Patriarchy, Capitalism and Women

Paper Summary:

The writer explains that males have dominated history as the major key players and that this continues in the present. The writer states that the submissiveness and powerlessness of women has always put them in a situation of greater economic, social and political exploitation. The writer posits that there are complex reasons for this, and that it may be because of the way that most societies have created a woman's image and how this image evolves from the vantage point of male-centered thinking. The paper discusses how gender affects the workplace and how the employers use gender to control their employees. The paper explains that Marxist theorists have always seen women as oppressed by capitalist society and the bourgeois family. The writer notes that in some areas, women have made enormous progress, however, few organizations have women in leadership positions with the power to implement changes necessary for future equality. In conclusion, the writer states that the key to equality in the workplace depends on the demands of the employers and the government, on the employees.

From the Paper:

"The material basis of patriarchy (the control over women's labor) allows men to control women's access to productive resources. The capacity to bear children allows women to reproduce patriarchal social relations, including intergenerational male-female relationships. It is through this 'familial socialization' process that the partnership between patriarchy and capitalism is legitimated. In effect, this enables the partnership between capitalism and patriarchy to dominate women's labor and sexuality by reinforcing and developing the ideology that rationalizes women's oppression."

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