political equality within the capitalistic environment; Radical feminism, stressing males and the patriarchal society as the main reason for female oppression; Socialist feminism, standing against capitalism and Marxism; and Marxist feminism, seeking to develop the potential of Marxist theory to understand the capitalist sources of the subjugation of women.

Marxist feminists focus on the connection between economic and political inequality. They base their arguments of moral right and wrong in reference to the corruption of wage labor that is an expression of class distinctions. Wage earning oppresses and enslaves the workers under a system of production where, deprived of knowledge and skill, they are reduced practically to nothing. Following this doctrine, Marxist feminists are opposed to any social or political action that continues the subjugation of the workforce.

Contrary to the other feminist groups, Marxists thus believe prostitution is a form of labor and therefore specifically falls under the designation of a corruption of wage labor. Marx himself asserted that "prostitution is only a specific expression of the general prostitution of the laborer." Prostitution, therefore, can be seen as standing as a symbol of all that is wrong with the world's socio-economic policies. Prostitutes may feel that they are free, but in the larger economic picture, they are actually oppressed workers reinforcing and perpetuating an exploitative capitalistic process.

Marxist feminists also base their arguments on other tenets of Marxism. Some Marxist feminist theories involve challenges to existing class relationships, especially as they create a double oppression for women -- one upon her class position and one upon gender and discriminatory practices within family structures. An Orthodox Marxist feminist would argue that gender-based inequalities are a product of the capitalist period. Thus, when capitalism is overthrown by socialist revolutions, to be followed by communism, women will be liberated to stand as equals in a classless society.