Patriarchy, Capitalism and the Cycle of Labor Exploitation in Third World Societies: Breaking the Chain of Causation

Abstract

The intersection between capitalism and patriarchy has long been a subject of scholarly debate. These two systems operate in a mutually reinforcing manner, each bolstering the existence and dominance of the other. This paper examines how patriarchy provides a structural foundation for capitalism by sustaining economic inequality and gender-based labor disparities. Similarly, capitalism upholds patriarchy by ensuring economic dependence and social stratification that disadvantages women. Drawing on existing research, this paper reviews the work of Silva Federici and other scholars and explores how capitalist and patriarchal systems work together to create an exploitative socio-economic order. This descriptive research relied on secondary academic literature while analysing their relevant contents and debates drawn from these literatures. The conclusions arrived in this research were argumentatively built with simple polemics from preponderance of academic opinion from several scholars. Additionally, this paper highlights contemporary feminist movements that challenge the entanglement of these systems, advocating for effective socialisation, social engineering, economic and gender justice as strategic measures that will attenuate the chain of causation that are sustained by patriarchy and capitalism within the third world societies.