Reproducing the Sexual Division of Labour (1985)

The current situation of women in the United States displays a remarkable contradiction. Even though more than half of all adult women in the US work outside the home for some sort of compensation,(1) their social, cultural and political situation is still presumed to be in large measure subject to constraints imposed by the family. This situation is the subject of important and intense debate among feminist theoreticians(2) who deal with the question of the relationship between the oppression that women experience in the family, in their homes, and that experienced where they work for wages. In other words, what is the connection between capitalist economy and the oppression of women? What follows is a contribution to this discussion, although we by no means believe we are capable of answering all the questions generated by the debate.Specifically, we intend to show that although the demand for reproductive rights aims at the autonomy of all women, reproductive rights is a class issue, and that the failure to gain these rights and to enlarge upon them is a serious retardation of working class power.(3) Although women's subordination necessarily touches on every woman, it does not follow that its eradication will be similarly and equally beneficial to every woman. Reproductive rights can be guaranteed and expanded in ways that are of real benefit to affluent women without substantially affecting women who are low waged or without wages,(4) it is possible, for example, to make abortions available that are both safe and free of stigma but extremely expensive and performed only in high-cost hospitals. Access to abortion -- as to so many of society's resources -- would be merely symbolic for a large proportion of American women. On the other hand, reproductive rights can be secured by low-income women in ways that would indirectly damage the interests of the ruling class -- including the women who benefit from that class's wealth and power. To take just one example, though a major one, if the definition of reproductive freedom were extended to include the right to an income and services sufficient to bear children and raise them without being dependent on male wages, the resulting adjustment could mean a substantial inroad on profits as well as on the organization of work and the distribution of its product, and ultimately threaten a capitalist economy.The increasing interest in understanding the subordination of women in the domestic sphere, combined with increased media and political pressures to deemphasize women's role in wage labour raises one central question: namely, what is the relationship between the current backlash against women (the so-called family crisis) and women's unprecedented increase in labour force participation?The first part of this paper discusses the actual increases in women's labour force participation and the role these increases have played in re-shaping the character of the economy as it has evolved over the recent past. Then, we briefly discuss the class nature of this growth in women's wage labour: what set of historical dynamics is responsible for this development. After that, we discuss the significance of the current attacks on reproductive rights indicating that, whereas the materials for that attack have been present for several years, it is only within the current crisis that they have been put to massive use. Last, we offer some suggestions for approaching these developments and formulating adequate strategies.The Contradictions of MarginalityIn 1980, McDonald's food chain had almost twice as many workers as did US Steel.(5) Behind this fact lies what amounts to a massive reorganization of our domestic economy. Early in the 1950's, the US economy began to undergo a substantial structural change. Who was employed at what kind of jobs and what effect this had on the total society was drastically revised. By the mid-1970's this alteration appeared to be a permanent feature of the industrial landscape. …