Some Notes on Female Wage Labour in Capitalist Production

The object of this brief paper is to raise some of the problems which are involved in analysing the position of female wage labour in the capitalist mode of production.1 This is essentially an introductory and exploratory paper which is intended to contribute both to the Marxist Feminist discussion of the subordina-tion of women in capitalist society, 2 and to the growing Marxist discussions on the labour process and the foundations of divisions within the working class.3 My main concern is with the form of female wage labour which is known in popular discourse as womens work, i.e., low paid, unskilled and semi-skilled work which is concentrated in particular centres of modern industry and is usually performed by married women.4