She meticulously builds the idea that patriarchy isn't just about the oppression of women per se but rather the oppression of everyone and with women taking the brunt of it. Maria Mies, traces violence against women from hunter gatherer societies, through the agrarian revolution, medivial times, slavery, colonialism and neoliberalism and shows how it's all connected to capitalism and accumulation and division of labor in a way that those who produce nothing, yet hold the monopoly of violence can appropriate other people's productivity. But the Author actually explains this concept with the most insight I have ever witnessed. I have always thought that patriarchy wasn't just about men oppressing and purveying violence against women for the sake of it, but rather because of a systematic anomaly that is held up by the establishment. Much needed supplementary reads include Silvia Federici's Caliban and the Witch and Revolution at Point Zero, Chandra Mohanty's Feminism without Borders, Ariel Salleh's Eco-Sufficiency and Global Justice, and Angel Davis's classic Women, Race, & Classįinally finished "Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale" This is a book I'm going to rank up there with other books that have changed my thinking and perspective like: Her major argument (that women are defined as housewives and into the "informal" sector) is useful, but is really only a starting point.
In particular, she is generally dismissive of the historical force of white supremacy (speaking only briefly about race and focusing on a first/third world dichotomy that neglects racial inequality within each sphere), antagonistic to the rights of sex workers, glosses over real differences between women, and lapses regularly into romanticizing and orientalizing residents of the Global South.
While Mies' project is ambitious and at points compelling, it falls flat at several key points.
An interesting but ultimately underwhelming and dated account of the interrelation between global capitalism, patriarchy, and environmental destruction.
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