Criticism On Patriarchy Of Capitalism

The inequal relation between male and female has a long history. This situation seems to be changed as the progress of human civilization, but the conceived pression on female hasn't been changed. It can be classified by the absence of female's point of view in our common life. Patriarchy is the central concept of contemporary feminism theory in the west. In 1970s, as the practice of women's right movement goes forward, there has been an argument on the relationship of capitalism and patriarchy between the Dual Systems(key person, Juliet Mitchell and Heidi I. Hartmann) and the Unitary System(key person, Iris Young). To find the scourge of oppression on women, Iris Young points out that the concept of "class" in Marxism has a sexual blind spot, and the concept of "patriarchy" in the Dual Systems can't be independent of the concept of "mode of production". Based on these criticize, Iris Young construct her own theory of the Unitary System. She keeps "sexual division of labor" as the main concept in her research of women's situation. She argues that the sexual division of labor leads to peripherization of women's work and the development of Capitalism makes the situation of women even worse. As the sexual division of labor is the form of patriarchy and the peripherization of women's work results from Capitalism, we can see that patriarchy and Capitalism combine into a single unit essentially. To change this inequal situation, women have to fight against Capitalism.Based on the introduction of Iris Young's theory, this essay points out the theoretical contribution and limitation of the Unitary Theory of Iris Young. She argues that patriarchy is the only reason of women's depression in the society of Capitalism, which I think is not appropriate.The realization of equal position of male and female needs every group, especially women, to participate in the social, political, economical and cultural action.