Marx the Feminist?

<div class="bookreview">Heather A. Brown, <em>Marx on Gender and the Family: A Critical Study</em> (Chicago: Haymarket, 2012), 323 pages, $28.00, paperback.</div><div class="bookreview">Silvia Federici, <em>Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle</em> (Oakland: PM Press, 2012), 189 pages, $15.95, paperback.</div>In the face of global economic crisis and the dismantling of social programs under austerity policies, many feminists are re-engaging Marx's critique of capitalism. This return to Marx is necessary if we are effectively to overcome gender oppression, especially since the latest trends in feminism&mdash;or at least those "fit to print" and discussed in the popular press&mdash;place the onus of equal treatment squarely on women's shoulders. Newfound feminists like Sheryl Sandberg advise women to "lean in" and adjust their behavior to suit the aggressively entrepreneurial norms rewarded in the real world that men lead. As Nancy Fraser aptly puts it, these tendencies within feminism serve as "capitalism's handmaiden": such identity-centered, cultural critiques have helped obscure capital's dependency on gendered oppressions.&hellip; Fortunately, recent scholarship by Heather Brown as well as Federici herself provides useful insights for feminists on how to reconsider Marxist theory.<p class="mrlink"><p class="mrpurchaselink"><a href="http://monthlyreview.org/index/volume-67-number-8" title="Vol. 67, No. 8: January 2016" target="_self">Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the <em>Monthly Review</em> website.</a></p>