Marxist feminism is a sub-type of feminist theory which focuses on the dismantling of capitalism as a way to liberate women and states that capitalism, which gives rise to economic inequality, dependence, political confusion and ultimately unhealthy social relations between men and women, is the root of women's oppression.

Feminist theory (or radical feminism) emerged in the 1970s stating that modern society and its constructs (law, religion, politics, art, etc) are predominantly the product of males and therefore have a patriarchal character. According to people who subscribed to this view, the best prescription for women's oppression would be to replace the patriarchy with a gender equal culture or to have a separation of the sexes. Some feminists at this time felt the emphasis on criticising a perceived patiarchy was too narrow and/or misguided and so there soon emerged feminists who began analysing women's situation from a class based Marxist/socialist perspective.

According to Marxist theory, in capitalist societies the individual is shaped by class relations; that is, people's capacities, needs and interests are seen to be determined by the mode of production that characterises the society they inhabit.

Marxist feminists see gender inequality as determined ultimately by the capitalist mode of production and the major social divisions as class related. Women's subordination is seen as a form of oppression (rather than an illiberal discrimination) which is maintained (like racism) because it serves the interests of capital and the ruling class. Marxist feminists have also extended traditional Marxist analysis by looking at domestic labour as well as waged work.

Critique of the Marxist interpretation

Austrian economist, Ludwig von Mises ridiculed the Marxist account of the experience of women. He argued that the women's movement was an evolutionary, rather than revolutionary, step that furthered gains that Capitalism had secured for women. His arguement was based on a detailed historical analysis, which showed that women steadily gained more rights concordently with the rise of classical liberalism. Under this analysis, the marriage contract was actually a first, albeit imperfect, step toward liberating women from the subservant position they had held since the age of violence.

"As the idea of contract enters the Law of Marriage, it breaks the rule of the male, and makes the wife a partner with equal rights. From a one-sided relationship resting on force, marriage thus becomes a mutual agreement; the servant becomes the married wife entitled to demand from the man all that he is entitled to ask from her. Step by step she wins the position she holds today..."

"Thus marriage, as we know it, has come into existence entirely as a result of the contractual idea penetrating into this sphere of life. All our cherished ideals of marriage have grown out of this idea. That marriage unites two people, that it can be entered into only with the free will of both parties, that it imposes a duty of mutual fidelity, that a man's violations of the marriage vows are to be judged no differently from a woman's, that the rights of husband and wife are essentially the same--these principles develop from the contractual attitude to the problem of marital life. No people can boast that there ancestors though tof marriage as we think of it today. Science cannot judge whether morals were once more severe than they are now. We can establish only that our views of what marriage should be are different from the views of past generations and that their ideal of marriage seems immoral in our eyes." - von Mises, 1922

He argues that whatever the vices that plagued the 18th century marriage contract, they were the result of anti-captialist sentiments, artifical state and social restrictions on what forms of contracts were permitted.

Proponents of Socialist feminism have also criticized the Marxist Interpretation for failing to find an inherent connection between patriarchy and classism. Marxist Feminism is also criticized for failing to offer proof that the oppression of women serves the interests of capital and the ruling class.