Some have argued that gender stratification is reduced by neoliberalism, insofar as it involves a shift from an economy based on private property economy to an economy based on human capital. Elizabeth Mayes, for example, thinks the decreasing importance of private property is positive for women, for Engels-like reasons: if women’s subordination has been linked historically to their status as private property, women are now freed to be individuals rather than property.

Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, loc. 558