Gender Caucus

Kosambi Gender Caucus emerged from the need to refine socialist theory with feminist theory. It will investigate how our material reality reflects and reproduces our gendered reality.

 

The caucus will engage with the hollowness of liberal feminism, how identity politics has been appropriated by liberals and why it is necessary to reappropriate it. It will also examine how capitalism and right wing radical feminism cooperate to perpetuate the lie that women's problems lie in the breakdown of the family.

 

The caucus is motivated by the ideal that liberation, not just equality, ought to be the goal of feminism. A liberatory feminism is opposed to all kinds of class and caste distinctions, capitalism and patriarchy.

 

We will consider radical women-led movements, study unpaid work and sex work, and materially analyse how non-heterosexual sexualities emerged. These are subjects that were covered during the gender month in the main circle and will be explored in greater depth in the caucus.  

 

Gender caucus discussions will engage with sex, gender, and sexuality while critiquing the idea of  biological essentialism. They also engage with harassment in workplaces, the role of law in bringing about gender equality, representation in the media, Indian women's movements and their relationship with Indian communism. Discussions will frequently happen in conjunction with other caucuses, such as the Caste caucus. In short, we will discuss everything important to a study of women and men's oppression and potential for liberation, and how they can inform socialist theory and practice.