Bringing Anti-Capitalism Back In. Framings of feminist advocacy and issues

This article explores the centrality of anti-capitalist framings in contemporary feminist mobilizations, focusing on the intersection of productive and reproductive labour in feminist discourse and practice. Drawing on a comparative analysis of the feminist mobilizations in Italy and Spain, we examine how feminist actors have articulated critiques of capitalism through the lens of care, violence, and the sustainability of life. Using a combination of critical frame analysis (CFA) and in-depth interviews, we analyze how anti-capitalist narratives have become increasingly prominent in both countries, shaping the way feminist movements understand and respond to systemic gender-based violence and the exploitation of reproductive labour. In Spain, we find a particularly strong articulation of anti-capitalism as a dominant narrative, especially in relation to care work and feminist critiques of violence. More specifically, the analysis shows how precarious workers in the informal and formal care/cleaning sector are revitalizing unionism, with a new emphasis on intersectionality. The feminist strike emerges as a key milestone, both emotionally and discursively, consolidating a collective feminist critique of neoliberalism and patriarchal capitalism. In Italy, while anti-capitalist framings are also present, the feminist strike has served to deepen the articulation between reproductive and productive labour, highlighting care as a site of resistance. By comparing the Spanish and Italian contexts, the article sheds light on the political reconfiguration of feminism as a force that reclaims social value and social justice against the logics of capital.