History of Feminism

This I agree with. It is not something unique to capitalism, it is something unique to any structure that encourages oppression. The feudal periods, Roman slavery, etc., all created various forms of oppression in order to maintain power. While I think this is something that will not be easily fixed, I believe it can only be addressed through a system explicitly designed to rid a society of those various oppression (hence my agreement with the Marxist analysis).


I would argue that it is not because of capitalism but in spite of it that women were able to progress. Historically I think we can see that it was only through radical action that capitalism was forced to relive oppression. It naturally seeks to find a way to maximize profit, whether through the direct oppression of women through male dominance, or through things like unpaid labor in the home. Capitalism is dependent on those oppressions.

Another long but interesting article on the history of Marxism and women's liberation:

http://isreview.org/issue/93/womens-liberation-marxist-tradition

And a good overview of domestic labor and oppression:

http://isreview.org/issue/88/theorizing-womens-oppression-part-1

I couldn't find the second half of that article--it should have been published by now, but perhaps not. If you're interested in marxist analysis of these issues, ISReview.org is a good resource. Their articles are long, in depth, and well argued and researched.