Women In Complexity #1: Human-Labor in Capitalism
Women, undoubtedly, are facing such a huge amount of disaster through this pandemic. I literally read so many different kinds of articles that said similar things that women are facing the double-trouble on this pandemic, even right when it started. The title that came up like–Women are more affected by the austerity of COVID-19 physically and mentally–and such else like that just too often has been written all over the media publications. Leaving for such a small example that in pre-pandemic, we were also carried the way that we have to show up at our work or some important meetings even in our menstruation days. Some of the companies don’t even give a single shot about menstrual leave rights which also brings us to the various rights demands on women workers that were voiced a million times long before the pandemic. And while the pandemic is still rolling on up until now, the clearer we can see how this problem occurs.
When we are talking about women in gender studies, we’re also talking about the marginalized or the oppressed ones. Such as working-class and lower-income people. Or just some people who do not have access to whatsoever. So the utmost question right now is, what is actually caused the disaster of women or the working-class or the ones who marginalized by systematic oppression? It’s none other than capitalism.
Capitalism is playing the most part in every country that applies a system of capital owners and workers. The current pandemic provides space for a huge evaluation for the capitalist world regarding the economic crisis that has occurred along with the weakening of social and monetary interactions that occur between countries. The capitalist world seems to be in a state of fragility, which in the end brings a shift towards various “remedies” that can be undertaken to respond to the crisis. Some of them are cutting off the workers, wages and leave allowance deductions, endless working hours, cutting access and profits, etc, you name it. This pandemic just showed the clarification or the visibility of capitalism itself which interconnects much to a “power relation”. Working-class depends only on the fear of dying from a virus or dying from being unable to handle poverty.
“The human body and labor-power it contains is the greatest machine ever ‘invented’ by capitalism.” — Silvia Federici
On the other side, we cannot separate the role of gender inequality that is increasingly felt today. Although perhaps this has become the main focus of many feminists who define capitalism as the main problem, just as stated in the book Feminism for the 99% by Tithi Bhattacharya. The main role of women is closely related to the social reproductive system. Women who do more visibility on the matter of social reproduction can be seen such as the life-making activity such as being a nurse, teacher, a mother, emotional stabler for family, etc. The role of social reproduction seems to give unequal weight to women because of the gender identity determined by existing social norms. This is in line with the role of capitalism which has a significant impact on working-class women, whose roles are increasingly multiplying to earn a living, uphold social reproduction while maintaining their own security from the spread of the virus.
Working-class isn’t only affected by not fed emotionally and mentally secured by the capitalists. But also their lives are at stake due to the intersectional problem that each people’s face on public health access. Inadequate access to health, provision of unequal health care facilities — talking about this pandemic cannot be separated from an intersectional view. This shows that the role of government is still upholding the main role of the application of human labor to the broader community and centering capitalists as the main way. At the point where the government is going forward, it’s difficult for us to even moving forward in a convenient situation.
“Capitalism privatizes life, but it also socializes death.”
