Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism

1. Capitalism disproportionately harms women's economic autonomy

Unregulated capitalism is bad for women, and if we adopt some ideas from socialism, women will have better lives.

Competitive labor markets discriminate against those whose reproductive biology makes them primarily responsible for childbearing. Women face higher rates of unemployment, poverty, and economic deprivation globally. They are often the last to be hired and first to be fired, and when employed, are paid less than men.

Unpaid care work subsidizes capitalism. When states slash spending on education, healthcare, and pensions, women must pick up the slack by diverting their energies to care for the young, sick, and elderly. This unpaid labor supports lower taxes, allowing higher profits for those already at the top of the income ladder - mostly men.

Gender pay gaps persist even as women make up the majority of college graduates in many advanced capitalist countries. Despite their education and experience, women still face barriers to top positions in government and business. Over 40 years of activism has done little to break the male stranglehold on political and economic power.

2. Socialist policies can promote gender equality and women's independence

State socialist governments reduced women's economic dependence on men by making men and women equal recipients of services from the socialist state.

Women's emancipation was fundamental to socialist ideology from its inception. Early theorists like August Bebel argued that women's liberation required their full incorporation into the labor force in societies where workers collectively owned productive infrastructure.

State socialist countries implemented policies to support women's economic independence:

• Guaranteeing employment for women
• Investing in women's education and training
• Promoting women in male-dominated professions
• Socializing domestic work and childcare through public services
• Providing extended, job-protected maternity leaves and child benefits

These policies improved women's lives in tangible ways. Maternal and infant mortality declined, life expectancy increased, and illiteracy was nearly eliminated. By decoupling love and intimacy from economic considerations, women had no economic reason to stay in abusive or unfulfilling relationships.

3. State socialism's legacy offers lessons for improving women's lives today

To move forward, we must be able to discuss the past with no ideologically motivated attempts to whitewash or blackwash either our own history or the accomplishments of state socialism.

State socialism had serious flaws, including suppression of political freedoms and economic inefficiencies. However, its policies on women's rights provide valuable lessons for advancing gender equality today.

Key policies that could be adapted include:

• Expanding public employment opportunities for women
• Providing high-quality, subsidized childcare
• Guaranteeing paid parental leave with incentives for fathers to take it
• Implementing leadership diversity quotas
• Creating universal healthcare systems
• Reducing costs of higher education

These policies would increase women's autonomy by providing more economic security and opportunities outside the home. A stronger social safety net would allow women greater freedom in their personal and professional choices.

4. Women's leadership remains limited by persistent gender stereotypes

Choose your data source, and you find the same story. Unemployment and poverty plague women with children. Employers discriminate against women without children because they might have them in the future.

Despite progress, women remain underrepresented in top leadership positions across government and business. In the U.S. in 2016, women held only 21% of board seats and 11% of top earner positions in Fortune 500 companies.

Quotas have proven effective in increasing women's representation when properly enforced. Countries with strict quotas like Norway (42%), Iceland (44%), and France (36%) have significantly higher percentages of women on corporate boards compared to those without.

Stereotypes about women leaders persist. Studies show that both men and women feel uncomfortable with women in power, viewing strong and competent women as less feminine or unpleasant. Changing these deep-seated attitudes requires exposing people to more women in leadership roles from an early age.

5. Economic independence allows women greater freedom in relationships

When women enjoy their own sources of income, and the state guarantees social security in old age, illness, and disability, women have no economic reason to stay in abusive, unfulfilling, or otherwise unhealthy relationships.

Financial autonomy grants women more choice in their personal lives. When basic needs are met through one's own income or state support, women are not forced to rely on male partners for economic security.

This independence reshapes relationship dynamics. Women can choose partners based on compatibility and mutual affection rather than financial considerations. They have more power to leave unsatisfying relationships without risking poverty.

However, economic pressures still influence many women's choices. In the absence of strong social safety nets, some women feel compelled to stay with partners who provide financial stability, even in unhealthy situations. Others may pursue relationships strategically for economic gain, as seen in the rise of "sugar dating" arrangements.

6. Sexual satisfaction may be higher in more egalitarian societies

The main concern in the East was to show citizens that socialism provided the best conditions for lasting happiness and love.

Research from former socialist countries suggests that more egalitarian economic systems may correlate with greater sexual satisfaction, especially for women. Studies in East Germany found higher rates of female orgasm and overall sexual satisfaction compared to West Germany.

Factors potentially contributing to this include:

• Women's economic independence reducing transactional elements in relationships
• Less pressure on men to be sole breadwinners
• More equitable division of domestic labor
• State support for childcare allowing more energy for intimacy
• Less commercialization of sexuality

However, these findings are complex. State socialist countries also had drawbacks like housing shortages limiting privacy. The studies may reflect ideological motivations to prove socialism's superiority. Nonetheless, they raise interesting questions about how economic systems shape intimate relationships.

7. Young women voters have the power to reshape society through democratic action

If young women don't get wise and start going to the polls to vote in their own long-term economic and political interests, they will have little power to reverse the inevitable social upheavals the future has in store.

Millennial and Gen Z voters now outnumber Baby Boomers in the U.S. electorate. By 2020, millennial voters will have huge electoral influence if they turn out to vote. Young voters, especially women, tend to favor more progressive policies.

Key issues that could mobilize young women voters:

• Expanding public employment
• Providing high-quality subsidized childcare
• Guaranteeing paid parental leave
• Implementing leadership diversity quotas
• Creating universal healthcare
• Reducing higher education costs

Beyond voting, young people can effect change by educating themselves on political theory, engaging in local organizing, and pushing back against the commodification of human relationships under capitalism. By reclaiming their time, energy, and self-worth from reductive market logic, women can establish greater "affective sovereignty" over their emotional lives.

Last updated: August 10, 2024