Workers' Unfreedom and Women's Unfreedom: Is There a Significant Analogy?

Abstract

The dialogue between Marxists and feminists has not always been fruitful, but even if Marxist theory and feminist theory are irreconcilable there may still be significant analogies between their doctrines. This paper suggests that there is a significant analogy between the nature and undesirability of the unfreedom from which, according to Marxist theory, workers suffer, and the nature and undesirability of the unfreedom from which, according to feminist theories, women suffer. This analogy suggests the possibility of various responses feminist theory might make to the criticism that women are no longer oppressed.