Feminist Economics: Redefining Work and Unveiling Women's Exploitation in Global Labor Markets

This podcast episode critically examines the conventional definition of 'work,' arguing that its narrow focus on paid economic activity systematically undervalues and renders invisible the vast contributions of women, particularly in care work and household duties. It highlights how the International Labour Organization (ILO) expanded the definition in 2013 to include activities for 'own use,' a crucial step towards recognizing previously uncounted labor. The discussion posits that labor supply is not an exogenous variable but is actively shaped by capitalist demand, with women historically serving as a 'reserve army of labor,' mobilized during economic expansions (e.g., WWII) and then pushed back into domestic roles or precarious informal work when no longer deemed necessary.

A key distinction is drawn between 'work' (any productive activity) and 'employment' (work for pay or profit), emphasizing that much of women's work falls outside the latter, leading to statistical blindness and policy neglect. The episode details how export-oriented industrialization strategies, particularly in East Asia and later other developing economies, deliberately exploited gendered labor market segmentation. These industries relied heavily on young women workers, valued for their perceived docility, lower reservation wages, and suitability for fine, repetitive tasks, often leveraging their life cycle by employing them until marriage or childbirth, then replacing them with younger women.

The analysis underscores the pervasive 'male breadwinner model' that continues to underpin public policy, neglecting the 'double burden' faced by women who juggle paid work with disproportionate household and care responsibilities. It reveals how women are often pushed into informal, piece-rate work within global value chains, bearing all the risks of production, including income volatility and lack of safety, while receiving meager remuneration for labor that contributes to branded products sold in advanced economies. The podcast stresses that simply having 'paid work' does not guarantee improved material conditions for women if job quality, protections, and fair wages are absent.

Finally, the episode addresses the exacerbating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has disproportionately affected women's employment, accelerated automation in routine tasks, and intensified the global crisis of care. With schools and daycares closed, women and other caregivers face immense challenges in fully participating in the labor market, further entrenching existing inequalities. The discussion implicitly calls for a fundamental re-evaluation of economic systems, statistical methodologies, and public policies to genuinely recognize, value, and protect women's multifaceted contributions to the economy and society.

"it's work when you get paid for it but if you're doing it for your own child your own family then it's not work"

"if he married his housekeeper national income would fall because he would have been paying the housekeeper but then once he married her he doesn't have to pay her anymore"

"now it's classified as any activity performed by persons of any sex or age to produce goods or provide services for use by others or for own use"

"women have been the biggest reserve army of labor if you like the biggest available group that can be mobilized to enter the labor force when they're needed and then thrown back out when they're not needed"

"It's a real uphill struggle to get women recognized genetically as workers"

"a lot of public policy it's still based on what has been called the male breadwinner model"

"most women are informal workers and most informal workers are women"

"some accumulation strategies have actually relied on this fact that labor markets are segmented by gender and that you can get women for much cheaper rates than you can get men"

"you can use the life cycle when they're anyway going to be exhausted and burnt out you can say well now it's time for you to get married and have kids your younger sister can come and take this job"

"women definitely have a lower reservation wage"

"they're known to be more docile and less likely to unionize"

"all of the risks of production you know the collapse in demand and all of that are born by you"

"the blindness of statistical systems to the work that women do"

"it's almost as if they're damned if they work and they're damned if they don't"