Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto

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a b Davis, Angela Y. (1981). Women, race, & class (Firsted.). New York. ISBN 978-0394510392. OCLC 7459645. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher ( link)

In stark contrast to Liberal Feminism, feminism for the 99% holds that effective and meaningful change comes from a non-reformist perspective: that revolutionary change necessitates a more utopian vision. [4] Feminism for the 99% holds that incremental adjustment of an existing unjust and oppressive hierarchy will never precipitate a just society. To this end, a change from the ground up is required. [1] Ni Una Menos [ edit ] a visionary, relatable and all-encompassing resource valuable both to the collective committed to achieving a feminist informed anti-capitalist society and to those who are yet to be haunted by the spectre Felicity Adams, Feminist Legal Studies LORRIAUX, A. (2019). “Féminisme pour les 99%”, le manifeste qui veut un féminisme pour toutes. Slate . [online] 10 May. Available at : http://www.slate.fr/story/176061/manifeste-feminisme-99-liberalisme-capitalisme-egalite [Accessed 05 Dec. 2020]. Nancy Fraser challenges us to reactivate the audacious spirit of second-wave feminism. Analyzing an imaginary aimed at eradicating exploitation as well as subjugation, she offers a rousing conclusion as to how we might mobilize feminism’s best energies against the perils of the neoliberal present. Lynne SegalWe believe that these changes in the composition of the class that represents a majority of society (at least socially, if not in absolute numbers) are expressed by the feminist movement’s adoption of the term “strike,” the workers’ traditional method of struggle. Even though most feminist organizations do not use it, [6] the strike slogan is a tool for feminism—a multi-class and still mostly urban movement, in which enlightened sectors of the petty bourgeoisie exercise political and ideological hegemony—to enter into a new dialogue with ever-larger sectors of working women. Although it is dealt with more thoroughly in the epilogue, the first thesis makes it clear that this manifesto was written with the conceptual framework of social reproduction theory. The authors point out that the assertion that capitalism is based on the extraction of surplus value is incomplete, that there is a “a truth that capitalism conspires to obscure: The waged work of profit-making could not exist without the (mostly) unwaged work of people-making. Thus, the capitalist institution of wage labor conceals something more than surplus value. It also conceals its birthmarks—the labor of social reproduction that is its condition of possibility.” Socialist feminism is feminism that focuses upon the interconnectivity of the patriarchy and capitalism. [6] Feminism of the 99% frequently parallels with Socialist Feminism given their similar critical assessments of capitalism, [3] and the role of domestic work and social reproduction theory. [7] It is encouraging that this new manifesto has resonated so strongly around the world, since it is centered on the idea that the oppression of women is structural within the capitalist system, and therefore can be ended only by a radical and collective transformation of society.

That is all. The text does not say anything else on the subject. This leads us to think that the authors have unlimited faith in the power of social movements—as if it were unnecessary to prepare for a confrontation with the capitalist state (which is not mentioned in the manifesto), a state that not only has a monopoly on violence but also has many mechanisms for co-opting and assimilating oppositional movements. This is not a minor question: While some conceptualize social changes as the result of administering state resources or parliamentary work (i.e., reforms), others idealize the social question and disdain political struggle. Unfortunately, whenever radical and transformational social movements rejected struggle in the political arena, they allowed reactionary and reformist sectors to monopolize this space. Angela Davis Criticizes "Mainstream Feminism" / Bourgeois Feminism, 8 January 2018, archived from the original on 18 March 2018 , retrieved 24 October 2018 Rejecting the zero-sum framework capitalism constructs for us, feminism for the 99 percent aims to unite existing and future movements into a broad-based global insurgency. Armed with a vision that is at once feminist, anti-racist, and anticapitalist, we pledge to play a major role in shaping our future. - the above is an edited excerpt from Feminism for the 99% by Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser. Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser ... have collaborated and written what is effectively a prospective programme for the global women's movement, a feminist manifesto for the 99%. Socialism Today But while we do not have big differences about this sociological description of the working class, we do disagree about the political definitions that are derived from it.From three of the organizers of the International Women’s Strike: a manifesto for when “leaning in” is not enough Historically, this movement has been concerned not only with the exploitation bound up in paid labour but also with domestic inequalities: with thinking about both those things together, often through what is called “social reproduction”. This concept helps identify how the economy has historically depended on the free labour of housework and child-rearing to sustain itself. Looking at social reproduction in its broadest sense – at the role of housewives, nannies, maids, cleaners, grandparents, au pairs – also means that left feminism always necessarily needs to be international and anti-racist, as only too often it is badly paid migrant women who do most of the “dirty work”.

The withdrawal of paid labour hits the capitalist in the form of permanently lost profits. The withdrawal of unpaid reproductive labour is less straightforward. If the labour takes the form of care for vulnerable others such as children or elderly relatives, withdrawal may not be an acceptable option. In the case of labour that isn’t a matter of life and death—washing up or vacuuming—the woman will either do it later, or someone else will. Or no one will, and the house will get slightly messier. At best, a husband or boyfriend might be shamed into doing something the woman normally does. The capitalist doesn’t suffer, or even notice.

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I n spring 2018 , Facebook billionaire Sheryl Sandberg was counselling women that toughness and success in the business world was the royal road to gender equality. footnote 1 If only ‘half of all countries and companies were run by women, and half of all homes were run by men’, the world would be a better place and we shouldn’t be satisfied until we reach that goal. A leading exponent of corporate feminism, Sandberg had made her name by urging women managers to ‘lean in’ at the company boardroom, at the summit of a career that had led from Harvard via the Treasury Secretary’s office to data-harvesting and ad-targeting at Google and Facebook, with the help of mentor Lawrence Summers, chief deregulator of Wall Street. Labor force participation rate, female (percentage of the female population aged 15-64), according to an ILO estimate. Evans, Dayna. "On March 8, Women Will Go on Strike". The Cut. Archived from the original on 25 March 2018 . Retrieved 24 October 2018. That’s what we both hate about fiction, or at least crappy fiction — it purports to provide occasions for thinking through complex issues, but really it has predetermined the positions, stuffed a narrative full of false choices, and hooked you on them, rendering you less able to see out, to get out.