3. Women’s liberation and intersectionality

Outline:

Were Marx and Engels "gender blind" i.e. blind to the oppression of women?

- the sexual division of labour

- the importance of social reproduction

- the role of the family

The "women's issue" in the labour movement

The rise of liberal feminism in Europe

Feminism in dominated countries

The second feminist wave

- liberation of the body and sexual liberation

- LGBTQ liberation

- the unveiling of androcentrism

The different currents: radical feminism, differentialist feminism, socialist feminism

The third wave

- centrality of gender violence

- intersectionality

- inclusiveness in relation to LGBTQ issues

- cross-border character

- theoretical references: Ecofeminism, postcolonial feminism, social reproduction theory, intersectionality, trans and queer feminism

Conclusions - strategies for liberation

Readings:

• Excerpts from '''Friedrich Engels''', Origins of the Family, Private Property and the State

• Adrienne Rich Criticism of heterosexuality
  

Adrienne Rich (1929-2012) - poet and radical feminist
Her first book on feminist issues was: Of Women born; Motherhood as Experience and Institution(1976)
This text is an extract from the essay Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence published as an essay in 1980
and republished in her book Blood, Bread and Poetry (1986).

• What is ecofeminism? Interview with Yayo Herrero

• Extract from: Kumari Jayawardena: 'Feminism and nationalism in the third world', chapter 4: Women's struggles and "emancipation from above" in Iran

• Extracts: Tithi Bhattacharya, "Introduction: Mapping SRT" in Social Reproduction Theory & "How not to skip class: social reproduction of labor and the global working class".