Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto

“Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto” is a radical and revolutionary feminist manifesto published in 2019 by Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser. This work, with its sharp critical perspective and clear political stance, points out entirely new directions for 21st-century feminist movements. These three outstanding scholars and activists, through this manifesto, call for establishing a truly anti-capitalist feminist movement, resolutely rejecting “lean-in” feminism that serves elite women minorities, and instead dedicating themselves to fighting for fundamental liberation and equality for the vast majority of women.

The authors profoundly reveal two completely different routes and visions existing within contemporary feminist movements. This opposition is not merely strategic disagreement but fundamental disagreement about the basic goals and value orientations of feminist movements. They provide merciless critique of neoliberal feminism, pointing out this elite feminism’s fatal flaws: it only focuses on breaking glass ceilings, allowing a few privileged women to enter the upper levels of power, while completely ignoring the economic difficulties, social oppression, and survival challenges faced by most ordinary women. This feminism conspires with corporate power and existing exploitative systems, simplifying the complex political problems of women’s liberation into narratives of personal success, emphasizing diversity rather than true social justice, thus betraying the original intention and mission of feminist movements.

Critique of Elite Feminism

As a direct response to elite feminism, the authors propose a completely new feminist vision—feminism for the 99%. This feminism not only fights for everyone’s liberation but seeks to completely challenge the entire existing socioeconomic system. It emphasizes not individual success and advancement but collective liberation and common prosperity. This feminism pursues fundamental structural change rather than patchwork within existing systems. Most importantly, it upholds the internationalist spirit of solidarity, recognizing that the fates of oppressed women worldwide are closely connected, and only through solidarity and cooperation across borders can true women’s liberation be achieved.

The authors’ critique of corporate feminism is particularly sharp. They show how mainstream feminist discourse has been co-opted by corporate interests, transforming radical demands for structural change into management strategies for better utilizing women’s labor within existing hierarchies. This corporate feminism focuses on promoting women to leadership positions within capitalist institutions rather than questioning those institutions themselves.

The critique extends to liberal feminism’s emphasis on individual choice and empowerment. While not dismissing the importance of individual agency, the authors argue that focusing primarily on individual solutions obscures the structural nature of women’s oppression and diverts energy from collective organizing for systemic change.

Gendered Analysis of Capitalism

The authors provide a profound and comprehensive gendered analysis of capitalism, revealing how this economic system systematically oppresses and exploits women. They particularly focus on how capitalism creates and exacerbates social reproduction crises, providing an important theoretical framework for understanding the predicaments contemporary women face.

In analyzing social reproduction crisis, the authors deeply explore how capitalism destroys society’s reproductive foundations through a series of mechanisms. The systematic devaluation of care work is the core manifestation of this crisis. The capitalist system treats care labor necessary for maintaining human life and social continuity as valueless, natural female responsibility, thus escaping economic compensation and social recognition for this labor.

Continued cuts to public services further exacerbate this crisis. When governments reduce investment in public services like education, healthcare, and childcare, these responsibilities often transfer to families, particularly women, creating family overburden. This transfer leads to widespread time poverty, where women find themselves trapped in endless care responsibilities, lacking time for personal development, rest, or political participation. Ultimately, these pressures lead to the destruction of social bonds, where mutual support and community connections between people are eroded by market logic.

The gendered dimensions of exploitation show how capitalism exploits women’s labor through various mechanisms. Wage gaps are not merely statistical inequalities but reflect the entire labor market’s systematic undervaluation of women’s labor. Occupational segregation concentrates women in low-paying, low-status work fields while concentrating men in high-paying, high-power professions, reinforcing gender inequality.

The existence of unpaid domestic labor provides capitalists with enormous hidden subsidies because women bear all costs of maintaining and reproducing the labor force. Flexible exploitation disguises violations of women’s labor rights through so-called “flexible employment,” making women bear more instability and risk. The formation of global care chains shows the international character of this exploitation, where women in wealthy countries employ female immigrants from poor countries to undertake care work, creating a global exploitation network.

Intersectional Analysis

The authors demonstrate profound understanding and skilled application of intersectional analysis in this manifesto. They recognize that gender oppression never exists in isolation but is closely intertwined with other forms of oppression such as race, class, and nationality. This analytical method enables them to more comprehensively understand the complex situations and multiple challenges faced by different groups of women.

In analyzing race and class, the authors emphasize the central position of these identity dimensions in women’s experiences. Racialized gender division of labor reveals how the labor market is organized along intersecting axes of race and gender, with women of color often concentrated in the lowest-paid, most unstable, most insecure job positions.

The super-exploitation of migrant women workers further exposes how global capitalism uses legal status vulnerability to deepen exploitation of this group. They face not only gender discrimination but also bear the double blow of racism and anti-immigrant sentiment. Analysis of the prison industrial complex reveals how state violence particularly targets women of color and their families, maintaining racial and gender hierarchies through mass incarceration.

The concept of environmental racism further extends this analysis, revealing how environmental destruction disproportionately affects women of color and their communities. The critique of imperialist feminism points out how some feminist discourses are used to justify military intervention and colonial rule, particularly imperialist actions conducted in the name of “saving” Third World women.

The adoption of global perspective reflects the authors’ internationalist stance and profound understanding of the world system. They deeply analyze the systematic exploitation faced by women in Global South countries, which comes not only from patriarchal structures in their own countries but from unequal arrangements in international political and economic order.

Analysis of structural adjustment policies’ gender impacts reveals how neoliberal policies promoted by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank particularly harm women in developing countries, transferring more economic and social burdens to women through cutting public services and promoting market reforms. Facing this global oppression, the authors emphasize the importance of transnational solidarity, believing that only through worldwide unity of oppressed women can the combined oppression of transnational capital and imperialism be resisted.

Innovative Forms of Struggle

Facing multiple oppressions of capitalism and patriarchy, the authors are not satisfied with traditional forms of resistance but innovatively propose new organizational forms and struggle strategies adapted to contemporary conditions. These new forms not only reflect their profound understanding of women’s experience uniqueness but also reflect their innovative thinking about effective resistance strategies.

The concept of women’s strikes is one of the most innovative contributions of this manifesto. The authors extend the strike—this traditional labor struggle form—to all areas of women’s experience, creating a comprehensive resistance framework.

Paid work strikes continue traditional union movement strategies but particularly focus on special problems faced by women workers, such as sexual harassment, wage discrimination, and lack of maternity leave. Domestic strikes reactivate this important strategy in feminist history, revealing the economic value and social significance of this work by refusing to perform unpaid domestic labor.

Care strikes further extend this concept, including refusing to provide unpaid emotional labor and care services, thus exposing society’s dependence on women’s care labor. Consumer strikes target capitalist consumer culture, expressing political stances and applying economic pressure by refusing to purchase specific goods or services.

Sex strikes, though a more controversial strategy, directly challenge the obligation of women’s sexual services, emphasizing women’s autonomous control over their own bodies and sexual behavior. These diverse strike forms demonstrate the comprehensive nature of women’s labor and the multiple sites where resistance can be organized.

Grassroots mobilization emphasis reflects the authors’ adherence to bottom-up organizational principles. They recognize that true social change must come from autonomous organization and collective action by oppressed groups, rather than top-down reform or elite-led movements.

Community organizations provide platforms for women to engage in resistance and mutual aid at the daily life level, building collective power through addressing specific issues like housing, education, and healthcare. The development of union feminism brings gender consciousness into traditional labor movements, promoting unions to better represent the interests and needs of women workers.

The establishment of migrant women networks provides support and protection for this particularly vulnerable group while also injecting anti-racist and anti-nationalist content into broader feminist movements. Student movement participation reflects the important role of young women in social change, as they are often pioneers of new ideas and strategies.

The development of peasant women organizations extends feminist attention to rural areas, focusing on land rights, environmental protection, and sustainable agriculture, reflecting important dimensions of ecofeminism.

Ecofeminist Perspective

The ecofeminist perspective occupies an important position in this manifesto. The authors profoundly recognize the intrinsic connection between women’s liberation and environmental protection, and capitalism’s dual exploitation of nature and women. They reveal the fundamental causes and solution paths of current ecological crisis through the opposition of “capital vs. life.”

Analysis of the relationship between capitalism and ecological destruction constitutes the core of the authors’ ecofeminist discourse. They point out that nature’s commodification is the fundamental cause of ecological crisis. The capitalist system transforms everything in nature—from forests to rivers, from seeds to genes—into commodities that can be bought and sold, completely ignoring the intrinsic value and ecological integrity of natural systems.

This commodification logic not only leads to large-scale environmental destruction but also cuts the organic connection between humans and nature, simplifying the relationship between humans and nature into purely economic exchange relationships. The gendered impacts of ecological destruction reveal that environmental problems are not gender-neutral phenomena.

Women, particularly women in poor countries and marginalized communities, are often the first victims of environmental deterioration. They rely more on natural resources for survival, so environmental destruction affects them more directly and severely. At the same time, due to gender division of labor, women often bear responsibility for obtaining water, fuel, and food for families, and environmental deterioration makes these tasks more difficult and dangerous.

Furthermore, climate change and environmental disasters often exacerbate existing gender inequalities, with women facing greater risks and fewer resources in the face of disasters. The leadership role of indigenous women in environmental protection receives particular emphasis from the authors.

They recognize that indigenous women are not only victims of environmental destruction but important forces for environmental protection and sustainable development. Indigenous women often possess traditional ecological knowledge and sustainable lifestyles, playing key roles in protecting biodiversity and maintaining ecological balance.

In environmental protection movements worldwide, indigenous women often stand at the forefront of resistance, opposing large corporations’ resource plunder and government development projects. The fundamental conflict between sustainability and profit is another focus of the authors’ analysis.

They point out that under the capitalist system, enterprises’ motivation to pursue profit maximization fundamentally conflicts with environmental protection needs. Short-term profit considerations often override long-term sustainability needs, leading to over-extraction of resources and continued environmental deterioration.

This conflict cannot be resolved through technological innovation or management reform but requires fundamental transformation of the entire economic system. Therefore, the authors emphasize the need for systemic change, believing that only by overthrowing the capitalist system and establishing new economic models centered on life rather than profit can ecological crisis be truly resolved and sustainable development achieved.

Political Strategy and Vision

At the political strategy level, this manifesto demonstrates the authors’ clear and firm stance. They are not satisfied with partial reforms within existing systems but advocate fundamental transformation of entire socioeconomic structures. This strategic thinking reflects their clear recognition of current crisis depth and transformation necessity.

The anti-capitalist political stance is one of the most distinctive characteristics of this manifesto. The authors clearly state that they pursue revolution rather than reform, a stance based on their profound understanding of capitalism’s inherent contradictions.

They believe that in a system driven by profit and based on exploitation, true gender equality and social justice are impossible to achieve. Therefore, any truly feminist politics must be anti-capitalist politics. Wealth redistribution is an important means of achieving this goal, but they emphasize not simple income redistribution but reorganization of entire wealth creation and distribution mechanisms.

Socialization of means of production is the core of this reorganization. Only when means of production are no longer privately owned by a few capitalists but become common property of all society can the source of exploitation be eliminated. The establishment of democratic planned economy will replace market anarchy and capitalist dictatorial control, allowing all society to democratically decide what to produce, how to produce, and for whom to produce.

International solidarity ensures that this transformation will not be limited to one country but will establish new, equal economic relationships globally. Coalition politics emphasis reflects the authors’ profound understanding of liberation movements’ complexity and interconnectedness.

They recognize that feminist movements cannot proceed in isolation but must establish broad coalitions with other movements fighting for social justice. Alliance with labor movements is crucial because working-class women constitute the main body of oppressed women, and labor movements traditionally possess rich experience and organizational power in confronting capital.

Participation in racial justice movements is crucial for building truly inclusive feminism because racial oppression and gender oppression are deeply intertwined, with women of color facing double or even multiple oppressions. The inclusion of LGBTQ+ movements expands understanding of gender and sexual orientation diversity, challenging heterosexual normativity and binary gender systems.

Environmental movement alliances reflect the intrinsic connection between ecological crisis and social justice issues, particularly climate change’s disproportionate impact on marginalized groups. Anti-war movement participation reflects opposition to militarism and imperialism, forces that not only cause international conflicts but also maintain oppressive social order domestically.

Through establishing such broad coalitions, feminist movements can mobilize greater social forces while also ensuring the comprehensiveness and profundity of transformation.

Concrete Political Demands

Although this manifesto proposes fundamental systemic change goals, the authors do not neglect to propose specific and practical political demands. These demands can both improve people’s immediate living conditions and lay foundations for deeper transformation. This strategy reflects their political wisdom in combining long-term revolutionary goals with current struggle needs.

The demand for universal healthcare is not merely a health policy issue but a direct challenge to capitalist logic that commodifies health. The authors recognize that under existing systems, healthcare has become an important field for capital accumulation rather than public service meeting basic human needs.

Achieving universal healthcare will transform healthcare from commodity to right, from private profit to public welfare. The demand for free education similarly has profound significance. It can not only eliminate class differences in educational opportunities but more importantly cultivate citizens with critical consciousness, providing intellectual foundations for social transformation.

Socialized childcare is a particularly emphasized demand in this manifesto. It directly challenges traditional arrangements that completely privatize childcare responsibility and mainly have women bear it, reducing women’s burdens through establishing public childcare systems while improving the quality of child care.

The demand for shortened work hours reflects rethinking work-life balance. Under capitalism, workers are forced to sell more and more time to maintain survival, which not only damages physical and mental health but also deprives people of time to participate in political, cultural, and social activities.

Shortening work hours will create more free time for people, making comprehensive human development possible. The living wage demand challenges existing low-wage, high-exploitation models, ensuring all workers can obtain income sufficient to maintain decent lives.

The Green New Deal proposal combines environmental protection with social justice, creating green employment opportunities through large-scale public investment while addressing climate crisis. These concrete demands demonstrate how the manifesto connects revolutionary vision with immediate needs, showing how systemic transformation can begin with reforms that improve people’s daily lives while building power for deeper changes.

Contemporary Relevance and Global Impact

“Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto” has gained increased relevance since its publication, as the contradictions it analyzes have only intensified. The COVID-19 pandemic starkly revealed the care crisis the authors described, as women disproportionately bore the burden of increased care work while often working in essential jobs with greater health risks.

The manifesto’s analysis of the relationship between capitalism and ecological destruction has become more urgent as climate change accelerates and environmental justice movements grow. The connections the authors draw between environmental degradation and women’s oppression have been validated by research showing how climate change disproportionately affects women, particularly in the Global South.

The rise of authoritarian movements worldwide has also vindicated the manifesto’s warnings about the inadequacy of liberal feminist responses to systemic crisis. As democratic institutions come under attack and women’s rights face rollback in many countries, the need for the kind of fundamental transformation the authors advocate becomes clearer.

The manifesto has influenced feminist movements globally, providing theoretical frameworks and strategic insights for organizers working on issues from care work to climate justice. Women’s strike movements in countries including Argentina, India, and Spain have drawn inspiration from the manifesto’s vision of comprehensive resistance across all domains of women’s labor.

Theoretical Contributions

The manifesto makes several important theoretical contributions to feminist thought. Its analysis of social reproduction crisis provides a framework for understanding how capitalism systematically undermines the conditions for human flourishing. This analysis connects feminist insights about care work with broader critiques of capitalist accumulation.

The concept of feminism for the 99% itself represents an important theoretical innovation, providing an alternative to both liberal feminism and forms of radical feminism that lack class analysis. This framework shows how gender liberation is inseparable from broader struggles against exploitation and oppression.

The manifesto’s intersectional analysis advances understanding of how different systems of oppression work together, while its international perspective provides tools for understanding how capitalism operates as a global system that affects women differently depending on their position within it.

Critiques and Debates

The manifesto has also generated important debates within feminist movements. Some critics argue that its anti-capitalist stance may alienate potential allies and make coalition-building more difficult. Others question whether the manifesto’s vision is practical given current political conditions.

Defenders of the manifesto argue that these critiques miss the point—that the current system is fundamentally incompatible with women’s liberation and that building alternatives requires clarity about this incompatibility. They argue that the manifesto’s strength lies precisely in its refusal to accommodate existing power structures.

These debates reflect broader tensions within contemporary feminism about strategy, goals, and the relationship between reform and revolution. The manifesto’s contribution to these debates lies in its clear articulation of an alternative vision and its detailed analysis of why such an alternative is necessary.

Conclusion: A Call for Revolutionary Transformation

“Feminism for the 99%: A Manifesto” provides clear and radical directional guidance for 21st-century feminist movements. This manifesto’s core message is very clear: true feminism should not be satisfied with fighting for women’s equal share in a fundamentally unjust system but should dedicate itself to overthrowing this system itself, building a truly equal, just, and sustainable new society.

The authors’ vision is grand, but their analysis is concrete, their strategy is practical. They successfully combine theoretical critique with actual struggle, international perspective with local action, long-term goals with immediate needs. This manifesto is not only an important contribution to contemporary feminist movements but also a powerful call to all people dedicated to social transformation.

It reminds us that in a world full of injustice, true liberation requires not reform but revolution. The manifesto challenges us to imagine different possibilities, to build different kinds of organizations, and to fight for different kinds of world—one where life is valued over profit, where care is valued over competition, and where the flourishing of all becomes possible.

In our current moment of multiple crises—pandemic, climate change, rising authoritarianism, and growing inequality—the manifesto’s vision of systematic transformation becomes not just desirable but necessary. It offers tools for analysis and strategies for action that can help build the kind of movement capable of creating the world it envisions.

The manifesto’s lasting contribution lies in its demonstration that feminism, properly understood, is not a narrow politics focused only on gender but a comprehensive vision of human liberation that addresses all forms of oppression and exploitation. In this sense, feminism for the 99% is not just feminism for women but feminism for all who seek a more just and equal world.