LOUISVILLE CPUSA

Content Warning: Intimate Partner Violence and Medical Neglect 

Capitalism is the greatest threat to equity for women and other marginalized communities. It does not and cannot exist without oppression. It is through the oppression of others that capitalism is built.  Making  .85 cents to the dollar of their male colleagues as of 2024 and doing more of the domestic labor, women remain oppressed both at home and in the workplace. In a 2018 study on the 115th Congress, the combined wealth of members was no less than $2.43 billion. Instead of gaining equity, some women have climbed the ladder, leaving many of us further marginalized. While women get paid heavily for their positions in Congress and the Senate, making $217K more than their male counterparts, women and girls remain marginalized due to their lack of wealth. For women to get equity, all women must reap the benefits of change. That is only possible after capitalism’s desolation and the proletariat’s dictatorship. 

Impoverished women are at greater risk of experiencing Intimate Partner and Domestic Violence. Working-class women living in poverty have less access to resources when experiencing IPV. Financial insecurity leads to people staying in abusive relationships. Heightened levels of stress and financial strain can exacerbate tensions in a relationship. Due to the added financial stress caused by the holiday season and summer months, IPV is at an all-time high. Being that we live in a capitalist society that underfunds programs and shelters for those who have experienced DV and IPV, it is worth stating that capitalism puts women in vulnerable positions. It places men in a position of power at birth thanks to patriarchy, while women are relegated to second-class citizens. When we live under the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie, the majority of whom are men, it becomes difficult for those in poverty to live a comfortable and safe life. 

Capitalism puts profits over people, and nowhere is that more apparent than in US healthcare. We live with a profit-driven healthcare system. This need to make profits has led to hospitals looking for ways to make more money instead of looking for treatments. Women are at a greater risk of death thanks to our system, with Black Women being the most endangered. Women are less likely to be believed when they are sick and in pain. People can’t afford their medications, show up late because they can’t afford an ambulance, and are refused services because they don’t have insurance. Medical patriarchy causes disparities in health care where women are treated with gender bias. There is a long history here with many intersections of class, race, ethnicity, and religion. Even before women enter the hospital, we are met with gender bias in the studies that forget our existence. The money allocated to these studies is, more than likely, going to be given to studies done on or focused on men. As a result, women and girls are more likely to go undiagnosed or be misdiagnosed. 

With the passing of the “big, beautiful bill,” people all over the US will feel its impact. Those in rural areas will be most affected, causing a greater problem for women and girls, the elderly, and the disabled. While the rich get bigger tax cuts, the rest of us are left reeling from the fascist reality that rips healthcare away from millions of people. 

“No one notices it until it isn’t done – we notice the unmade bed, not the scrubbed and polished floor.”

Chapter 13, Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis

This is the sad reality of how capitalism has lessened the value of a woman’s work at home. It’s expected but not appreciated once done. There is no monetary value in house work and so it is undervalued. 

“The new consciousness associated with the contemporary women’s movement has encouraged increasing numbers of women to demand that their men provide some relief from this drudgery. Already, more men have begun to assist their partners around the house, some of them even devoting equal time to household chores. But how many of these men have liberated themselves from the assumption that housework is women’s work”? How many of them would not characterise their house cleaning activities as “helping” their women partners?”

Chapter 13, Women, Race, and Class by Angela Davis

Engels also believed that women would benefit from having children raised by many mothers. It was common in earlier communities throughout the stages of culture. In some communities, this is still common; under capitalism, it becomes harder to sustain. It is made harder by the higher cost of living while our wages stay the same. 

So many people tell us that an alternative to capitalism would be worse, but living under the oppressive system that is capitalism has convinced many of us that there is something better. Instead of looking to mainstream feminism, which gives a capitalist outlook on what women could have, Marxist Feminism extends Marxist Theory by analysing women’s oppression through Marxism. The emancipation of women will not happen under capitalism. Gender equality will not exist as long as there are women still subjected to the cruelty of poverty. Capitalism is a threat to women, and the only way forward is with Marxism and Marxist Feminism. 

Citations:

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels

Women, Race and Class by Angela Davis 

Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez

Socioeconomic Risk Factors for Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Violence

Feminism, Gender Medicine, and Beyond: A Feminist Analysis of “Gender Medicine”

Trump Passes “Big Beautiful Bill,” Sending it to House

Wealth of Congress is Greater Than Ever but Mostly at the Very Top