Gender Oppression Glossary - Essay Example

Marxist feminists see the Capitalist mode of production as the root cause of all gender inequality. The capitalist framework of the society, its mode of operation and production is determined as the ultimate cause of all gender inequality and oppression of women. The oppression of women is a part of the larger Class Oppression where the male dominated society suppresses the rights and freedom of the women folk. Engels - The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State written by Engels after Marx’s death serves as the back bone for the cause of dismantling capitalism and social and economical equality.

It was Engels’s treatise on Marx’s analysis and understanding of the society and his comments on progressive US scholar Lewis Henry Morgan. A deep exploration of the human society, its inbuilt instincts of gender organisation, and the tendency to form a patriarchal society based on male domination is done in the book The Post Medieval Concept of Family and Marriage: Male Privilege A society is identified by its class framework, or in other words a society and its individuals are identified and heavily influenced by the system of classification of its people.

The needs, opportunities and privileges given on the basis of factors like gender, social status, cast etc form a decisive factor in determining the behaviour and nature of society. In a patriarchal society that is governed by the laws of heterosexuality, deeming it to be main-stream and globally accepted, male privilege and male domination became an inevitable reality. The society is skewed in terms of gender equality considering that the modern, global society accepts a man to be the head of the house, taking all the important decisions (financial, legal, social etc), whereas the woman is not considered an equally partner.

Gender oppression finds another channel of execution through the stark male domination in every area in the society, whether it is leading the family, or leading a cultural or social organisation, whether it is heading the work place or the government. According to Marxist feminist theory this is due to the root cause of capitalism and the capitalist mode of production. Some Marxist feminist theorists consider the nature of men to be the root cause of female oppression. Male privilege and the inequality in rights, opportunities, position, contribution and influence in society between male and female classes has been as old as division of society into classes.

It has not existed since the beginning, but gradually gathered popularity and momentum through the introduction of a class based barbaric society. Along with the class society, private property and the state, the bourgeois family too has a distinct beginning. Male privilege is only as old as the division of the society into classes. Patriarchy Patriarchy as opposed to matriarchy is based on the concept of Male leadership of the household, where the title can be traced through male lineage. The title and its inheritance by subsequent generations are of a man’s and from a man’s.

This serves as the foundation of a patriarchal society. Patriarchy is ancient and dates back to primitive human society dominated by male power to hunt, fight, capture and colonise. Thus arose the system of a male dominated, patriarchal system of society where the male