Feminist theorists today are increasingly returning to the insight that ‘capitalist society’ must constitute the critical frame for understanding contemporary forms of women’s subordination and feminist struggles to overcome it. This renewed interest in the connections between feminism and capitalism raises a host of difficult questions concerning the relations between capitalism and gender asymmetries, and the path to transformation. 

Can capitalism be adequately conceived in gender-blind fashion or is its social organization inherently androcentric, incapable in principle of instantiating egalitarian forms of gender relation? How can we best characterize the historically specific features of gender asymmetry in capitalist societies? How do capitalism’s gender asymmetries relate to its other characteristic forms of domination, including class exploitation, imperialist predation, racial/ethnic subjugation, and ecological devastation? What sorts of challenges do such ‘intersections’ pose for feminist struggles in capitalist contexts? How have feminist movements responded to these challenges in the course of history? Can feminist theories centered on the organization of social labor do justice to gendered asymmetries of sexuality, status, and psyche? 

Finally, how do these problems appear today? What specific forms do gender asymmetry and feminist struggle assume in societies where capitalism is financialized, globalizing and neoliberal? How might the current conditions require revising classical theories that have sought to clarify the relations between feminism, capitalism, and social transformation?