IIRE — Global Justice School 2003
Susan Caldwell — Outline of lecture
0. Aims of this Report
A.
Theoretical analysis of the Marxist mode
of production concept – integrating women’s ‘domestic labour’ to answer the
question of why having a salaried job does NOT answer the issue of women's
liberation. Is there a structural basis for the systematic violence against
women?
B.
Feminist politically economy
1.
The effects
of globalisation on women – asking the question of how women are affected by
globalisation. Are men and women equally affected? Do we need to make a
specific gender analysis or does class explain all differences?
2.
The
domestic life cycle and patriarchy in your life
C.
Globalisation and militarization and
gender
1.
Impact of
war on women
(a) Destruction of means of subsistence
(b) Refugees
(c) Political Rape
(d) Sex trafficking with military occupation
D.
Women and political action: Autonomous
women’s movement and the resistance to globalisation, internationally and in
Europe
1.
Women and
peace initiatives
î
“2000 Good
Reasons to March” (2000)-www.ffq.qc.ca/march2000/en/index.html
î
World March
of Women (2002) – “The long march towards another world” and “Violence against
women” (interventions in Porto Alegre)
î
Discussion
with the Philippine women participants on the TriPeople Women’s Peace
Initiative
Notes:
1. Integration the
production of labour power/ reproduction of the work force into the mode of
production concept
î
See Stéphanie Treillet Gender and
Globalisation
î
See Marx's Basic Model
for the Analysis of Modes of Production
î
Vinteuil - challenge of integrating feminism and
Marxism
B. Family as
structure that organises labour in department III
1.
Nature of
the family – for daily and generational production of labour power
(a) Nature of the marriage contract
(b) See notes – Domestic life
cycle
2.
Reinforcement
or creation of patriarchal nature of family under
capitalism
(a) Definition of patriarchal power in the
family
î
See
notes – Definition of patriarchal power in the family
(b) Patriarchy = violence as main means for
control against all women and younger men
(c) Changes in the 'family form' – women
opting out of patriarchal control through single parent families – where the
financial means exists.
C.
Conclusions
1.
Violence
against women is integral to capitalism as well as to patriarchy.
2.
Women
salaried work is based on roles in Dept. III
(a) Restricted number of job categories
(b) Professions are area of most equal pay
3.
Women's
"double day of labour" when they enter salaried labour force
2. Feminist political
economy
1.
Incomplete
nature of "gender blind" analysis
2.
Generational
production of labour power or importing labour power (migration)
(a) Gender analysis of migration patterns –
is it men or women migrating first
î
'Internationalization'
of domestic labour – massive importing (migration) of women to do domestic
labour in the individual household
î
Internationalization
of sex trade – importing (migration) versus sexual tourism
(i)
Sex trade
is more profitable than drugs in many advanced capitalist countries
(ii)
Sex trade
as the basis of the 'primitive accumulation of capital' in 3rd world
countries
3.
Maquiladoras
– feminization of manufacturing labour force in low income countries
(a) Does international investment increase or
decrease the wage differential between women and men in salaried work in
'developing countries'?
4.
Capitalist's
support of birth control technologies in 3rd world countries
(a) Contradiction with a woman's right to
choose as the choice is forced
5.
IMF
Structural Adjustment Policies on women's work in Department III
(a) Cutback in social services means a return
to the household unit (women) of these services care
(b) Decline in infrastructure (clean water,
electricity, roads) means greater labour in the daily production of labour
power
6.
Impact of
war on women
(a) Refugee camps are in their vast majority
women and children
(b) Vast increase in violence against women
3. Women in political
action
1.
Analysis
from 13th World Congress document:
2.
Women
workers in unions
3.
Women
self-organisation through NGOs
(a) Key issues – from labour in Department
III
î
Reproductive
rights – abortion, birth control, prenatal care, health care, etc.
î
Struggle
around violence against women
4.
World March
for Women intervention in European Social Forum
(a) Nature of the Women’s March 2000
initiative
(b) Concrete demands – are these transitional
demands?
(c) Lobbyist strategy – through
extra-parliamentary means
5.
Women’s
Peace Initiatives
(a) Philippine TriPeople Women’s Peace
Initiatives
Notes, Definitions
1. Marx's Basic Model for
the Analysis of Modes of Production
1. Marxist framework for
understanding the mode of production concept
·
Department
I = production of the means of production
·
Department
II = production of the means of subsistence
·
Department
III = reproduction / production of labour power (see diagram)
·
Products
of one are the input into the other
1. Gender definition
relates to appropriate roles within the two sectors of production (of goods and
services) and production of labour power / reproduction
2. Department III –
Production of labour power / reproduction of work force /social reproduction /
domestic labour
·
Daily
basis
·
generational
basis
·
organized
by the family / kinship network
3. See diagram Marx's Basic
Model for the Analysis of Modes of Production
·
See
also Wally Seccombe, 1974, “The housewife and her labour under capitalism”.
(Return)
1. Achieving a livelihood: How do young people gain
regular access to a viable means of production in order to provide for
themselves and their dependent children in the future?
2. Acquiring household
space:
How do young people obtain dwelling space as they come of age? What residence
rules and norms of household formation govern this acquisition? Is household
formation dependent on property transfer from parents to offspring?
3. Getting married: How do young people
become eligible for marriage? Who controls mate selection and marital timing?
Is any form of wealth transfer involved in the marriage contract, and if so,
what type? What connection, if any, does marriage have to inheritance?
4. Bearing and raising
children:
Under what circumstances does childbirth become legitimate and couple free to
procreate? How is fertility socially regulated, both through marriage and
within it? How do families deal with an increasingly burdensome dependency
ratio as women pass through their childbearing years?
5. Providing for parents: When children become
productive adults and marry, what kind of commitment to their parents do they
maintain? Are they obligated to provide and care for them in old age? What role
(if any) does inheritance play in structuring relations between the
generations, ensuring that commitments are met on both sides?
(Return)
3. Definition of
patriarchal power in the family: Patriarchy, as I use it, refers to
“systems of male headship in family households. A great variety of such systems
exist. ... Some combination of the following five prerogatives held by husbands
and fathers over their wives and children are generally found in patriarchal
family systems, with varying strengths and modes of assertion:
1. the right to represent
the family group and to speak in its name in the community;
2. effective possession of,
entitlement to, and ultimate disposal rights over family property, including
income;
3. supervision of the
labour of other family members;
4. conjugal rights of
sexual access to, and exclusive possession of, one’s wife in marriage (hence
securing paternity);
5. custodial rights over
children, entailing ultimate authority in their upbringing."
·
For
an elaboration of these concepts see Wally Seccombe (1992) A Millennium of
Family Change: Feudalism to Capitalism in Northwestern Europe and Wally
Seccombe, 1993, Weathering the Storm.
(Return)