23/08 Women’s liberation and socialism: Marijke Colle

Readings

• Women's oppression in globalization, March 2004

• "Our methods of struggle" Media:Our_methods_of_struggle-Reso_IV-1979.odt‎ (Extract from the 11th World Congress of the 4th International Resolution "Socialist Revolution and the Struggle for Women’s Liberation")

Resolutions from the 13th World Congress

• European Women’s Liberation: Changing forms of the struggle for women’s liberation

• Latin American Women’s Liberation: Dynamics of mass movements and feminist currents

• Positive Action – Women in our parties

Further reading

• 11th World Congress of the 4th International Resolution "Socialist Revolution and the Struggle for Women’s Liberation" (1979)

Outline of the talk

The work of women

• Characteristics of the female work force:
  • non paid domestic work
  • the wages of women
  • specific oppression and double exploitation

• Reconstruction of the worker’s family
• Role of the family and contradiction with the potential independence of women

• Conclusions
  • the system makes use of the double working day of women
  • man benefit from this situation
  • women’s work and gender roles

Origins and growth of the women’s movement in the 19th century

• Flora Tristan (1803-1844)

• The First International
  • Louise Michel (1830-1905) and the Paris Commune (1871)

• The Second International
  • Specific organisations of women
  • Clara Zetkin (1857-1933)

• The Russian Revolution and Alexandra Kollontaï (1872-1952)

Strategic importance of an autonomous women’s movement

• women’s rights in the 19th century
• the new feminism after 1968
• necessity of active participation of women in the struggles
• specific or patriarchal oppression
• autonomous movement and principles of self organisation
• autonomous women’s movement and revolutionary or anticapitalist parties
• autonomous women’s movement and our vision on socialism

Conclusions

• understanding specific oppression
• neoliberal globalisation and women
• gender studies and other oppressions (racism, ethnic minorities,…)
• the question of the LGBT movement
• victory in the struggles and socialist feminism