Feminism and Socialism
I used to be very confused on the relationship between feminism and socialism. On the one hand, I observed that most hardcore feminists are socialists, but I never understood why. However, I have now read a book that makes that connection much more clear.The book is Sexism and God-Talk.
This is an excellent book, not because I agree with its contents, but rather because it makes so many things in current society so much clearer.
If you wanted to pick on chapter to read, I would read "The New Earth". There Ruether paints a picture of possible solutions to the patriarchal society. The "problem" in Ruether's view is not only unequal pay for equal work, but also the expectations that women should do housework and raise children. So what is the solution for societal expectations? Socialism! If "women's work" (housekeeping, raising children, etc.) is socialized, that means that the government can hire men and women equally, and relieve women of their burdens. By socializing everything, they can force the share of work to be equal, and force equal participation in the roles which they wish to modify.
Anyway, this might be obvious for some people, but it was quite a revelation for me.
posted @ 5/15/2007 11:37:00 PM
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