Material feminism
Encyclopedia
Material feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...

examines the "material conditions under which social arrangements, including those of gender hierarchy, develop" It argues that "material conditions of all sorts play a vital role in the social production of gender".

Material feminism is an ideology with a central focus upon maximizing women's material assets.

History

The movement began in the late 19th century with the aim to liberate women by improving their material condition.

The Grand Domestic Revolution by Dolores Hayden
Dolores Hayden
Dolores Hayden is an American professor, urban historian, architect, author, and poet. She teaches architecture, urbanism, and American studies at Yale University.-Background:...

 is a reference. Hayden describes Material feminism at that time as reconceptualizing the relationship between the private household space and public space by presenting collective options to take the "burden" off women in regard to housework, cooking
Cooking
Cooking is the process of preparing food by use of heat. Cooking techniques and ingredients vary widely across the world, reflecting unique environmental, economic, and cultural traditions. Cooks themselves also vary widely in skill and training...

, and other traditional female domestic jobs.

Relationship to Marxist feminism

The term Material feminism was first used in 1975 by Christine Delphy
Christine Delphy
Christine Delphy is a French sociologist, feminist, writer and theorist. She was a co-founder of the review Nouvelles questions féministes with Simone de Beauvoir in 1977.-Biography:...

. The current concept has its roots in socialist and Marxist feminism
Marxist feminism
Marxist feminism is a sub-type of feminist theory which focuses on the dismantling of capitalism as a way of liberating women. Marxist feminism states that private property, which gives rise to economic inequality, dependence, political confusion, and ultimately unhealthy social relations between...

; Rosemary Hennessay and Chrys Ingraham, editors of Materialist Feminism: A Reader in Class, Difference, and Women’s Lives, describe material feminism as the "conjuncture of several discourses—historical materialism
Historical materialism
Historical materialism is a methodological approach to the study of society, economics, and history, first articulated by Karl Marx as "the materialist conception of history". Historical materialism looks for the causes of developments and changes in human society in the means by which humans...

, Marxist and radical feminism
Radical feminism
Radical feminism is a current theoretical perspective within feminism that focuses on the theory of patriarchy as a system of power that organizes society into a complex of relationships based on an assumption that "male supremacy" oppresses women...

, as well as postmodernist and psychoanalytic theories of meaning and subjectivity.”

See also

  • Double burden
    Double burden
    Double burden is a term describing the workload of men and women who work to earn money, but also have responsibility for unpaid, domestic labor. According to studies done dealing with a stressful environment chronically, such as a stressful job or household due to overwhelming responsibilities, is...

  • Economic materialism
    Economic materialism
    Materialism is a mindset that views the consumption and acquisition of material goods as positive and desirable. It is often bound up with a value system which regards social status as being intrinsically linked to affluence as well as the perception that happiness can be increased through...

  • Feminist economics
    Feminist economics
    Feminist economics broadly refers to a developing branch of economics that applies feminist lenses to economics. Research under this heading is often interdisciplinary or heterodox...

  • Monique Wittig
    Monique Wittig
    Monique Wittig was a French author and feminist theorist who wrote about overcoming socially enforced gender roles and who coined the phrase "heterosexual contract". She published her first novel, L'Opoponax, in 1964...

  • Christine Delphy
    Christine Delphy
    Christine Delphy is a French sociologist, feminist, writer and theorist. She was a co-founder of the review Nouvelles questions féministes with Simone de Beauvoir in 1977.-Biography:...


External links

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