<div>'It is my thesis that this general production of life, or subsistence production - mainly performed through the nonwage labour of women and other nonwage labourers as slaves, contract workers and peasants in the colonies - constitues the perennial basis upon which 'capitalist productive labour' can be built up and exploited'.<br><br>First published in 1986, Maria Mies' progressive book was hailed as a major paradigm shift for feminist theory and remains a major contribution to development theory and practice today<br><br>Tracing the social origins of the sexual division of labor it offers a history of the related processes of colonization and &quot;housewifization&quot; and extends this analysis to the contemporary new international division of labor. Mies' theory of capitalist patriarchy has become even more relevant today; this new edition includes a substantial new introduction in which she both applies her theory to the new globalized world and answers her critics.<p></p></div>