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33
ISSN 2775-8834 (Online)
Volume 3 No I
Tahun 2023
PHILOSOPHIES UNDER MARXISM AND FEMINISM LITERARY
THEORIES
Dawit Dibekulu Alem1, Ayenew Guadu2
Bahir Dar University1, Bahir Dar University2
dawitdibekulu7@gmail.com
ayuguad2019@gmail.com
Abstract
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels developed a corpus of ideas known as Marxism or socialism. The
postulates of the Marxist school of thought offer the theoretical framework for the working class's
struggles to realize socialism as a superior form of human society. The abolitionist movement of the
late 1830s can be linked to the history of feminist ideology. Elizabeth Cady and Lucretia Mott
spearheaded the Seneca Falls human rights convention, which served as the. Most recent
breakthroughs in feminist thought and practice continue to be disregarded by both Marxist theory
and practice. The production of people under patriarchal relations is examined, and feminist theory
focuses on the conflicts that arise between women and men as a result of their different relationships
to these two types of production. This definition of production, which is frequently used in much
Marxist literature, is challenged by feminist theory. Because women in their households typically
deal with patriarchy as individuals, feminist practice places a strong emphasis on developing
consensus tactics, supporting women in their particular challenges, and assisting each woman in
feeling both her oppression and her strength. The left largely misunderstands the importance of this
tactic. While feminist activism is just as revolutionary as class struggle, its goal is different: it seeks
to overthrow patriarchy. A large portion of the left's hostility toward feminism appears to be the
result of misinterpreting Mao's idea of "principal contradiction" to demand a class-first approach.
The "primary contradiction" in the modern United States includes conflicts including class, gender,
race, ethnicity, and age. Additionally, a fight that primarily targets gender dominance might also
succeed in overturning. This paper aims to give a highlight under philosophies of Marxism and
feminism literary theory.
Keywords: Feminism, Marxism, Gender, Class, Theory and Literature
submit date: March 2023 accept date: March 6th 2023 publish date: March 20th 2023
Correspondence author: Dawit Dibekulu Alem, Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia, E-Mail:
dawitdibekulu7@gmail.com
Doi:
Journal SIGEH licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
INTRODUCTION
Literary criticism is one basic concept of Literature. Criticism can be
described as a “discourse about literature,” in a general way. The study, discussion,
evaluation, and interpretation of literature is the discourse that is called literary
criticism. This act of study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature
is often guided by literary theory. Literary theory is the philosophical discussion of
the methods and aims of literary criticism and each literary theory gives its special
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
34
way of looking at a piece of literature. The two - literary criticism and literary theory
- perform interrelated tasks. Any school of literary theory concerns itself with
literary texts and thus with the act of criticism. Literary theory as the two words
suggest conjoins literature with the theory or philosophy about literature. Such a
theory-based interpretation of literature is the activity of literary criticism. So it is
not possible to separate the concerns of literary theory from literary criticism.
In the advent of literary criticism different literary theories were emerged.
Each school of thought and each theory has its specific understanding of the
function of the literary text and all the questions related to the relationship of the
text to the author, the reader, and the literary tradition in which it emerges. Thus,
the main aim of this paper is to explain the underlying philosophy of Marxist, and
Feminist literary criticism.
Marxist criticism places a literary work within the context of class and
assumptions about class. A premise of Marxist criticism is that literature can be
viewed as ideological, and that it can be analyzed in terms of a Base/Superstructure
model. The function of Marxist literary criticism is to expose how works of
literature represent dominant ideologies. Some Marxist critics, like Louis Althusser,
believe that literature helps readers see the contradictions and fault lines in
ideology. Others, like Terry Eagleton, hold that literature furthers ideology by
making it seem attractive and "natural." The basic idea: to see the text as how in
relation to the economic condition of the time.
In line with this, Eagleton, (1976) and Poblacion (2015) explained that
Marxist Criticism is the belief that literature reflects this class struggle and
materialism. It looks at how literature functions in relation to other aspects of the
superstructure, particularly other articulations of ideology. Like feminist critics, it
investigates how literature can work as a force for social change, or as a
reaffirmation of existing conditions. Like New Historicism, it examines how
history influences literature; the difference is that Marxism focuses on the lower
classes.
Eagleton rightly defines Marxist criticism as part of a larger body of
theoretical analysis which aims to understand ideologies (the ideas, values, and
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
35
feelings) by which men experience their societies at various times. And certain of
those ideas, values, and feelings are available to us only in literature. He finally
summarizes its value maintaining that ―to understand ideologies is to understand
both the past and the present more deeply, and such understanding contributes to
our liberation. Terry Eagleton (1076) states, "Marxist criticism analyses literature
in terms of the historical conditions which produce it." It is, however, not merely
'sociology of literature. The business of Marxist literary criticism is 'to understand
ideologies - the ideas, values, and feelings by which men experience their societies
at various times' and 'to explain the literary work more fully; and this means a
sensitive attention to its forms, styles, and meanings'.
Moreover, Elgaleton (1976) also stated the fundamental premises of
Marxism Marxist literary criticism are :
….the economic systems structure human societies; economics is the base
on which the superstructure of social/political/ ideological realities is built; all
human events and productions have specific material/historical causes; theoretical
ideas can be judged to have value only in terms of their concrete applications;
examine literature in its cultural, economic, and political context; concerned with
the social context of literary works, pursuing; assume that all art is political;
Economic and social condition affect all aspects of life including art and literature;
Art reflects the social and economic conditions (and class conflict); Art aims at
improving the social and economic conditions; As literature represent ideology
Marxist critics see it as a way to understand social structures; and Marxist critics
explain class structure and relation in a literary work. Thus, the basic tenets of
Marxism are no easier to summarize than the essential doctrines of Christianity, but
two well-known statements by Marx provide a sufficient point of departure.
It is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the
contrary, their social being that determines their consciousness. The philosophers
have only interpreted the world in various ways; the point is to change it. Both
statements were intentionally provocative. By contradicting widely accepted
doctrines, Marx was trying to put people’s thoughts into reverse gear. First,
philosophy has been merely airy contemplation; it is time that it engaged with the
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
36
real world. Secondly, Hegel and his followers in German philosophy have
persuaded us that the world is governed by thought, that the process of history is
the gradual dialectical unfolding of the laws of Reason, and that material existence
is the expression of immaterial spiritual essence. People have been led to believe
that their ideas, cultural life, legal systems, and religions were the creations of
human and divine reason, which should be regarded as the unquestioned guides to
human life (Eagleton. 1976). Moreover, Karl Marx and his fellow thinker Friedrich
Engels worked together to formulate Marxist Criticism based on the following
claims:
The history of mankind, its social groups and interrelations, its social
interests, and ways of thinking are extensively determined by the changing mode
of its material production.
The historical changes in the fundamental mode of material production
cause changes in the class structure of society, ultimately giving rise to two classes
in each period and condition namely dominant class and subordinate class. Both the
classes engage in the social, economic, and political struggle of the contemporary
age.
An ideology of the age helps to form the ‘human consciousness that t
particular period. An ideology is nothing but beliefs, values, ways of thinking,
feelings, perceptions, senses, etc. belonging to that particular period. Marx inherited
the term ‘ideology’ from the French philosophers of the late eighteenth century who
used it to designate the study of the assumption that all general concepts develop
from sense perceptions.
Like Freudian theory, Marxist theory's influence on Modern art and
literature can be first broken down by its influence on writers, the works they
produced, on readers, and the way critics use Marxist theory to interpret the works.
In this part of my paper, I tried to include the idea of LeRoy and Beitz (1974) as
follow:
History as Historical Materialism: The author hopes to show how all human
relations are at root a class struggle between oppressors and oppressed, and/or a
struggle for control of the means of production. These include "human relations"
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
37
writ both large and small: both on a global and political level (like war, the fall of
Rome, the spread of Christianity, etc) or on a personal level (how two characters or
a family relates to one another). Examples: Heart Of Darkness, Things Fall Apart,
A Doll's House.
Writing as a Means of Controlling Ideology: Marxist theory suggests that if
hegemony is maintained through ideology, the oppressed must gain control of their
ideology. This is explicitly the argument presented by Virginia Woolf in A Room
Of One's Own; women will break the cycle of oppression by writing their own
stories and defining themselves as human, intelligent, equal, etc. This theory also
inspired writers of color both in the US and throughout the world, to tell their own
stories and redefine the cultural image of the Black man, the Latino, the African,
etc.
The Work as Ideology: Simply put, Marxism argues that any work of art
functions either consciously or unconsciously as ideology; it does not define some
eternal representation of "Truth" so much as it represents the ideologies that serve
to oppress or an attempt to rebel against that oppression. When combined with a
dose of Nietzsche, this way of thinking about art will have a profound effect on so-
called "Post Modern" critical theories.
As a Record of Historical Relations: A Marxist influenced reading of, say
a Jane Austen novel would be interested in the role of women as the oppressed and
the negotiation of romantic relations and marriage as deeply, if not entirely,
influenced by a struggle for domination or freedom. A Feminist Marxist reading of
Austen would see the novel's women as the oppressed. However, another approach
might note that there are essentially no representations of the working class in these
or any other 18th century novels, so that, just as Woolf points out that histories
omitted women from history, Austen omitted maids, servants, and peasants.
Generally speaking, The Marxist sees Modernist art, then, as historically
conditioned, and historically conditioned in a specific way. Modernism, in a word,
has a profound connection with the transition to the epoch of imperialism. Once we
have said this, problems of communication begin, for the non-Marxist is almost
certain to view this connection be- tween a social system and a shift in artistic
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
38
sensibility as tenuous. We can concede that the strength of a good deal of Marxism
so far has been in its analysis of content rather than of When it comes to form, the
observations in criticism of this have sometimes been traditional or derivative.
Nevertheless, if to respond to his philosophic imperative, the Marxist student
literature must be concerned with both form and content. And this has implications
for the approach to Modernism. The Marxist must be concerned with the
enormously important formal innovations Modernism, perhaps mainly with two
questions in mind: (a) what is their value and significance as part of the entire
history of art? And do they offer something that may someday become part of
equipment for socialist reality?.
For Marxist critics, politics and economics cannot be separated from art.
Marxists hold that any theory which treats literature in isolation as pure aesthetics
or the product of a writer's ingenuity, divorcing it from society and history will be
seriously deficient in its ability to explain what literature is. For Marxist critics, the
social background is important in the consideration of any particular work.
Furthermore, Marxists see history as a series of struggles between
antagonistic social classes and the type of economic production they engage in. The
structure of history and the structure of society are referred to as dialectical- the
dynamic and opposing forces at work within them. Dialectic refers to a method by
which history and society can be analyzed to reveal the true relationship between
their parts. Marxism has very many different approaches. A critic might for
instance, start by looking at the structure of history and society to see how literature
reflects or distorts this structure. He could also start from a general concept of
literature and then move to writers and texts and out to society. He could also start
from a specific text and move to the author, the author's class, and the role of this
class in society.
In Marxist thinking, the socio-economic element in any society is the
ultimate determinant of that society's character. The basic economic structure
engenders several social institutions and beliefs which act to regulate or dissipate
the conflict and keep the mode of production in order. Literature is one of the things
situated in the base or superstructure of society. This means that literature is a social
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
39
element that can be used either to keep the capitalist mode of economy and lifestyle
in place or to expose and attack it. Marxism has also given rise to the doctrine of
socialist realism which sees literature as social criticism and analysis. The artist is
a social activist. The writer, according to Marxist critics, translates social facts into
literary facts, and the critic must decode the facts and uncover their reality. The
writer must provide a truthful, historico-concrete portrayal of reality. This makes
the notion of reflection of reality is a deep-seated tendency in Marxist criticism. It
is a way of combating formalist theory which locks the literary work within its
sealed world, divorced from history and social reality.
METHOD
This article uses Marxist writer, a socially or ideologically committed
writer. In Marxist criticism, there is no room for ‘arts for art's sake. The writer must
be interested in his own time and be socially responsible. Aesthetic devices such as
form, style, language, and theme are all products of history
RESULT AND DISCUSSION
The term ‘feminism’ first emerged in the English language in the 1890s, a
significant historical moment when there was an urgent need to name the activities
of the women's movement, which was vibrant and popular as never before. Late
nineteenth-century feminism joined together women from different classes and
social backgrounds. Although the initial enthusiasm was to be dampened and many
found their interests ignored by the politics adopted by the leading figures, it
achieved the status of a social movement (Knellwolf, 2001). Moreover, with roots
in the 1800s, and coming into its own in the 1970s-90s, Feminist Criticism (along
with several other important types of criticism and theory) specifically takes issue
with New Critical assumptions. Feminist critics hold that, rather than view the
literary work as something which contains the world or is a world unto itself, we
should view the work as contained by the world. In other words, many felt the New
Critics had gone too far in separating literature from its contexts, its physical
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
40
circumstances, the real-world material conditions under which it is made, read, and
studied
While more recent feminist criticism warns against understanding ‘women’
as a homogenous category and emphasizes the mistake of eradicating the unique
characteristics of different groupings, in the late nineteenth century the emergence
of solidarity across national and class barriers were perceived as so novel that the
common factor of being a woman was perceived as outweighing the differences.
Among other things, the working conditions of female laborers were so appalling
that the primary objective was to strive for some improvement: for instance,
pregnant women were not infrequently forced to work right up to the delivery of
the baby and indeed sometimes gave birth in the factory itself. Like any politically
oriented movement, the women's movements which formed in different national
settings had to deal with the grossest social injustices of their daily experience; only
then could it begin to think about equal rights among its members (Knellwolf,
2001).
Moreover, Knellwolf added that a theoretical engagement with the claims
and rights of women concentrated on representation, both in the sense of protesting
against political disenfranchisement and challenging the insidious power of
literature to propagate views about women's inferiority.
Feminist theory, or feminism, is the support of equality for women and men.
Although all feminists strive for gender equality, there are various ways to approach
this theory, including liberal feminism, socialist feminism, and radical feminism.
Feminist criticism is also concerned with less obvious forms of marginalization
such as the exclusion of women writers from the traditional literary canon: "...unless
the critical or historical point of view is feminist, there is a tendency to
underrepresent the contribution of women writers" (Tyson, 2006). Moreover,
Feminist criticism is concerned with "how literature reinforces or undermines the
economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson,
2006).
Feminist criticism is concerned with "how literature (and other cultural
productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
41
psychological oppression of women" (Tyson, 2006). This school of theory looks at
how aspects of our culture are inherently patriarchal (male-dominated) and aims to
expose misogyny in writing about women, which can take explicit and implicit
forms. He also added that feminist criticism concerned with less obvious forms of
marginalization such as the exclusion of women writers from the traditional literary
canon: "...unless the critical or historical point of view is feminist, there is a
tendency to underrepresent the contribution of women writers" (Tyson, 2006).
The core concepts in feminist theory are sex, gender, race, discrimination,
equality, difference, and choice. There are systems and structures in place that work
against individuals based on these qualities and against equality and equity.
Feminist literary criticism is an appropriate approach used to reveal many
subordination and oppression of women. In this context, feminist theory is expected
to reveal the veil that covers the certain message inside the literary works and
reclaim the opinions in literature externally (Ruthven, 1984:24-58). On the other
hand, literature, as one of the discipline covers the new theories including feminist
literary criticism that features:
a. The study covers men’s perception about women, and how they describe
women,
b. Study about women, the creativity of women in relation with their
potentiality,
c. Study of application of the theory in women’s studies.
d. Moreover, feminist literary criticism is an effort of women scholars to
change the tyranny of androcentrist criticism which very male oriented. It
tends to influence the women readers to identify themselves with men’s
character.
e. However, it is rather difficult to define feminism. However, after sorting all
the various perspectives about feminism offered by feminist theorists, it can
be discovered that there is a core of characteristics that make it exists,
f. “Feminism is a perspective that views gender as one of the most important
bases of the structure and organization of the social world. Feminists argue
that in most known societies this structure has granted women lower status
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
42
and value, more limited access to valuable resources, and less autonomy and
opportunity to make choices over their lives than it has granted men
……(Sapiro,1986:441).
Feminists believe that inequities should be eliminated. As an application,
feminists cannot simply doing things better as an individuals in the social world,
but must work together to change the structure of society. Any action means making
the best of an unjust situation. In general, different scholars understood feminist
literary theory as women’s movement in 1960s to struggle for the equality of rights
as social class. In literature: feminism is related to the ways in understanding literary
works, in both production and reception. Literary criticism informed by feminist
theory (politics of women), uses feminist principles and ideology to critique the
language of literature, and this school of thought seeks to analyze and describe the
way in which literature portrays the narratives of male domination by exploring the
economic, social political and psychological forces embedded with literature.
Though several different approaches exist in feminist criticism, there exist
some areas of commonality. This list is excerpted from Tyson (2006):
a. Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially, and
psychologically; patriarchal ideology is the primary means by which women
are oppressed.
b. In every domain where patriarchy reigns, a woman is other: she is
marginalized, defined only by her difference from male norms and values.
c. All of Western (Anglo-European) civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal
ideology, for example, in the Biblical portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin
and death in the world.
d. While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture determines our
gender (scales of masculine and feminine).
e. All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, has as
its ultimate goal to change the world by promoting gender equality.
f. Gender issues play a part in every aspect of human production and
experience, including the production and experience of literature, whether
we are consciously aware of these issues or not.
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
43
Different scholars like Tyson (2006), Reno (2021), Mambrol (2017),
Showalter (1977) and other stated that feminist criticism has, in many ways,
followed what some theorists call the three waves of feminism. It is movement of
Women’s Suffrage and The Seneca Falls Convention- late 1700s-early 1900's:
writers like Mary Wollstonecraft (A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792)
highlight the inequalities between the sexes. It is also called the 'Feminine' Phase -
in the feminine phase, female writers tried to adhere to male values, writing as men,
and usually did not enter into debate regarding women's place in society. Female
writers often employed male pseudonyms during this period. Activists like Susan.
Anthony and Victoria Woodhull contribute to the women's suffrage movement,
which leads to National Universal Suffrage in 1920 with the passing of the
Nineteenth Amendment (History.com, 2021). Moreover, First-wave feminism had
a fairly simple goal: have society recognize that women are humans, not property.
While the leaders of 1st-wave feminism were abolitionists, their focus was on white
women’s rights. This exclusion would haunt feminism for years to come.
As Golban and Ciobanu, (2008), Napilkoski, (2020) Wulan and Hairni
(2021) it refers to a period – 19th and early 20th C in the United Kingdom, Canada,
and the United States. It is also Active until the First World War; ‘a prolonged phase
of imitation of the prevailing modes of the dominant tradition, and internalization
of its standards of art and its views on social roles’ The key concerns- education,
employment, the marriage laws, and the plight of intelligent middle-class single
women. The overall goal is to improve the legal position for women in particular to
gain women the vote. In this phase Men and women have separate, biologically
determined roles and duties in society and Women work in the private sphere (the
home), men in the public sphere.
Women's Liberation (Gynocriticism): early 1960s-late 1970s: building on
more equal working conditions necessary in America during World War II,
movements such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), formed in 1966,
cohere feminist political activism. Writers like Simone de Beauvoir (1949) and
Elaine Showalter established the groundwork for the dissemination of feminist
theories dove-tailed with the American Civil Rights movement (history .com,2021).
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
44
It built on first-wave feminism and challenged what women’s role in society should
be. It is also called the 'Feminist' Phase - in the feminist phase, the central theme of
works by female writers was the criticism of the role of women in society and the
oppression of women.
According to Golban and Ciobanu, (2008) it is liberation movement and ‘a
phase of protest against these standards and values, including a demand for
autonomy’; Winning of Vote, Enabled to reject the accommodating postures of
femininity; Used Literature to dramatize the ordeals of wronged womanhood; it
dealt with inequality of laws and pioneered by Betty Friedan. Moreover, in this
wave women achieved championed: abortion rights, reproductive freedom, and
other women’s health issues.
Moreover, as Mambrol (2017) justified that Second-wave feminism is a
term used to describe a new period of feminist collective political activism and
militancy which emerged in the late 1960s. The concept of ‘waves’ of feminism
was itself only applied in the late 1960s and early 1970s and therefore its application
to a previous era of female activism tells us a great deal about the dawning second
wave.
In addition to this, Elaine Showalter pioneered gynocriticism with her book
“A Literature of Their Own (1977)” Gynocriticism involves three major aspects.
The first is the examination of female writers and their place in literary history. The
second is the consideration of the treatment of female characters in books by both
male and female writers. The third and most important aspect of gynocriticism is
the discovery and exploration of a canon of literature written by women;
gynocriticism seeks to appropriate a female literary tradition.
Most Feminists would balk at the idea of generalizing Feminist theory into
three basic types because part of Feminism is to resist the tendency towards
categorizing things. Nonetheless, in A-Level sociology, it’s usual to distinguish
between three basic types of Feminism – Liberal, Radical and Marxist, each of
which has its general explanation for sex and gender inequality, and a matched
solution.
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
45
This is the variety of feminism that works within the structure of mainstream
society to integrate women into that structure. Its roots stretch back to the social
contract theory of government instituted by the American Revolution. Abigail
Adams and Mary Wollstonecraft were there from the start, proposing equality for
women. As is often the case with liberals, they slog along inside the system, getting
little done amongst the compromises until some radical movement shows up and
pulls those compromises left of center. This is how it operated in the days of the
suffragist movement and again with the emergence of radical feminists (Thompson,
2016).
Moreover, he also added that Liberal Feminists believe that the main causes
of gender inequality are ignorance and socialization does not believe that social
institutions are inherently patriarchal. They believe in a “March of Progress” view
of gender relations. This means that they believe that men and women are gradually
becoming more equal over time and that this trend will continue.
As evidence, liberal feminists point to various legal reforms which promote
sexual equality such as the sex discrimination act (1970), the fact that girls now
outperform boys in education, the fact that there are now equal amounts of men and
women in paid work. Liberal Feminists are especially keen to emphasize the
beneficial effects which women going into paid work has had on gender equality –
as a result, women are now much more independent than in the past, and women
are now the main income earners in 25% of households.
Liberal Feminist ideas have probably had the most impact on women’s lives.
One criticism of the liberal feminist view is that it is ethnocentric – it only really
reflects the experiences of white, middle-class women.
Marxism recognizes that women are oppressed, and attributes the
oppression to the capitalist/private property system. Thus they insist that the only
way to end the oppression of women is to overthrow the capitalist system. Socialist
feminism is the result of Marxism meeting radical feminism. Marxists and socialists
often call themselves "radical," but they use the term to refer to a completely
different "root" of society: the economic system (Thompson, 2016).
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
46
Marxist Feminists argue the main cause of women’s oppression is
capitalism. The disadvantaged position of women is seen to be a consequence of
the emergence of private property and their lack of ownership of the means of
production. From a Marxist Feminist perspective, the traditional nuclear family
only came about with capitalism, and the traditional female role of housewife
supports capitalism – thus women are double oppressed through the nuclear family
and capitalist system. Thompson, (2016) stated that Women’s oppression within
the nuclear family supports capitalism in at least three ways.
Women reproduce the labor force – through their unpaid domestic labor by
socializing the next generation of workers and servicing the current workers (their
husbands!). Women absorb anger – Think back to Parson’s warm bath theory. The
Marxist-Feminist interpretation of this is that women are just absorbing the anger
of the proletariat, who are exploited and who should be directing that anger towards
the Bourgeois. Women are a ‘reserve army of cheap labor’ – if women’s primary
role is domestic, and they are restricted from working, this also means they are in
reserve, to be taken on temporarily as necessary by the Bourgeois, making
production more flexible.
CONCLUSION
Marxist feminism ignores other sources of inequality such as sexual
violence; patriarchal systems existed before capitalism, in tribal societies for
example , and The experience of women has not been particularly happy under
communism. Liberal feminism- Based upon male assumptions and norms such as
individualism and competition, and encourages women to be more like men and
therefor deny the ‘value of qualities traditionally associated with women such as
empathy. Liberalism is accused of emphasizing public life at the expense of private
life. Difference Feminists argue it is an ethnocentric perspective – based mostly on
the experiences of middle class, educated women. The concept of patriarchy has
been criticized for ignoring variations in the experience of oppression; some critics
argue that it focuses too much on the negative experiences of women, failing to
recognize that some women can have happy marriages for example, and it tends to
Dawit Dibekulu Alem, (2023)
Philosophies Under Marxism and Feminism Literary Theories
47
portray women as universally good and men as universally bad, it has been accused
of man hating, not trusting all men.
THANKS FOR
Thank you so much to Mr. Gali Alrajafi who always supports me in writing
and publishing this article.
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