In Russia and China, while the most advanced section of the working class was the industrial proletariat, the revolutions in these countries were brought about by an appeal which was also able to mobilise the peasantry. Similarly in contemporary West European politics we must not neglect the aspirations of the traditionally more backward sections of the working class, the most sizeable part of which is composed of women workers.
The present increased demand for economic equality and equal opportunity strikes at the economic base of capitalism and while it is possible for this demand to be met under the present set-up it will also lead to an important strengthening and unity of the working class which cannot be achieved while men and women are squabbling among themselves for the crumbs from the employers table.
It is important to know something of the conditions leading to
‘women's present position in order to assess some of the merits of a
campaign for equality. This field has been fairly well covered by Engels » in "The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State", and by Bebel in "Women Under Socialism".
The relations between men and women have materially changed in the previous course of development of society, and it goes without saying that _ with further changes in the system of production and distribution, the relations. between the sexes are bound to change again.
Mankind has developed through the stages of savagery where both poly= andry and polygamy were practised, barbarism where marriage was restricted to those within the same age group and civilisation during which monogamy was developed, Certain marriage forms of previous stages have inevitably been carried forward into the present stage.
In primitive society it is probable that the family existed in.a very different form from today with readily dissoluble unions and also that descent was reckoned in the female line, since it may more readily be determined who is a child's mother than its father. Children did not belong to * one couple but to a family group. The study of history and indeed of tribes renote from civilisation even today shows that the relation between the sexes was completely different from the present status quo. As each stage of economic development has its own condition of production, so likewise each has its own code of morais, which is a reflection of the social condition.
When descent in the female line was replaced by descent in the male line woman became a slave. Men purchasedtheir wives and their chastitywomen became a commodity on the market. A major selling point being her ' chastity, restrictions were placed upon her before and after marriage.
How did it happen that women found themselves placed in this position? Ironically it was due to some extent to their prowess in the domestication of animals and in the development of primitive crafts and agriculture. The goods so produced being originally owned communally became eventually the object of competition and warfare among peoples at differing stages of development. The acquisition of property became important and man the warrior wanted to make sure that his own children inherited his wealth and hence laid restrictions upon his wife to make sure that they were his own children. Hence the demands of inheritance based upon the ownership of private property led to women occupying an inferior social position because of their role as mothers. .Even in social strata where no-one owned property the desire to do . so usually resulted in their accepting the same norms as the middle and upper classes. This situation was reinforced by the law of the land.
With the further development of the means of production women became even more alienated. Productive and cultural activities took place outside the home = by now considered as the woman's sphere - in Greece a stege was reached when there were three categories of women ~ wives, prostitutes and intellectual companions, the three categories being mutually exclusive.
The Industrial Revolution should have brought about the emancipation of women with its techniques of mass production and development of so-called
labour saving devices, but instead it doubled their oppression. The importance of the family unit as a centre of production dwindled away to nothing. The new woman had to work under the double yoke of working for a living and of household duties.
By saying that a woman's primary role is that assigned to her by her biological function i.e. motherhood the ruling class has obscured the class struggle with sex competition. Working class women often feel that they have more in common with the wives and daughters of the rich than with the sons and husbands of the working class. Hence they have become a pool of cheap labour holding down the wages of all and the tightly knit family has become the arena in which the ideology of the status quo is passed on to the next generation.
How are we going to attack the system which perpetrates such injustices, where in this country 6 million women are without equal pay, where family planning advice is still mainly provided on an ad hoc basis by voluntary organisations and where girls are educated to consider marriags a career and the height of their. ambition.
It is not a question which can be conveniently filed away under the general heading ‘the fight for socialism’, any more than the aspirations of the black people can be dismissed with the slogan ‘worlers of the world unite'. Just as the oppression of the black people is the product of the imperialist stage af development and is reinforced by an ability to distin~ guish them by skin colouration; so the oppression of women is the product of on earlier stage of development including feudalism and capitalism and is . made easier by the ability to classify people according to their biological function.
However, it is not necessary to fall into the trap of some of the early feminists, who believed that equality could only be achieved by childless women. Having children is an important social task, it is not illness and should not be a misfortune for which a woman is financially penalized, both during her confinement due to loss of earnings and during the rest of her life by lower wage rates. —
Women must look to their own strength to rectify the situation. It is no more feasible for women to expect men to liberate them, than it is feas~ ible for the black people to expect it from the white liberals. One of the most important demends is for economic equality, voiced in the slogan "Equal pay for work of equal value", since this could lead net only to a change in women's position but also to a radical change in the distribution of wealth, if we could ensure that the cost of equal pay is paid for from the employers' profits, rather than by being taken from nsn's wage packets. Such a step must have the active support of the Trade Unions. in order to make women more T.U. conscious, a link must be made between wmen's awareness of oppression and the need to be organised industrially. In this respect organisations such as NJACWER (National Joint Action Campaign for Wonen's Equel Rights. Secretary Mrs. Jean Watt, 4 Raisbeck Court, 26 ficsendale Road, West Dulwich, London $.E.21.) are invaluable, since trey proviés a meeting point for those people active in the field of women's riahts, both inside and outside the trade unions. NJACWER is also an important: pressure group
on the woman question which might otherwise be swallowed up in the general fight for socialism and better working conditions.
4n important corollary to the demand of equal pay is that for equal . opportunity and training. Not oniy should women have the right to work, whether married or not, but the opportunity should be there in the form of _ equal access. to all jobs and training schemes and also in the form of - extensive child care facilities to enable women to take advantage of these opportunities.
It is hoped that we are now at the’ starting point in the education of the contemporary left on women's rights, since en understanding of the problem is critical to any socialist programme and in most countries of the world it has been much neglected.
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