The Feminist Challenge To Socialist History

This article argues that it is timely to revisit some of the debates between feminism and Marxism. While acknowledging the achievements of women's history, it is critical of attempts to ground feminist history in either patriarchy theory or post-structuralism. Developing from ideas about what constitutes a theory of history, it is argued that both patriarchy and post-structuralism cannot sustain a notion of historicity. The debate about protective legislation in nineteenth-century Britain is reviewed as an example of the divergence between Marxist and feminist interpretations. The article concludes with a defence of historical materialism as an explanatory framework in analysing women's oppression.