Rethinking Gender Equality Strategy: A Critical Reflection on the Collusion of Liberal Feminism and Financialized Capitalism

Abstract

This paper addresses the global reproduction crisis, which means social resources that should be allocated to reproductive activities are compressed, leading to intensified reproductive burdens mainly carried out by women. Liberal feminism, through its alignment with financialized capitalism, has failed to address these challenges meaningfully. Through a literature review of essential liberal feminist writings and a discourse analysis informed by Social Reproduction Theory—a feminist extension of Marx’s critique of political economy—this study examines how the alignment between liberal feminism and financialized capitalism both expropriates and commodifies reproductive labor while simultaneously eroding the welfare state’s support for social reproduction. By asking how liberal feminism’s gender equality strategies underpin structural economic transformations, the paper finds that the struggle for equal gender rights has devolved into a fight for the equal right to be exploited. In other words, the interpretation of women’s emancipation is reduced to mere market participation. Additionally, this paper discussed whether a more inclusive and transformative approach to gender equality is possible. Drawing on Social Reproduction Theory, this paper suggests that such an approach must prioritize the recognition and redistribution of reproductive labor and advocate for a radical reorganization of societal priorities, transcending the limitations of liberal feminism.