Feminism for the 99%

1. Feminism for the 99% rejects corporate feminism and calls for a radical transformation

"We have no interest in breaking the glass ceiling while leaving the vast majority to clean up the shards."

Rejecting "lean-in" feminism. This new feminist wave aims to dismantle the capitalist system that perpetuates gender oppression, rather than simply advocating for more women in positions of power. It recognizes that true liberation cannot be achieved within the existing economic and social structures.

Advocating for systemic change. Feminism for the 99% calls for:

• Addressing the needs of poor and working-class women
• Fighting against racism and xenophobia
• Opposing economic exploitation and environmental destruction
• Championing the rights of LGBTQ+ individuals and people with disabilities

This approach seeks to unite diverse struggles under a common anticapitalist banner, recognizing that gender oppression intersects with other forms of systemic inequality.

2. Capitalism exploits social reproduction, creating a crisis of care

"Social reproduction is therefore a feminist issue. But it is shot through at every point by the fault lines of class, race, sexuality, and nation."

Understanding social reproduction. This concept encompasses the activities necessary to sustain human life and society, including:

• Childrearing and family care
• Education and healthcare
• Maintaining communities and social bonds
• Reproducing the workforce for capitalist production

The crisis of care. Capitalism systematically undervalues and exploits this essential work:

• Women perform the majority of unpaid care labor
• Public support for social services is continuously cut
• The "two-earner family" model increases the burden on women
• Commodification of care work leads to precarious, low-paid jobs

This crisis disproportionately affects women, especially those from marginalized communities, creating a cycle of exploitation and inequality.

3. Gender violence is rooted in capitalism's social and economic structures

"Capitalism tries to regulate sexuality. We want to liberate it."

Systemic nature of gender violence. Under capitalism, gender violence is not an aberration but a structural condition:

• Intimate partner violence reflects contradictions in family and personal life
• Workplace harassment stems from economic and professional vulnerability
• Sexual assault is weaponized to maintain social control and racial hierarchies

Inadequacy of current responses. Conventional approaches fail to address the root causes:

• Carceral feminism disproportionately targets marginalized communities
• Market-based solutions like microcredit increase women's dependence on creditors
• Both approaches ignore the need for economic autonomy and social support

A comprehensive approach must tackle the interconnected forms of violence perpetuated by capitalism, including economic, state, and environmental violence.

4. Liberal feminism fails to address systemic inequalities and serves corporate interests

"Liberal feminism supplies the perfect alibi for neoliberalism."

Limitations of liberal feminism. This approach:

• Focuses on individual advancement within existing structures
• Promotes a market-centered view of equality
• Ignores socioeconomic constraints faced by most women
• Outsources oppression to less privileged women (e.g., migrant caregivers)

Corporate co-optation. Liberal feminism has been weaponized to:

• Provide cover for regressive neoliberal policies
• Promote "diversity" without challenging fundamental inequalities
• Valorize individual success stories while ignoring systemic issues
• Legitimize imperialist interventions in the name of women's rights

This form of feminism ultimately serves to maintain the status quo, benefiting a small elite while leaving the majority of women behind.

5. Anticapitalist feminism must unite with other social movements for collective liberation

"Feminism for the 99 percent calls on all radical movements to join together in a common anticapitalist insurgency."

Building alliances. This approach seeks to unite with:

• Environmental movements
• Anti-racist and anti-imperialist struggles
• Labor unions and workers' rights organizations
• LGBTQ+ rights advocates
• Movements for public services and social housing

Overcoming divisions. By focusing on shared anticapitalist goals, this feminism aims to:

• Bridge the gap between "identity politics" and "class politics"
• Recognize the interconnectedness of various forms of oppression
• Build solidarity across diverse communities and experiences
• Create a broad-based global insurgency against capitalism

This strategy recognizes that gender liberation cannot be achieved in isolation but requires a fundamental transformation of society as a whole.

6. Capitalism's ecological crisis disproportionately affects women and marginalized communities

"The climate change now threatening the planet is a direct outgrowth of capital's historic resort to fossilized energy in order to power its signature mass-production industrial factories."

Gendered impacts of environmental destruction. Women, especially in the Global South, bear the brunt of ecological crises:

• 80% of climate refugees are women
• Women are responsible for the majority of agricultural labor and household resource management
• Poor women of color are disproportionately affected by environmental racism

Women-led environmental activism. Examples include:

• Water Protectors fighting against pipeline construction
• Struggles against privatization of water and seeds
• Movements for sustainable farming and biodiversity preservation

These movements demonstrate the inseparability of ecological and social justice, challenging the capitalist logic that prioritizes profit over planetary and human well-being.

7. Feminist internationalism opposes imperialism and promotes true democracy

"To the state bureaucrats and financial managers, both male and female, who purport to justify their warmongering by claiming to liberate brown and black women, we say: Not in our name."

Rejecting imperialist feminism. This approach:

• Opposes the use of women's rights to justify military interventions
• Challenges the notion that women in power automatically advance feminist goals
• Recognizes the harm done to women by war, occupation, and economic exploitation

Promoting global solidarity. Feminist internationalism seeks to:

• Build connections between women's struggles across borders
• Challenge the global economic order that perpetuates inequality
• Support democratic movements against authoritarian regimes
• Advocate for the rights of migrants and refugees

This vision of feminism recognizes that true liberation requires dismantling not only patriarchy but also the imperialist and capitalist structures that sustain global inequalities.

8. The feminist strike movement revives militant activism and expands the concept of labor

"By making visible the indispensable role played by gendered, unpaid work in capitalist society, it draws attention to activities from which capital benefits, but for which it does not pay."

Reinventing the strike. The new feminist strike movement:

• Combines workplace actions with marches, demonstrations, and boycotts
• Withdraws both paid and unpaid labor, including domestic work and emotional labor
• Connects struggles for workers' rights with broader social issues

Expanding labor politics. This approach:

• Challenges the traditional divide between workplace and "private" issues
• Highlights the importance of social reproduction in sustaining capitalism
• Unites diverse forms of resistance against neoliberal attacks on public services

By broadening the concept of labor and strike action, this movement creates new possibilities for challenging capitalist exploitation and building solidarity across different sectors of society.

9. Racism and colonialism are integral to capitalism and must be fought alongside sexism

"A feminism that is truly anti-racist and anti-imperialist must also be anticapitalist."

Historical roots of racial capitalism. The system relies on:

• Colonial plunder and enslavement
• Ongoing expropriation of racialized communities
• Global division of labor based on racial hierarchies

Contemporary manifestations. Racism and imperialism persist through:

• Debt-fueled land grabs in the Global South
• Hyper-exploitation of racialized workers
• Disproportionate impacts of austerity on communities of color
• Use of racist and xenophobic rhetoric to divide the working class

Anticapitalist feminism must actively challenge these structures, recognizing that gender liberation cannot be achieved without dismantling racial and colonial oppression.

10. Capitalism regulates sexuality, necessitating a broader vision of sexual liberation

"Capitalism tries to regulate sexuality. We want to liberate it."

Capitalist control of sexuality. This manifests through:

• Enforcing gender binarism and heteronormativity
• Commodifying sexual expression and identity
• Co-opting LGBTQ+ rights for corporate and imperialist agendas
• Fueling reactionary backlashes against sexual liberation

Towards true sexual freedom. Anticapitalist feminism advocates for:

• Liberation from normative family forms and gender roles
• Challenging the commercialization of sexuality and relationships
• Supporting diverse forms of kinship and community
• Ensuring material conditions that enable genuine sexual autonomy

This approach recognizes that true sexual liberation requires not only legal rights but also the transformation of social and economic structures that constrain human relationships and self-expression.

Last updated: September 22, 2024