The Theory of Women’s Emancipation

The theory according to which women gain equal rights with men in terms of politics, economy, culture and education, personal emancipation, etc., and all phenomena that make women subordinate to men are abolished.

The woman question arose gradually with the emergence of private property and patriarchy: women were excluded from the process of production of the material means of society, and were in a position of being dominated and enslaved, responsible only for the production of the offspring and performing petty housework. With the development of capitalism and the rise of the anti-feudal movement, the women’s emancipation movement surged up day by day. French utopian socialist Fourier was the first who put forth the idea of women’s emancipation. He criticized capitalism for treating women as commodities as well as its marriage system for oppressing the women, etc., and “was the first to express the idea that the degree of women’s emancipation in any society is the natural measure of universal emancipation.” Marx and Engels assimilated Fourier’s reasonable ideas, proved the relationship between women’s emancipation and the emancipation of the proletariat from the perspective of historical materialism, and put forth the idea that women’s emancipation would be realized along with the emancipation of proletariat. In The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Engels explored the historical conditions of women’s emancipation. The subjective condition for women’s emancipation lies in the awakening of women themselves, while its objective conditions are: first, the abolition of the capitalist private property, thus the abolition of all systems of exploitation; second, the transformation of domestic work from being performed manually by individuals (chiefly by women) within the family to being a part of social production, and women’s participation in social production just like men. Lenin also said: “The real emancipation of women, real communism, will begin only when a mass struggle (led by the proletariat which is in power) is started against this petty domestic economy, or rather when it is transformed on a mass scale into large-scale socialist economy.” So long the proletariat does not fight for the complete freedom of women, the complete freedom of the class cannot be achieved, let alone the emancipation of mankind. In the practice of socialist revolution and construction, Chinese communists have continuously pushed forward the process of women’s emancipation and have enriched the idea of women’s emancipation in practice.

Women’s emancipation is the measure of the emancipation of mankind and an important component of the emancipation of the class, the society and the mankind. The most fundamental hallmark of women’s emancipation is that, politically, the women gain the right to vote and to be elected on an equal footing with men, as well as the right to participate in political power, to manage state and social affairs, etc.; and, economically, enjoy the same employment opportunities and remuneration as men, etc. The conditions for women’s emancipation include: first, women’s emancipation is an important component of the cause of the emancipation of the proletariat. The fundamental cause for women’s oppression lies in the male monopoly caused by private property, and that women become a particular means of production, commodities privately owned by men. As long as capitalist private property exists, the fate of women’s oppression cannot be changed. Only with the abolition of the exploitation of both men and women by capital and the abolition of the private property can the broad masses of women realize fundamental social emancipation. Therefore, the emancipation of the proletariat is the premise for women’s emancipation, and the emancipation of women is the yardstick for the emancipation of the proletariat. Second, women’s participation in social labor and the socialization of housework are the prerequisites for women’s emancipation. People’s social position is ultimately determined by the mode of production and economic situation, and so long the women are excluded from social production, there will be no equality of women and men in a real sense. The equality of women and men can only be realized when private housework is transformed into a public industry and women participate in social activities on a large scale. Third, equal right to education. In the private property society, women cannot gain equal right to education, which inhibits women to give play to their talent and part, and aggravates the oppression and exploitation of women. Receiving education and improving their cultural quality on an equal footing are important conditions for women’s emancipation. Fourth, the awakening of women themselves and the conviction that “the times have changed, men and women are the same”, self-esteem and self-empowerment are the subjective conditions for women’s emancipation.

Marxist theory of women’s emancipation has scientifically expounded the laws of emergence and development of the woman question and pointed out the correct path and direction for its development, and is an important theoretical weapon for the proletariat and the proletarian parties for resolving the woman question.