A hand turns the last two dice in a row of five, changing the expression "all mine" to "all ours".

Zaire Brown

Many find themselves slowly replacing the oppressor on the journey to liberation.

Under a capitalist structure, society purports financial and corporate successes as the epitome of women’s liberation.

Many believe that feminism has done its job when there are more female employees than male or when the C-suite is predominantly comprised of women.

However, the purpose of “smashing the patriarchy” is not to replace it with a matriarchy.

Somewhere along the line, a movement that once called for the eradication of oppressive systems such as capitalism has now woven its goals with capitalist advancement.

And it begs the question: Is feminism futile in a capitalist society?

Feminism’s roots in anti-capitalism

At its core, feminism is anti-capitalist. Intersectional feminism calls for equality irrespective of gender, race or socioeconomic status.

In 1974, Barbara Smith founded the Combahee River Collective in Boston, and three years later, the CRC released a statement declaring: “We realize that the liberation of all oppressed peoples necessitates the destruction of the political-economic systems of capitalism and imperialism…” 

I will admit, I understand how capitalist advancement became a beacon of women’s equality and rights.

It wasn’t until 1974 that women in the U.S. – and 1975 in the UK – could get a credit card in their name or buy homes without a male guarantor.

For a while, access to capital was quite liberating for women, especially as women were shut out of the workforce for a while.

But we must be reminded that corporate success and economic achievement in a capitalist society will not bring forth collective liberation.

Girlboss, Gaslight…Gatekeep

In an interview with Time Magazine, Kimberlé Crenshaw said that intersectional feminism is “basically a lens (…) for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other.”

Because capitalism is inherently exploitative, someone will always have to be out-earned and/or overworked, and it’s most likely to happen to women of colour and poor women.

Due to capitalism’s exploitative nature, feminism cannot coexist with it because this exploitation of the most marginalized among us will not allow for collective freedom. 

“I cannot fight for you if I am being led to believe that you are the enemy”

And the gatekeeping nature of capitalism only fuels the fire of inequality. 

What the ‘girlboss’ might not tell you is that although she may be underpaid compared to her white male counterpart, she is probably outearning Black women and Hispanic women, who are paid 69.8 per cent and 64.6 per cent, respectively, less than white men.

Why might she not divulge this information? Because capitalism thrives on individualism, which is driven by competition, real or imagined. I cannot fight for you if I am being led to believe that you are the enemy. 

The rise of ‘Girlboss’ Feminism

“We should work toward feminism for the 99 per cent”

You may have noticed an increase in the term ‘girlboss’ within recent years, especially on social media, but she existed long before Instagram and TikTok.  

In the manifesto “Feminism for the 99%,” Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya and Nancy Fraser write: “Feminism shouldn’t start—or stop—with the drive to have women at the top of their professions.

“It must focus on those at the bottom, and fight for the world they deserve.”

The authors go on to state that we cannot continue to bolster liberal feminism, as it “links our cause with elitism and individualism” and “confuses feminism with the ascent of individual women.”

This hyper-focus on the individual and lauding of the few asserts corporate success as a harbinger of feminism and women’s liberation, which is ultimately antithetical to [intersectional] feminism.

As Arruzza, Bhattacharya, and Fraser state, we should work toward feminism for the 99 per cent – a collective liberation.

#WomenOwned does not secure our freedom 

“Money is not the great liberator“   

I certainly like to support a #BlackOwned or #WomenOwned business because I recognize that past and current systems have long barred women and non-white people from opportunities to establish economic security.

But, I am also painfully aware that money is not the great liberator, inequality does not end where consumerism begins – it often starts in the same place.

“What may seem a win for that individual woman as she ‘secures the bag’ is actually a loss for women as a whole”

Women dominate the influencer industry, with 84 per cent of content creators being women.

While at face value this may seem like a win for women, but t’s no secret that even the most mundane items can become status symbols.

However, overconsumption has been a driver of environmental degradation and climate change, according to Columbia Climate School. 

Princeton and UN have shown that women, girls and people of colour are disproportionately affected by climate change.

So, as women influencers push more as better, what may seem a win for that individual woman as she ‘secures the bag’ is a loss for women as a whole – and, indeed, not an embodiment of feminism. 

Is feminism futile in a capitalist society?

I would not go so far as to say feminism in a capitalist society is futile. If something is futile, it is “serving no useful purpose, completely ineffective.”

Even under our persistent capitalist structure, feminism has made significant accomplishments.

Thanks to women’s movements, we have the right to vote, the legal right to choose if and when to be pregnant, though some fervently try to take that away, and myriad other advancements in women’s rights.

Still, capitalist advancement cannot be our beacon of hope in the stormy seas of patriarchy.

Our goal should not be to replace current power structures, nor to ‘yassifiy‘ systems of oppression like capitalism, but to dismantle them completely.

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Featured image courtesy of  Fokussiert via Adobe Stock. No changes were made to this image. Image license found here.

Zaire Brown is a journalism student at Georgia State University, located in Atlanta, Georgia. She is passionate about using journalism and storytelling to create change.

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