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Signing a marriage contract
means entering a legal partnership.
This has different implications in
different countries, but Delphy
suggests it always benefits the man.
population into two groups, which
are then loaded with apparently
“natural” traits and roles? This
idea of sex as a wholly false
classification is a crucial concept
within Delphy’s radical appraisal of
patriarchy because it undermines
the notion of sex being used to
differentiate between those who
will dominate (financially, socially,
and sexually) and those who will
be dominated.
In developing her theories,
Delphy was greatly influenced by
the writings of the French feminist
Simone de Beauvoir, who argued
that men had made women “other”
in order to support an unequal
patriarchal system. By challenging
the categories of “men” and
“women” as meaningful, Delphy’s
ideas can be seen as a precursor
to queer theory, which questions
previously accepted ideas of sex,
sexuality, and gender, and their role
in establishing identity.
Feminism and Marxism
Delphy’s ideas created a furor
in feminism when they were first
published. This was at a time when
feminists were interested in
domestic labor and how to
understand it, but there was
considerable disagreement about
the relationship between feminism
and Marxism. Some Marxist
feminists, such as British scholars
Michele Barrett and Mary
McIntosh, were extremely hostile
to the accusation that men benefit
from their wives’ labor and
therefore directly exploit them.
Others argued that it is impossible
for two modes of exploitation
(patriarchy and capitalism) to exist
at the same time in a given society.Continuing inequality
Delphy and many other feminists
since the 1980s have taken on
board these criticisms and worked
them through in detail, making
Delphy’s work a continuing
influence on feminists around the
world. US philosopher Judith Butler,
for instance, has used many of
Delphy’s concepts in her work,
in particular her questioning of
the sex/gender distinction.
In developing Delphy’s ideas,
French feminist Monique Wittig
has argued that the division of
society into two sexes is theFAMILIES AND INTIMACIES
product, not the cause, of
inequality. In The End of Equality
(2014), journalist and campaigner
Beatrix Campbell charted the
ways in which women continue
to be exploited in their intimate
relationships; for instance, there
are few societies in the world
where men equally share the
work of childcare with women.
For Campbell, contemporary
global capitalism has served
to strengthen and further men’s
domination over women.
Material oppressions in forms
other than economic exploitation,
such as the ongoing debate about
abortion in some countries, also
benefit from Delphy’s analysis.
If child-bearing and -rearing are
understood as labor extorted from
women, as Delphy suggests, men
may fear that women will escape
this form of exploitation by limiting
births. In this way the withdrawal
of the right to abortion in places
such as Northern Ireland, and
the fierce debates about abortion
in the US, can be seen as a
form of male control over women’s
choice, keeping them as an
exploited class so as to sustain
both capitalism and patriarchy. ■Christine Delphy
Christine Delphy was born in
France in 1941 and educated at
the universities of Paris, France,
and California, Berkeley.
Inspired by the political protests
in Paris in 1968, she became
an active member of the French
women’s liberation movement.
In 1977 she cofounded the
journal New Feminist Issues
with French philosopher
Simone de Beauvoir.
Delphy was a member of
Gouines Rouge (Red Dykes), a
group that attempted to reclaimthe insulting term “dykes” used
for lesbians by referring to it as
a revolutionary position. More
recently, she voted against the
law that banned Muslim girls
from wearing the hijab (veil) in
French schools, calling the act
a piece of racist legislation.Key works1984 Close to Home: A
Materialist Analysis of Women’s
Oppression
1992 Familiar Exploitation (with
Diana Leonard)
1993 Rethinking Sex and Gender