14.3.3 Sheila Rowbotham

Context

• Influence: Rowbotham played a key role in the development of socialist feminism in the 1960s and 1970s, advocating for a feminist movement that addresses both gender and class oppression.
• Socialist Feminist: Socialist feminists believe that gender inequality stems from economics and that capitalism creates patriarchy.

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Sheila Rowbotham's Views on Revolution

• Sheila Rowbotham sees revolution as essential for true liberation, arguing that mere reforms within capitalism and patriarchy are insufficient. She criticizes liberal feminists for utilizing the public sphere rather than dismantling it.
• She advocates for a socialist feminist revolution that dismantles both systems simultaneously, transforming not only political and economic structures but also cultural norms and everyday life. Rowbotham emphasizes the importance of grassroots movements and collective action in driving this revolution, stressing the need for unity and flexibility among diverse social groups.
• She is realistic about the challenges, recognizing the complexities and potential resistance, and cautions against dogmatic approaches, advocating for an inclusive, adaptive revolutionary strategy.

"It is only when women start to organize in large numbers that we become a political force, and begin to move towards the possibility of a truly democratic society"

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Intersection of Capitalism and Patriarchy

Dual Systems Theory

Women as a Reserve Army of Labour

Rowbotham highlights how capitalism uses women as a flexible labour force, drawing them into the workforce when needed and pushing them back into domestic roles during economic downturns. This exploitation is central to maintaining both capitalist and patriarchal systems.

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Sheila Rowbotham's Views on the Economy

Capitalism as a Source of Women's Oppression

Rowbotham views capitalism as a major source of women's oppression, arguing that it exploits women's labour both in the formal economy and in the home. She believes that capitalism benefits from the unpaid domestic work that women perform, which sustains the workforce without being economically recognized or compensated.

Economic Exploitation of Women

In Rowbotham's analysis, women are often relegated to low-paid, precarious jobs in the capitalist economy. This economic marginalization is compounded by their unpaid labour in the domestic sphere, which capitalism takes for granted as a free resource.

The Role of Social Reproduction

• Unpaid Domestic Labour: Rowbotham highlights the critical role that women's unpaid domestic labour plays in sustaining the capitalist economy. This work includes caring for children, maintaining the household, and supporting male workers, all of which are essential for the functioning of capitalism but are not valued or remunerated.
• Economic Value of Domestic Work: She advocates for the recognition of domestic work as economically valuable and calls for policies that redistribute this burden more equitably, such as state-supported childcare, paid parental leave, and the inclusion of domestic workers in labour protections.
• Redistribution of Wealth and Power: For Rowbotham, achieving gender equality requires a fundamental redistribution of wealth and power. She calls for a socialist restructuring of the economy that addresses both class and gender inequalities, advocating for collective ownership and control over resources as a way to dismantle the economic foundations of both capitalism and patriarchy.

Challenging Capitalist Structures

Rowbotham argues that to achieve real economic empowerment for women, it is necessary to challenge and dismantle the capitalist structures that exploit women's labor. She supports the creation of alternative economic systems that prioritize equality, cooperation, and the collective good over profit.

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Sheila Rowbotham's Views on the State

The State as a Tool of Oppression

Rowbotham views the state as an institution that historically reinforces patriarchal structures. She argues that the state often upholds and legitimizes the power dynamics that keep women subordinate to men. Through its laws, policies, and institutions, the state perpetuates gender inequality.

Rowbotham believes that the state is complicit in the exploitation of women under capitalism. She argues that the state serves the interests of the capitalist class by maintaining the social and economic order that benefits capitalists, often at the expense of working-class women.

Limitations of State Reforms

• State as a Partial Solution: Rowbotham acknowledges that legal reforms can improve women's lives but emphasizes that these changes are often limited by the state's broader commitment to maintaining the status quo. She suggests that real change requires challenging the state's role in upholding both capitalist and patriarchal systems.

Advocacy for Radical Change

• Need for Structural Transformation: Rowbotham advocates for a radical transformation of society that goes beyond the state's existing frameworks. She believes that true gender equality requires not just reforming state policies but fundamentally changing the structures of power that the state supports.