Marx And Engels' Thoughts On Women's Liberation And Its Contemporary Influences

Though Marx and Engels possess no monographs on women's emancipation, they studied the evolution of women status, women problems and its regularity by using the basic method of dialectical materialism and historical materialism during their study of human history, which designates a way to women's liberation.Based on the textual research of Marx and Engels, the present thesis integrates the dispersion of women's emancipation in Marx's theory, digs out its inner logic, and places it in Marx's thoughts of human liberation while comprehending it. Marxist outlook on women is a rich and comprehensive theoretical system, in which Marx and Engels' consideration stands on the basis of establishing a free and equal society, and realizing human's free and all-round development. The formation and development of Marxist outlook on women associates the formation of historical materialism, and Marx and Engels took women's liberation as part of the whole human liberation all along. This thesis begins with Marx's two production theories and division theory, and analyzes Marxist women's emancipation. Marx holds that the production of material goods and human itself are two organic parts of social production, which are inter-depended and indivisible and together to promote the development of human history. The occurrence of women problems originates from the unbalance of material production and human's reproduction. During the course of production development, the appearance of private ownership and unreasonable gender division of labor directly caused the formation of women's oppressed status. Therefore, Marxist advocates that the only way to realize gender equality is to abolish the private ownership.Western feminist takes Marxist outlook on women as their important ideological source and criticizes the economic monism of Marxist outlook on women. On the problems of women oppression,western feminist holds that both patriarchy and capitalist system are the roots of women oppression, and they reappraise women's housework in private sphere and have explored various ways of women's liberation. Though to some degree, western feminist's interpretation on Marxist outlook on women deviates from Marxism itself, the positive role that feminist played is affirmed. Marxist outlook on women and western feminist's value pursuit are the same, which is to pursue the fairness and justice of human two sexes, and finally to promote human's comprehensive development and advancement. Marxist outlook on women and western feminist also got common development through mutual learning.Facing the censure of post-modern feminist, what shall western feminist do? How far away is law from reality on gender equality? What is the outlet of women's liberation? Marx once proposed that women's liberation was a long historical process, and with the development of productivity, women's liberation will certainly be realized. Referring to the analysis of present women problems, Marxism is the only end-result of women's pursuit of human rights.