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Marx And Engels 's Views On Female Oppression

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Marx and Engels both contributed largely to the development of the idea of communism and class struggle and within this framework of ideas consisted an explanation of the struggles between men and women throughout history. Although Marx and Engels would classify feminist issues about female oppression over time as simply another aspect of class struggle, they nonetheless explained the development of female oppression using terms such as matrilieality, patriarchy, monogamy and class society. These are a few terms that Marx and Engels, specifically Engels, employed to theorize female oppression. In order to explain women’s role in society, Marx and Engels postulated that the development of private property and the class society that the …show more content…

In these communal societies, women were viewed as equal because the work they devoted to child bearing and rearing were seen as equally important to the subsistence of the community as the work that men did. (Book, 135) Because of the egalitarian structure in these societies as well as the common practice of those who make decisions having to carry out those choices themselves, women were given equal decision making responsibility. In addition to having responsibilities regarding making important decisions for the community, matrilineal descent was common in these communal societies. Engels explained these “mother right societies” as being based on the need for explanation of descent when children’s fathers were unknown. (Book, 135) In this communal structure of society, women were recognized for their equal importance in labor and as a result maintained equal importance in public life. Engels next step in the evolution of the subjugation of women is the development of private property ownership as a result of increased production of wealth. Because men were the ones accumulating the wealth they gained an increased position in their families, eventually leading to patrilineal descent being the dominant form of descent rather than matrilineal. Along with this change came a shift to monogamy in which each individual only has one

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