Re: Socialism and Women's Leadership (was China Drafts Law to BoostUnionsand End Labor Abuse)

[Yoshie Furuhashi <critical.montages@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 10/14/06, michael a. lebowitz <mlebowit@xxxxxx> wrote:
> > > On Oct 14, 2006, at 10:30 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> > >
> > > > Might be because, contrary to some essentialist feminist thinkers,
> > > > capitalism undermines patriarchy over the long term, by competing
> > > > away gender distinctions in favor of a purer individualism;
>
> I think it might be more appropriate to say that capitalism has
> created conditions which have strengthened the struggle against
> patriarchy (which is, of course, not to be confused with the
> selection of individual women to carry out capitalism's dirty work at
> the top). So, is it that societies attempting to build socialism
> haven't created such conditions? If so, why?

The question of women's leadership and the question of improving
conditions of women aren't the same question.

Leadership

Qualities that leftists have trouble thinking straight about are
qualities that encompasses ability, ambition, charm, charisma, etc.
These are qualities of which some leftists say they disapprove and
about which other leftists are silent, but those are the very
qualities found in men who rise to the top, especially on the Left
outside the West, which are tacitly recognized by all (though
sometimes explicitly denied by some).  Those are qualities that, if
found in women, are regarded as troublesome rather than awesome.

Patriarchy

For my purpose, I define patriarchy as a prevalent condition in a
premodern society in which extensive kinship networks that entail
mutual obligations define individual lives, in which patriarchs have
power over both men and women in their families (or in their clans),
and in which older women (usually after childbearing) have power over
younger women.  That's a condition that can be eroded or destroyed
through socialism or capitalism or Islamism or secular nationalism or
whatever that brings about urbanization, proletarianization,
transformation of the family structure from extended families to
nuclear families to single lives, etc.  The destruction of patriarchy
doesn't automatically lead to gender equality, though.  Much of the
remaining gender inequality after the end of patriarchy comes from an
unequal division of labor, in which women shoulder much of care-giving
labor (taking care of children, the sick, the old, the ill, etc.).
--
Yoshie
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