LIBERTARIAN SOCIALISM/
ANARCHO-SYNDICALISM:
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
What causes women's oppression?
HOW ARE WOMEN OPPRESSED?
Women are exploited and face oppression every day. In the
workplace women are forced into low paying, insecure and unskilled
jobs. Women's problems do not stop at the workplace.
When we come home they have to face another shift of housework
with little help from their husbands or boyfriends.
If this is not enough, women have to deal with violence. Thousands
of women a year are raped, beaten or emotionally abused.
WOMEN ARE EQUAL TO MEN
Conservatives argue that women's oppression is natural. They
say that women are biologically inferior to men. For example, right-
winger's say that women are less intelligent than men are or less
capable of doing certain tasks.
There is no evidence that women are inferior to men. This
argument is a lie pushed by the bosses!
WHAT CAUSES WOMEN'S OPPRESSION?
The root of women's oppression lies in the division of society
into classes.
Women's oppression is in the direct interest of capitalism and the
State. By giving women the worst work, with no job security and low
wages, the bosses create a super- cheap workforce, which they can
hire and fire at will.
Bosses keep their labour costs low and their profits high by
hiring women as casual or part- time workers and denying them rights
and benefits- such as maternity rights.
Bosses use women's oppression to divide the working class and keep
all wages low. Cheap women workers can be used to threaten male
workers.
Male workers are warned not to fight for higher wages and better
conditions because if they do the bosses will hire cheaper women
workers. This causes resentment between male and women workers and
prevents them from organising against the real enemy- the boss.
Women's unpaid work in the household supplies bosses with the
next generation of workers at no extra costs. Women do the cooking,
cleaning and child rearing for free. Women workers also take care of
the sick and the elderly in the same way.
The bosses' say that paying women low wages is fair because men
are the main bread- winners in the family. But most working class
women work as well as do all the housework.
Because women are paid lower wages they are often dependent on
men. This can be very serious if women find themselves in abusive
relationships.
HOW DO SEXIST IDEAS SPREAD?
Because bosses benefit from women's oppression they want to
ensure that sexist ideas spread to the rest of society.
The bosses' powerful media (newspapers, radio, television, books,
and advertisements) promotes sexist ideas by providing hateful and
exploitative ideas and images of women. The media promotes ideas that
say women are inferior and those women's oppression or abuse is
justified.
Many working class men start to believe these lies told by the
ruling class. They believe that women are inferior to themselves and
treat women badly.
DOES CULTURE JUSTIFY OPPRESSION?
Some people say that women must accept their inferior position
in society because it is part of their culture. This is very
problematic.
Women play an important part in their culture. Women have the
right to strive for liberation within in their own cultures. Women
have the right to shape and change the cultures to which they belong.
If something in a culture oppresses women, we oppose it- just like
we oppose anything that oppresses women.
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