What makes the choice so pressing is the disappearance of any middle way, due to the predatory form of financialized neoliberal capitalism that has held sway for the last forty years-raising the stakes for every social struggle and turning efforts to win modest reforms into pitched battles for survival. The other points to the sort of world that has always figured in humanity’s dreams: one whose wealth and natural resources are shared by all, where equality and freedom are premises, not aspirations. One path leads to a scorched planet where human life is immiserated, if it remains possible at all. In sharp contrast, the organizers of the feminist strike are calling for an end to capitalist-and patriarchal-domination.įaced with these two visions of feminism, we find ourselves at a fork in the road.

They want a world in which the benefits of exploitation in the workplace and oppression in the social order are equally shared between ruling-class men and women-a form of ‘equal-opportunity domination’. Sandberg and her ilk see feminism as a handmaiden of capitalism. These two calls represent opposing paths for the feminist movement. Joined by five million marchers, the organizers of la huelga feminista called for ‘a society free of sexist oppression, exploitation and violence’-‘for rebellion and struggle against the alliance of the patriarchy and capitalism that wants us to be obedient, submissive and quiet.’ As the sun set over Madrid and Barcelona and crowds of cheering women filled the streets, feminist strikers announced: ‘On March 8 we cross our arms and interrupt all productive and reproductive activity.’ They refused to accept worse working conditions than men or less pay for the same work. That same spring, on 8 March 2018, a countrywide feminist strike brought Spain to a halt. A leading exponent of corporate feminism, Sandberg had made her name by urging women managers to ‘lean in’ at the company boardroom, at the summit of a career that had led from Harvard via the Treasury Secretary’s office to data-harvesting and ad-targeting at Google and Facebook, with the help of mentor Lawrence Summers, chief deregulator of Wall Street. footnote 1 If only ‘half of all countries and companies were run by women, and half of all homes were run by men’, the world would be a better place and we shouldn’t be satisfied until we reach that goal. I n spring 2018, Facebook billionaire Sheryl Sandberg was counselling women that toughness and success in the business world was the royal road to gender equality.

Feminism 99 percent