"The machines, the modern mode of production, slowly undermined domestic production and not just for thousands but for millions of women the question arose: Where do we now find our livelihood?"
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Industrial progress arrives here not as a triumphal steam engine but as a quiet eviction notice. Zetkin frames mechanization as “slowly” undermining domestic production, a tempo that matters: this isn’t a single shock but a drawn-out corrosion that makes adaptation harder, resistance more diffuse, and blame easier to deflect. The sentence is structured like a widening lens - from “thousands” to “millions” - turning what might be dismissed as household disruption into a mass political constituency.
Her key move is to treat “domestic production” as real production, not sentimental “women’s work.” By naming it as an economic system with a “livelihood,” she exposes how industrial capitalism didn’t simply liberate women from the home; it stripped the home of its economic function while offering women no guaranteed foothold in the wage economy. That final question - “Where do we now find our livelihood?” - is rhetorical, but it’s also a recruitment device. It pushes women from private worry into public demand: if survival is now a social problem, it requires social solutions.
Context sharpens the intent. Zetkin, a leading Marxist feminist in Germany’s Social Democratic movement and later the Communist Party, was arguing that women’s oppression couldn’t be solved by moral appeals or piecemeal charity. The subtext is class war with a gendered face: machines don’t just rearrange jobs; they reorder dependency. The question isn’t merely about employment. It’s about who gets to live without begging permission - from husbands, bosses, or the market.
Her key move is to treat “domestic production” as real production, not sentimental “women’s work.” By naming it as an economic system with a “livelihood,” she exposes how industrial capitalism didn’t simply liberate women from the home; it stripped the home of its economic function while offering women no guaranteed foothold in the wage economy. That final question - “Where do we now find our livelihood?” - is rhetorical, but it’s also a recruitment device. It pushes women from private worry into public demand: if survival is now a social problem, it requires social solutions.
Context sharpens the intent. Zetkin, a leading Marxist feminist in Germany’s Social Democratic movement and later the Communist Party, was arguing that women’s oppression couldn’t be solved by moral appeals or piecemeal charity. The subtext is class war with a gendered face: machines don’t just rearrange jobs; they reorder dependency. The question isn’t merely about employment. It’s about who gets to live without begging permission - from husbands, bosses, or the market.
Quote Details
| Topic | Work |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
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