Invisibilized Labor: The Role of Women and Non-Human Animals in Productive, Reproductive and Affective Work

In this thesis, I will be discussing the topic of invisibilized forms of labor, in particular reproductive and affective labor, that are performed by women and non-human animals. I will be analyzing the ways in which the exploitation and the oppression of both categories are interconnected, and how capitalist, patriarchal and speciesist institutions have historically been benefiting from their labor without recognizing it as such. My research was conducted within an antispecicist and transfeminist framework, through the analysis of existing literature on the topics of interest. After a theoretical overview on the role of non-human animals and women in labor, I will discuss in particular how they are involved in reproductive and affective labor in the context of East Asia, starting from an analysis of entertainment establishments such as cat cafés. In my research, I will discuss how human beings, especially within a capitalist economy, have historically been exploiting both the bodies, the affects and the emotions of oppressed categories for the technological advancement of our societies and for the accumulation of capital. In fact, the same capitalist structures that have been exploiting the labor of non-human animals in several different fields, have also been taking advantage of the reproductive and affective abilities of women. For centuries, in fact, women have been working in households, as mothers and wives, performing a central role in social reproduction and capitalist production without ever receiving economic or political recognition. The aim of this study is therefore to analyze how the exploitation and invisibilization of the productive, reproductive and affective labor performed by women and non-human animals stem from the same structures and, more specifically, how this happens in the context of East Asia. Here I also present an attempt at imagining how the feminist and antispeciesist struggles can come together to create new futures outside of the exploitative institutions of capitalism.