Bio: (1943-) British feminist theorist and historian. Sheila Rowbotham studied at Oxford and the University of London and taught at the University of Manchester. She used Marxist feminism as a theoretical basis for her socio-historical research. Rowbotham was influenced by Marxist social historians Edward Thompson and Dorothy Thompson. Rowbotham believes that capitalism produces double oppression and exploitation of women. Women are capitalistically exploited in the workplace, and in addition, they are exploited in the household. She is critical of classical Marxism because it neglects the oppression and exploitation of women.

In the book Women's Consciousness, Men's World (1973b), Rowbotham states that women's domestic work is part of the production chain because it allows men to focus only on market-oriented work. Women, in addition to being controlled by men and being oppressed and exploited in the capitalist system, also have a problem with the internalization of domination, because they see themselves as inferior beings.

Rowbotham in her essay Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism (1980) calls for the creation of small social movements and groups (workers, women, gays, ethnic and racial minorities, youth) that can best respond to the challenges of capitalism and enable the creation of socialism. it would, in turn, eliminate inequalities other than economic ones. In several books, Rowbotham has researched the history of women in radical and revolutionary movements in the United States, Cuba, Algeria, Great Britain, China, Russia, and France. In addition to researching domestic work, she studied the position of women in formal work and in process of employment and job seeking. Rowbotham has made equally significant contributions to her historical, theoretical, and activist work.

Main works

Women, Resistance and Revolution (1972); 

Hidden from History (1973a);

Woman's Consciousness, Men's World (1973b);

Beyond the Fragments: Feminism and the Making of Socialism (1980);

Friends of Alice Wheeldon (1986);

The Past is Before Us: Feminism in Action since the 1960s (1989);

Dignity and Daily Bread: New Forms of Economic Organization Among Poor Women in the Third World and the First (1993);

Women in Movement: Feminism and Social Action (1993);

Homeworkers Worldwide (1993);

A Century of Women: The History of Women in Britain and the United States (1997);

Women Encounter Technology: Changing Patterns of Employment in the Third World (1997);

Women Resist Globalization (2001);

Mobilizing for Livelihood and Rights (2001); 

Rebel Crossings: New Women, Free Lovers, and Radicals in Britain and the United States (2016).