Jonah Bennett explores Marxist-feminist analysis on female labor and experiences in the Soviet Union and Cuba.

1. By : Jonah Bennett

2.  Women’s position is structurally different from
that of men.
 There is a need for analysis between the status of
women’s work and their self image.
 The onset of capitalism has enhanced the
differences between classes.

4.  In our assessment, while the interactive
systems explanation and two-systems
explanation have some utility, Patriarchy
takes priority over Capitalism in terms of
causal and explanatory power, although both
work together in perpetuating oppression
against women.

5.  Logical contradiction inherent in alienation
 Sexual division of labor as ‘natural’ and
‘desirable’
-Is/ought fallacy
-Need for universal human nature

6.  Labor defines human nature, yet the activities
of women have no bearing on the
constitution of human nature. The Marxist
definition fails to include female expressions
of labor, such as: pregnancy, birth, child-
rearing, meeting the psychological/emotional
needs of others, etc

7.  There is a complicated relationship between
historical materialism and feminist activism,
namely that if revolutionary change in the
structure of production is imminent,
unconscious, and inevitable, then is there
really a need for conscious activism at all?

8.  “The rubric "feminist epistemology" is
incongruous on its face, in somewhat the way
of, say, "Republican epistemology."”—Susan
Haack
 Epistemic privilege can’t merely be based on
oppression and disadvantage
 Rather, there is more of a case for epistemic
disadvantage through lack of access to
information and influence

9.  Epistemological models cannot avoid
ontological implications
 Liberal view of rationality and human
nature—a hypothetical, bloodless abstraction
that acts as the agent representing women in
this model. It fails to adequately account for
the diversity of women’s experiences

10.  Given how long patriarchy has been
dominant, it is unwarranted to claim that
women will become full persons when
patriarchy ceases. Modal/counterfactual
skepticism

11.  As per our criticisms of Marxism, the Two
Systems Explanation has it backwards.

12.  Fails to adequately deal with patriarchy
before/after capitalism (even assuming
feudalism)—they haven’t given a good
enough argument for the logical necessity of
class relations being co-dependent on gender
relations
 Patriarchy continues to exist empirically after
Marxist and socialist revolutions have taken
place, as we’ll see later in the case study

13.  Marxism seems to be on the outs, so why
retain it as a useful framework?
 Despite its weaknesses, its focus on material
relations allow Marxist-feminist theorists to
have a certain probabilistic ‘privileged
standpoint’

14.  Although Marxists would raise a ruckus at
such a move, I think we can adopt class
analysis as one tool out of many in the
feminist analytical toolkit
 Marxist feminists are Marxists first, and
feminists second. Feminist issues tend to lie
on the periphery and are generally thought to
disappear once capitalism is abolished

15. Evidence for a two systems approach
emphasizing the role of Patriarchy

16.  How has the experience of women in these two
societies demonstrated the utility of the two
systems approach? Why is the emphasis on
patriarchy necessary to fully explain women’s
subordination?

17.  Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Republic of
Cuba, caveat:
◦ Examples recognized not to represent the perfect
actualization of Marxist theory
◦ Marx and Engels see women’s oppression as
rooted in class; rectified through the
reorganization of society through class struggle.
◦ Therefore will to some extent provide an
impression of the experiences of women after the
overthrow of capitalism, and furthermore, under
governments which prioritized social welfare of
women and thus will give some insights into
these issues

18.  Women’s rights and the October Socialist Revolution
◦ Ideas of Marx and Engels concerning women’s oppression
influenced political rhetoric of Lenin and the Bolsheviks.
However they also recognized that women’s equality had to
be addressed through the constitution- that it had to be a
priority of the socialist welfare state
◦ Therefore the constitution contained specific laws aimed at
guaranteeing various civil, social, economic, and political
rights
◦ What resulted was higher levels of work-force participation,
improvements in literacy and education, however a glass
ceiling in the work force and political life persisted, and
gains social equality were limited at best

19. ◦ Stalin put an end to Soviet prioritization of women’s
liberation and equality. He prioritized the mobilization
of women workers insofar as it helped to facilitate his
programme of rapid industrialization.
◦ Progress was reversed in several ways: constitutional
law was was altered to reinforce women’s roles as
producers and reproducers; state propaganda
promoted idea of “superwoman” who served the need
of the state by being a worker, a mother, and a
house-wife.
◦ To put it simply, the liberation of the proletariat did
not translate to the liberation of women in the USSR
and in fact the oppression of women served the needs
of the socialist state.

20.  Like in the USSR, women’s rights were a part of the
revolutionary discourse: “revolution within the revolution”
 Again, similar to the Soviet case, the new government
undertook a variety of initiatives to promote equality.
 Remarkable progress: staggeringly high literacy rates among
women, women highly competitive in work force…etc.
 However, social equality is in no way a reality; economic
hardship disproportionately effected women
 Role of “Machismo”: embeddedness of male dominance in
Cuban society

21.  Patriarchy is embedded in the agents of socialization
(institutions) that determine the rules of the game
(informal and formal) and allow the persistence of
patriarchal practices.
 A la Jagger, under capitalism, women (and men) are
oppressed as workers, but under patriarchy women are
oppressed as women.
 Just as Capitalism was born in patriarchy so too was
Socialism in these societies. A la Preworski, institutions
are endogenous.
 In the soviet case at least, subordination served the
needs of the economic system.
 “You can change the law from one day to another but
not the subjective thought process of a person” –
Vanessa Bauza

22.  There are two different ways to analyze this: one is
that the economic emancipation of women through
the destruction of the sexual division of labor
promotes self-determination, autonomy, and
contributes to the end of oppression. The other is
that this sort of economic emancipation is itself a
form of false consciousness perpetrated by the
ruling elite, in order to gain an entire new class of
wage laborers and consumers to further entrench
the structure of production.