Research On Women’s Emancipation Thought Of Marx And Engels

Women’s struggle for gender equality in politics, the economy and culture is a quest not limited to feminism but tantamount to a calling for freedom and full development of individuals and human kind common to society at-large. Women’s emancipation thoughts are inspired by Marxist thinking on female emancipation. Following the successful realization of women’s rights in socialist countries and demands of their promotion in Western countries, the discourse on women’s emancipation in works of Marx and Engels has attracted both public and scholarly attention. And its scientific and revolutionary nature directs the way to truth as well.With the guidance of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, based on the works of Marx and Engels, absorbing and learning from present theoretical achievements, this dissertation explores in depth the social and historical conditions, sources and bases of theories of women’s emancipation thought of Marx and Engels, evaluating their impact in both history and contemporary society.The birth and development of women’s emancipation thought of Marx and Engels is synchronous and inseparable with that of Marxism. Concurrently with the advance of superior productive forces underlying capitalism in Europe, women’s awareness of their political, economic and social psychological context provided a fertile ground for emancipatory thinking. The perspective on female emancipation put forward by Marx and Engels was inspired by ancient Greek mythology, humanism, the Enlightenment, German philosophical anthropology, as well as discourses advanced among bourgeois-democratic and utopian-socialist communities.Historical materialism and its theory of surplus value offer a solid ground for the theory on female emancipation proposed by Marx and Engels. In the view of historical materialism, the imbalance between material production and human production is attributable to the enslavement and oppression of women. Taking the perspective of surplus value, theories of alienation and fetishism illustrate the reasons for the stigma of women as an inferior gender with a disadvantaged destiny. In this view, rather than having a capability of self-liberation, women’s emancipation can only be achieved if women re-define themselves as members of the proletariat, demolish private ownership as well as privacy-based class oppression. In other words, women’s emancipation follows the same historical path as that of the proletariat.The thinking on female emancipation proposed by Marx and Engels is profound. Marx and Engels restore women to realistic human beings and indicate the necessities of women’s involvement in social works. Practically, female emancipation is a function of the power of the proletariat. Three guiding questions are posed to detail the stages (economic, political, cultural and social) and overall objectives of the female emancipation movement:"What is the emancipation of women?","Why is women’s emancipation needed?" and "How can women’s emancipation be implemented?". These questions touch upon five integrated aspects of physiology, politics, economy, cultural as well as the social system.Influencing current Chinese and Western thoughts by its practical, scientific and innovative nature, women’s emancipation thought of Marx and Engels contributes much to the theoretical, practical and systematic build-up of the Chinese Communist Party. It serves as a key source of orientation of Chinese policy on women’s emancipation, guides the direction in China, and lays the cornerstone of women’s movement theory as well as the practice of socialism with Chinese characteristics. Meanwhile, both in communication and opposition to Western feminism, theories on female emancipation proposed by Marx and Engels have been gradually adapted, modified and further developed by various feminist schools.Throughout thirty years of reform and opening up, women’s emancipation has made appealing achievements but a number of problems persist. Feudal ideology and misguidance of consumerism may be seen as the major obstacles faced by the female emancipation process. Marx and Engels’ ideas on female liberation have powerfully awoken women’s self-awareness while advancing legislation security and a struggle for essential rights. It has accelerated more political involvement and promoted financial freedom and independence of, for and by women. Women’s emancipation movements have grown strongly across the world. International organizations including the United Nations advance the cause of women’s emancipation with great efforts. The roots of movements for female emancipation in various nations working under distinct social and historical conditions can be traced to the glamorous heritage of the theory on female liberation proposed by Marx and Engels.The latter initiated Marxist women theories, which served as ideological tools for women’s struggles at the time, while also inspiring and fertilizing capitalist women’s emancipation movements. Finally, Marx and Engels’ liberation theory is closely linked to the notion of a free and holistic development of human beings, being as one of primary perspectives and ingredients, which represent variations of studies and thought patterns introduced by Marxist anthropology. Marx and Engels’ thinking on female emancipation guides the harmonious and healthy development of human society by theoretically underpinning policies on female emancipation in China.