Intersection of Marxism and Feminism
The importance and resonance of Dr. Hartmann's paper "The Unhappy Marriage between Marxism and Feminism" cannot be overstated. In this pivotal work, she offers a multi-dimensional analysis of the interplay of capitalism and the patriarchy, providing a theoretical framework for social and economical analysis that focuses specifically on the roles women are allowed to occupy in today's world. She argues that, while both Marxist method and feminist analysis are necessary to understanding capitalist societies and the position of women within them, feminism has been consistently subordinated, if not entirely disregarded. The compendium of women's struggles, then, has been routinely incorporated into the 'larger' struggle against capital. She starts from a definition of patriarchy "as a set of social relations between men, which have a material base, and which, though hierarchical, establish or create interdependence and solidarity among them that enable them to dominate women".
The material base upon which it rests lies fundamentally in men's control over women's labor power: men maintain this control by excluding women from essential productive resources ( for example, jobs that pay living wages) and by restricting their sexuality. It follows that patriarchy isn't just reinforced within the family itself but also by all the social and political structures that enable men to control women's labor.
If capitalist development creates the places for a hierarchy of workers - Hartmann argues - traditional marxist categories cannot tell us who will fill which places. It is gender and racial hierarchies that determine who fills them. The crucial elements of patriarchy as we currently experience them are: the institution of the heterosexual marriage (and consequent homophobia / stigma towards sexual practices not aimed at reproduction), female child-rearing and housework, women's economic dependence on men (enforced by arrangements in the labor market), the state (with the lack of economic policies to support and emancipate women), and numerous institutions based on social relations among men.
The sexual division of labor, outside of the home, appears in the labor market, where women work at "women's jobs" (food preparation and service, cleaning, caring for people and so on): as these jobs are low-status and low-paying, patriarchal relations remain intact, their material base though shifts to the wage differential. This pay gap keeps women financially dependent on men and assures the continued existence of the family encouraging the former to marry.
In this framework, men, on the flip side of the coin, men are able to enjoy the fruits of women's labor both inside and outside of the households, on top of their privileged positions in social, political and economic spheres, granted by the aforementioned solidarity between them that permeates every aspect of their life.
It is only through the mutually reinforcing relations of capitalism and patriarchy that the disadvantaged conditions of women can continue to exist. If we are to envision a fairer world, we need to start by acknowledging that men have more to lose than women. They are going to keep fighting to keep their privileges, while mocking the very aspects of 'womanhood' which are, at the same time, the elements that currently hold the labor force together, and that could bring about positive change in the future, if cherished and prioritized: a propensity for nurturance, owning up to our need for community and interdependence, the importance of sharing and the centrality of these practices in an economy and a world that values human well being and not just exponential growth.