THE RATIONAL SUBORDINATION OF WOMEN'S LEISURE UNDER PATRIARCHAL CAPITALISM

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper advances the particular interpretation that the rationalization of both work and social life under industrialization throughout the nineteenth and into the twentieth century has had profound consequences for the leisure or women. Just as women have traditionally played a secondary role in the work force, it was “rational” that their leisure should also be secondary to men's leisure. In industrial capitalism women have less leisure space and time than do men. Also, the quality of women's leisure experience is often inferior to that of men's in that “women's work is never done”. Moreover, in the patriarchal society of Western capitalism men can be seen to have restricted the participation of wives and daughters in public leisure. Working class women may be seen to face a double burden under patriarchal capitalism as they experience both capitalist exploitation and patriarchal subordination. As a result, working class women would seem to constitute a most disadvantaged group with respect ...