ABSTRACT
This chapter examines three concepts in marxist feminist theory that need to be redefined to account for the interaction of race and gender: the separation between private and public spheres; the primacy of gender conflict as a feature of the family, and the gender-based assignment of reproductive labor. It reviews the marxist feminist analysis of women’s subordination and racial-ethnic women’s experience as members of colonized minorities in the United States. The marxist feminist perspective views women’s subordination as a product of two interacting systems: patriarchy and capitalism. According to marxist feminist analysis, the sexual division of labor under capitalism is thought to take a particular form due to the separation of production of goods services from the household. The United States was initially a colonial economy which offered raw resources and land to European and American capitalists. The labor of Black and immigrant servants made possible the woman belle ideal for white middle class women.
