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Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto by Nancy Fraser, Tithi Bhattacharya, Cinzia Arruzza
1 review
now_booking's review against another edition
challenging
informative
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
4.0
I picked this up because I consider myself a feminist but had been reading some articles about push back for modern day feminism- the feminism of “having it all” and “leaning in” and “girl boss-ing” and “leaning in” and “getting that money.” So I picked this up to see the modern alternative to a feminism that reinforces systems of oppression and subjugation of some for the empowerment of elite women or women who have elite aspirations.
Feminism for the 99% is sort of a manifesto with 11 key thesis points of what a feminism that benefits the majority (not just an elite or privileged class) should look like. In large part, the overall thrust of this book is that the blame for global dysfunction and inequalities rests on the shoulders of capitalism. As an anti-capitalist work, this manifesto posits that capitalism is exploitative and expropriative by nature and rests on the subjugation of others to increase capitalism or wealth. It argues that capitalism is not just economic, but also political, social, ecological, historical etc and that in all these ways, it creates and relies on systems of oppression and unpaid or underpaid labour and social reproduction of marginalised people. This book delves into historical structures like slavery and colonialism but also into contemporary neoliberal policies that continue to ensure that the Global North profits from the Global South, that urban profits from indigenous rural, that a capitalist system benefits from the free labour of social reproduction carried out by women, that we continue to “other” so-called “undesirables” and those who do not fit into the model of a good capitalist.
The main things I liked about this manifesto is the linkages to the gendered nature of history, the justice system, the environment, and the critiques of contemporary structures for gender and social inclusion that promote tokenism and seek to position women to continue to contribute to a broken system that rests on the backs of oppressed people. I liked that it discussed uncommon themes like the global care chain and the links between SGBV and capitalism as well as critiquing carceral feminism of the nature that seeks to use the criminal justice system to disproportionately punish perpetrators who are poor, non-white, and lower class, while protecting and covering up for richer, white perpetrators of violence. I also found thought-provoking the criticism of femocratic “women can have it all” feminism which rests on exploitative labour of poor, migrant workers who work cheaply to do the work of social reproduction that they then can’t do for their family.
For a relatively short work, it covers a lot of ground around unpaid labour, toxic masculinity and social reproduction systems focused on developing obedient, compliant labourers who don’t question the natural order of capitalism and exploitation and their role in that order whether high or low. This book is Marxist in its annihilation of capitalism as the single source of all gender and social inequality whilst also recognising and acknowledging that capitalism in the modern era goes beyond merely an economic or class distribution of capital. It provides some analysis at the end of its criticism, defining its boundaries and re-affirming its openness to engagement and criticism and modification and differentiation whilst calling for a coming together in solidarity for all the different marginalised groups to take down a capitalist system borrowing from the tools of labour and unions.
For me, I enjoyed reading this and agreed with many of its points, but at the same time, I didn’t find that it fully addressed what system would be the successor to capitalism in the modern era, especially acknowledging that gender inequality and social inequality existed in a pre-capitalist era. I liked that it promoted acknowledging the different experiences of marginalisation and spoke against homogenisation, but I didn’t quite get how that coming together of the different groups and agendas would come to place. Would the uniting rhetoric be one around capitalism alone or will all the different intersections and axes of inequality and marginalisation faced be given a voice? How in practice do individual freedoms and desires not infringe on the freedom and desires of the collective and vice-versa, in real life, when a key trait of a collectivist society can be said to be sacrificing individual wants and freedoms for the collective good? The main issue I had with this treatise, as much as I enjoyed it and as much as I agreed with most of its premises, is how this transforms to real life. If we call out the Sandbergs and other “neoliberal-in-skirt” femocrats for being part of an oppressive system, what do we say to a system where they’re not there at all? What do we say to systems that do not include or provide an opportunity for them? Do they need to leave those systems to white men and come join the rest of us on the picket line? I feel like it is a book that has a fantastic conversation and provides great ideas but ultimately leaves us where we started- depending on the charitable minds of diverse movements to unite to take down a capitalist system on which many of these movements are built and supported.
Feminism for the 99% is sort of a manifesto with 11 key thesis points of what a feminism that benefits the majority (not just an elite or privileged class) should look like. In large part, the overall thrust of this book is that the blame for global dysfunction and inequalities rests on the shoulders of capitalism. As an anti-capitalist work, this manifesto posits that capitalism is exploitative and expropriative by nature and rests on the subjugation of others to increase capitalism or wealth. It argues that capitalism is not just economic, but also political, social, ecological, historical etc and that in all these ways, it creates and relies on systems of oppression and unpaid or underpaid labour and social reproduction of marginalised people. This book delves into historical structures like slavery and colonialism but also into contemporary neoliberal policies that continue to ensure that the Global North profits from the Global South, that urban profits from indigenous rural, that a capitalist system benefits from the free labour of social reproduction carried out by women, that we continue to “other” so-called “undesirables” and those who do not fit into the model of a good capitalist.
The main things I liked about this manifesto is the linkages to the gendered nature of history, the justice system, the environment, and the critiques of contemporary structures for gender and social inclusion that promote tokenism and seek to position women to continue to contribute to a broken system that rests on the backs of oppressed people. I liked that it discussed uncommon themes like the global care chain and the links between SGBV and capitalism as well as critiquing carceral feminism of the nature that seeks to use the criminal justice system to disproportionately punish perpetrators who are poor, non-white, and lower class, while protecting and covering up for richer, white perpetrators of violence. I also found thought-provoking the criticism of femocratic “women can have it all” feminism which rests on exploitative labour of poor, migrant workers who work cheaply to do the work of social reproduction that they then can’t do for their family.
For a relatively short work, it covers a lot of ground around unpaid labour, toxic masculinity and social reproduction systems focused on developing obedient, compliant labourers who don’t question the natural order of capitalism and exploitation and their role in that order whether high or low. This book is Marxist in its annihilation of capitalism as the single source of all gender and social inequality whilst also recognising and acknowledging that capitalism in the modern era goes beyond merely an economic or class distribution of capital. It provides some analysis at the end of its criticism, defining its boundaries and re-affirming its openness to engagement and criticism and modification and differentiation whilst calling for a coming together in solidarity for all the different marginalised groups to take down a capitalist system borrowing from the tools of labour and unions.
For me, I enjoyed reading this and agreed with many of its points, but at the same time, I didn’t find that it fully addressed what system would be the successor to capitalism in the modern era, especially acknowledging that gender inequality and social inequality existed in a pre-capitalist era. I liked that it promoted acknowledging the different experiences of marginalisation and spoke against homogenisation, but I didn’t quite get how that coming together of the different groups and agendas would come to place. Would the uniting rhetoric be one around capitalism alone or will all the different intersections and axes of inequality and marginalisation faced be given a voice? How in practice do individual freedoms and desires not infringe on the freedom and desires of the collective and vice-versa, in real life, when a key trait of a collectivist society can be said to be sacrificing individual wants and freedoms for the collective good? The main issue I had with this treatise, as much as I enjoyed it and as much as I agreed with most of its premises, is how this transforms to real life. If we call out the Sandbergs and other “neoliberal-in-skirt” femocrats for being part of an oppressive system, what do we say to a system where they’re not there at all? What do we say to systems that do not include or provide an opportunity for them? Do they need to leave those systems to white men and come join the rest of us on the picket line? I feel like it is a book that has a fantastic conversation and provides great ideas but ultimately leaves us where we started- depending on the charitable minds of diverse movements to unite to take down a capitalist system on which many of these movements are built and supported.
Content Warnings
Minor: Domestic abuse, Ableism, Gaslighting, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Slavery, Transphobia, and Xenophobia
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