According to Catherien McKinnon’s “Feminism Marxism Method and the State: an Agenda for Theory.” Sign 7, no.3, she believes that Feminism and Marxism theories have the same ideas that reflect the society exist inequality. In Marxism theory, it says that people’s relation is the basic method to build up our society. And Work or Job is a way to change our society and become a value of society. However, it creates hierarchy and classes. Eventually, inequality becomes effective. For example, higher class people get more respected from the others because of their social status. In contracts, lower class people would be seen as cheap or invaluable.
According to Marx, “ Society as a whole is more and more splitting up into two great hostile camps, into two classes directly facing each other: Bourgeoisie and Proletariat.” Proletariat cannot live without working. They have to work no matter how they do not want to or it is a low paid job. They can only sell their labor. Because the bourgeoisie own the industry and large lands, they form the dominant class. And they only care what they can get from the Proletariat. “In pursuing its interests, the bourgeoisie has with cash payment. It has created a world in which money (and only money) talks. Family ties, friendships, doctor-patient and priest-congregant relationships are now all dominated by monetary considerations.” (Abrahamson)
By using the Bourgeoisie and Proletariat as an example, we can see the inequality in our societies. The only reason for the Bourgeoisie to become rich is because they have money and the industry but they do not have to work physically and put any effort. However, even though the Proletariat work very hard and spend all the day at the industry working, it does not help their social status. Their living conditions do not got improved. It is labour. The Bourgeoisie oppresses the Proletariat. This is the unfairness and social inequality under capitalism that Marx sees and it will keep going and going. The proletariat can only live like that forever. “Capital can only increase by exchanging itself for labour power, by calling wage labour to life. The labour of the wage-worker can only be exchanged for capital by increasing capital, by strengthening the power whose slave it is. Hence, increase of capital is increase of the proletariat, that is, of the working class.” “The more productive capital grows, the more the division of labour and the application of machinery expand. The more the division of labour and the application of machinery expands, the more competition among the workers expand and the more their wages contract.”
In Feminist theory, it sees present gender inequality as determined ultimately by the capitalist mode of production. Gender oppression is class oppression and women's subordination is seen as a form of class oppression which is maintained, such as, racism because it serves the interests of capital and the ruling class. Marxist feminists have extended traditional Marxist analysis by looking at domestic labour as well as wage work in order to support their position. Under the male dominance, female were seen as “parasite of a parasite” according to Rose Luxembury. Women do not have right to choice what they want or do not want. Women did not have their own status because of their sexuality. Take Juliet Mitchell’s article, Women: The Longest Revolution for example. It says that in the 1800’s, women’s life activity was only being a mother. Women had to take care of their children at home and do all the housework, but could not work outside as men did. I think that is one of the reason women are always oppressed by the male because they do not have ability to feed themselves. They have to be supported by men. The other reason is because cannot work at the industry due to their physical ability. They are not as strong as men do. It is the inequality for women.
