The Socialization of Reproductive Labour and the Question of Technology

In recent years, there has been increased interest in the feminist demand for the socialization of reproductive labour (Forrester 2022; Battistoni 2024). Feminist thinkers and activists, particularly those in the Marxist tradition, have long argued that the activities occurring within the household should be recognized as labour, and that doing so raises normative questions that require both philosophical and political attention. One of the central debates concerns how such labour should be distributed, with proposals ranging from the well-known campaign for ‘wages against housework’ to the expansion of public services. However, the more specific issue of technology and the role it should play in addressing the reconfiguration of labour in our society has received limited attention in recent literature. In this paper, I will survey how feminist theorists have engaged with the problem of technological development, beginning with Shulamith Firestone's discussion of ‘cybernation,’ defined as ‘the full takeover by machines of increasingly complex functions,’ in The Dialectic of Sex (1970), and moving to more recent interventions, such as The Xenofeminist Manifesto by Laboria Cuboniks (2018). As we will see, feminism has often embraced technology, but it has also remained critical of it. As has been demonstrated, ever-increasing technological development has not necessarily resulted in more free time for women (Hester and Srnicek 2023). After examining various positions, I will aim to categorize the diversity of views on technology within the literature. By historically clarifying the debate, my ultimate goal is to develop a theoretical framework that helps us understand ‘the question of technology’ from the perspective of reproductive labour.