Name: Feminism for the 99 Percent
ISBN: 9781788734424

Nancy Fraser

Tithi Bhattacharya

Cinzia Arruzza

Named one of Vogue's "Most Anticipated Books of 2019" This is a manifesto for the 99 percent Unaffordable housing, poverty wages, inadequate healthcare, border policing, climate change--these are not what you ordinarily hear feminists talking about. But aren't they the biggest issues for the vast majority of women around the globe? Taking as its inspiration the new wave of feminist militancy that has erupted globally, this manifesto makes a simple but powerful case: feminism shouldn't start--or stop--with the drive to have women represented at the top of their professions. It must focus on those at the bottom, and fight for the world they deserve. And that means targeting capitalism. Feminism must be anticapitalist, eco-socialist and antiracist.

A Manifesto

Feminism for the 99 Percent

Rebecca

This is definitely a manifesto, not a primer. As such, it’s a highly academic call-to-arms with no real actionable steps to it. While it makes sense for what it is, its not as effective as I think it could be due to the complexity of the language and concepts. I wanted it to be more accessible in its language and structure and more action-oriented rather than theoretical and academic. Still, that’s what I wanted it to be, not what it promised to be. I’d say it delivered on being a manifesto but it feels like I could’ve skimmed a web page and come away with the same level of information honestly.

Katarína Fialová

Caroline Lewicki

For a book marketed at the 99%, I found this book painfully inaccessible. At times I felt stupid reading it. There was so much that I didn't understand but desperately want to. I don't think this is a book meant to educate someone or invite them into the notion of Feminism for the 99% - it's really better for someone who's already an expert in the subject. I agree with so many of the ideas put forth in the book but I thought the presentation was not meant for me.

Julia A.

Sí a todo. Pero yo ya estaba convencida.

Kathleen Boyle

This was a very interesting and informative read. However, I feel that the authors give little to no explanation on certain concepts and words that will sometimes go over a reader's head if they aren't well versed in the subject. I understood parts but the odd paragraph did throw me off. It's not as accessible as it probably should be but there is no denying that is highly researched.

Sophie Shrimpton

An invigorating refresher. Though I didn't learn anything substantially new, the manifesto structured information in a compelling and persuasive way. A classic of Marxist feminism. It was extremely satisfying to hear someone tear down liberal feminism - aka "equal opportunity domination" - so systematically.

The only reason I gave it four stars instead of five is due to the lack of guidance/solutions. I know it's trendy now to say "solutions will emerge out of the struggle". Process-oriented solutions are fine, but they have to be a bit more concrete than that. How do you stop "the struggle" from producing totalitarian state socialisms or fascist demagogues like other "struggles"? How do we approach the struggle in an anti-oppressive way? 

Audiobook 'read'.

Some ideas/facts:
70% of climate refugees are women

Capitalism subordinates "people-making" (social reproduction) to "profit-making" (economic production). Earlier societies did not have a sharp division between the two.

Strikes led by immigrant and Jewish women inspired the first International Women's Day - and now look how liberal/apolitical it has become

Reproductive labour strikes look like rescinding housework, sex and smiles. Feminists redemocratise strikes as belonging to all of the working class, not a select few (e.g. not just those engaged in economic production).

Marxist feminism an alternative to corporate/liberal identity politics on the left (oligarchy under the veneer of emancipation) and reactionary, racist nationalism on the right

Social reproduction also includes struggle for things like public housing, transportation, education, medicine etc

Sexual liberation in the form of hook-ups and woman doing what they want - actually still defined by men determining how women should look. Claiming ownership over sexuality is pressuring girls to pleasure boys. 

Hard to implement Marxist teachings now because (a) fragmented and heterogenous society that is hard to unite and (b) we have seen it go wrong many times e.g. Stalinism, European nationalism, authoritarian regimes after anti-colonial struggle

Taiwanese legal case - Luo. She sued her son for the cost of raising him because he refused to return the favour and care for her in her old age. She won ~$1 million



French and Russian Revolution began with bread riots led by women

Finance capital lives off sovereign debt, which it uses to deny even moderate amounts of social democratic provision. This coerces states to implement austerity policies. 

Contradiction between the imperative of accumulation and the requirements of social reproduction. Demands increased working hours and less public services, externalises care work onto families and communities while reducing their ability to perform it. Results in outsourcing care work onto less privileged others - creates a global chain of care work. Dualised organisation of social reproduction: commodified for those who can pay for it and privatised for those who cannot.

Hidde

Some interesting and compelliing arguments. More anti capitalist than feminist, though. Doesn't explore the things they don't agree in sufficient detail, which made this text mostly suitable to people who already agree with the premises.

Feminism for the 99 Percent A Manifesto