Feminism Economy

Question 1

What do feminists think about the economy?

Answer 1

Feminist want to see
-an end to the gender pay gap, which sees women earn less than men for the same or similar work
-women being promoted to the highest levels of organisations
-no jobs considered off limits for women. Physically and psychologically, women are as capable as men of thought jobs such as front-line army service

Question 2

What do socialist feminists think about the economy?

Answer 2

• for socialist feminists the problem is not just that women have been denied equality of opportunity by the market economy. They view capitalism as the root cause of female oppression.
• within capitalist economies, women were treated as a reserve of labour employed when male workers were in short supply. The exsistence of a reserve army of labour enables employers to keep wages low because their current workforce are so easily replaceable that they have no political or economic leverage
• socialist feminist Sheila rowbotham claimed that this meant an end to capitalism would benefit women more than men. She hoped this would inspire women to organise for a post-capitalist future