The Marxist Wife (Still Does the Housework)

This chapter turns its attention to social reproduction feminism to trace the development of an anti-capitalist feminist perspective that recentres the role of reproductive labour in sustaining the capitalist system. The chapter introduces the discussion of Wages for Housework with an analysis of Marxist feminism and the various ways in which it related to ‘the woman question’ from early Marxism to the more recent work of Lise Vogel. It is argued that a reappraisal of the movement Wages for Housework is helpful to understand the ways in which reproductive labour is naturalised and made invisible in capitalist economy. From this discussion of Wages for Housework, the chapter further explores the role of reproductive labour in contemporary post-industrial economies through the feminisation of housewification of work, meaning the normalisation of low waged, precarised, part-time work.