Abstract

In the 1970s and early 1980s, a heated debate took place over the relationship between Marxism and feminism. In the current moment the perhaps more disturbing question arises: has feminism entered into a dangerous liaison with capitalism? The profound "restructuring" of the U. S. and world economy since the 1970s parallels the rise of the women's movement during the same period, and reveals some ideological and practical uses of this movement for capitalist interests at home and abroad. In particular, the decline of the family wage and the abolition of welfare "as we know it" in the United States, and the use of microcredit and female labor in export processing zones in the "developing" world, both can draw upon feminist ideas, as can the U. S. government as it pursues its "war on terrorism." There is a kernel of truth in U. S. propaganda: feminism acts as a cultural solvent, as globalization erodes the traditions of patriarchy. The left must take on board the crucial contribution of feminist ideas and activism, as we contemplate a world where alternatives to capitalism have become devalued and de-legitimized.