Marx and Feminism

One of the other feminist theories Tong addresses is Marxist feminism. This branch of feminism focuses on Marx's ideas surrounding class struggles. For this theory gender conflicts are based in these class struggles and the only way to end gender conflicts is to embrace Marxism and create a state free of a class system. In the work force the division of labor also keeps men and women separate because the division keeps women in the domestic sphere. Marxist feminists want to make domestic labor public so that a revolution will take place and make men and women more equal.
While there is validity in the want to abolish classes so that the genders are equal, there are many critiques of this as well. One is that revolution would not really make men and women equal. According to Tong, Mao Zedong was even quoted in saying that even in a completely equal communist society men and women would not be equal because the idea of women as inferior is too widely accepted. Even if a Marxist revolution were to occur there would still be two class men and women. Another critique is that this Marxist system of equality would undervalue the family. In a capitalist society the money and care from the parents go directly to their children, where as in a Marxist society the focus is taken off of the individual family and directed toward the community. What I found interesting about this critique was that according to Marx a communist society would do the exact opposite. For Marx in a capitalist society children are only seen as investments to gain the parents more money, where as in a Marxist society children are seen as parts of the family. It would be interesting to see what would actually happen to the family dynamic in a truly communist society.