We saw this in both world wars, when women were drafted into the factories to replace men who had been called up into the army and then sent back to the home when the war ended. It is the prior condition to the liberation of women from the narrow confines of the home and the bourgeois family, and their full and free development as human beings and members of society.īut the capitalist system regards women merely as a convenient source of cheap labour and part of the "reserve army of labour" to be drawn on when there is a shortage of labour in certain areas of production, and discarded again when the need disappears. The employment of women is, in itself, a progressive development. At some point in their lives, say the statisticians, 99 per cent of all American women will now work for pay. In 1950, only about a third of all American women of working age had a paid job last year the proportion was nearly three-quarters. In America alone some 40 million women have joined the workforce over the past 50 years in Europe another 30 million. In the advanced countries of capitalism the changing modes of production, and the capitalists' constant attempt to increase the rate of profit, has led to the ever increasing employment of women and young people who are subjected to the worst kind of exploitation, working for low wages in bad conditions with few or no rights. Compulsory work for the capitalist usurped the place, not only of the children's play, but also of free labour at home within moderate limits for the support of the family." (K. That mighty substitute for labour and labourers was forthwith changed into a means for increasing the number of wage-labourers by enrolling, under the direct sway of capital, every member of the workman's family, without distinction of age or sex. "The labour of women and children was, therefore, the first thing sought for by capitalists who used machinery. In the first volume of Capital, Marx writes: Already in the 19th century, Marx pointed to the tendency for capitalism to make super-profits from the exploitation of women and children. The crisis of capitalism on a world scale falls with special severity on the shoulders of women and youth. "To alter the position of woman at the root is possible only if all the conditions of social, family, and domestic existence are altered." (Trotsky, Women and the Family, p. In this article, we outline the first steps given by Marxism to fight for women's rights, what the first successful revolution meant for the emancipation of women, conditions of women under capitalism both in advanced and Third World countries and pose the question of how to eliminate inequality between men and women for good. The 8th of March (International Women's Day) is a red letter day for us as it symbolises the struggle of working class women against capitalism, oppression and discrimination throughout the world. Marxism has always been at the forefront of the cause of women's emancipation.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |