Gender Equality and Inclusive Growth

This chapter examines growth as a gendered process, distinguishing the spheres of production, social reproduction and finance. It discusses how inclusion in growth can be harmful rather than enhancing well-being, and notes that economic growth frequently has adverse side effects, such as depletion of human and natural resources. It considers what a gender-equitable inclusive growth process would look like and discusses gender-equitable strategies for recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. It concludes by highlighting the need for new forms of economic growth, focusing on public investment in social as well as physical infrastructure, and on enjoyment of decent work not mere participation in the labour force. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Addressing Intersecting Inequalities through Alternative Economic Strategies

This chapter examines inequalities in income, wealth, and health in the United Kingdom (UK) prior to Covid-19, focusing on class, gender;and race. It shows how these inequalities have intensified during the pandemic and discusses ways in which these inequalities could be reduced through alternative economic strategies put forward by feminist economists. Central to these strategies is public investment in care services. The chapter argues for going beyond this to make the whole economy a caring economy in which we give priority to care for one another and the planet in the ways in which we produce and consume all goods and services. Eight steps towards bringing this about are set out, steps which can be strengthened by redressing the imbalance between the commercial property rights of corporations and rentiers and the economic and social rights of disadvantaged people. © The several contributors 2022. All rights reserved.

For a new care economy and reformulation of social gender roles in times of crisis

This essay seeks to understand specificities that structure and reproduce certain economic processes of exploitation and marginalization of women in contemporary society. The focus is to analyze the conditions of income generation, the difficulties of entering the Brazilian labor market and the unequal distribution of care activities that cross female bodies. As well, it aims to stimulate the debate about the importance of formulating and implementing active public policies, especially in times of crisis and in the field of care, through the analysis of the role played by Emergency Aid (EA) during the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. The method used in the research is based, in the first part, on bibliographic research of Feminist Economics. In the second, referring to the quantitative part, in the descriptive analysis of the PNAD -COVID19 data, aided by results found in studies and relevant articles on this topic. This, in order to verify if the magnitude of the impacts felt in the pandemic varied according to gender, reaching women disproportionately, and if the granting of the benefit in this first year was able to mitigate the growth of social inequalities considering the intersectionality between gender, race and class.

Building back better through feminist entrepreneurship policy

Purpose>Most feminists policies are aspirational. Deficiencies include vague terms of what constitutes ‘feminist’ within policy, ambiguous investment criteria, lack of consultation and the use of the binary definition of gender negating gender-diverse people (Tiessen, 2019). The purpose of this study is to identify parameters that characterize feminist entrepreneurship policies and to advance recommendations to operationalize these policies.Design/methodology/approach>The COVID-19 pandemic has unveiled fragilities in the socio-economic gains that women entrepreneurs have achieved. Gender-regression is, in part, the product of entrepreneurship policies that fail to recognize the nature and needs of women entrepreneurs. To inform recovery measures, this article considers two research questions: what are the parameters of feminist entrepreneurship policies? and how can parameters of feminist entrepreneurship policy be operationalized in pandemic recovery measures? To inform the questions, the study draws on the academic literature and thematic analysis of three collective feminist action plans to operationalize ten parameters that characterize feminist entrepreneurship policy.Findings>Supplanting ‘feminist’ for women in the construction of entrepreneurship policies, without specifications of how parameters differ dilutes government's efforts to achieve gender quality and women's economic empowerment. To inform policy, recommendations of three feminist recovery policies clustered under seven themes: importance of addressing root causes of inequality;need to invest in social and economic outcomes;economic security;enhancing access to economic resources;investment in infrastructure;inclusive decision-making;and need for gender disaggregated data to inform policy. Differences in policy priorities between collective feminist recovery plans and the academic literature are reported.Research limitations/implications>The parameters of feminist entrepreneurial policy require further interpretation and adaptation in different policy, cultural and geo-political contexts. Scholarly attention might focus on advisory processes that inform feminist policies, such as measures to address gender-regressive impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. Research is also needed to understand the impacts of feminist policies on the lived experiences of diverse women entrepreneurs. Limitations: The study design did not incorporate viewpoints of policymakers or capture bureaucratic boundary patrolling practices that stymie feminist policies. Thematic analysis was limited to three feminist recovery plans from two countries.Practical implications>Recommendations to operationalize feminist entrepreneurship policies in the context of pandemic recovery are described.Originality/value>Ten parameters of feminist entrepreneurship policy are explored. The conceptual study also advances a framework of feminist entrepreneurship policy and considers boundary conditions for when and how the parameters are applicable.

A feminist-economics analysis of Latin American budgets show an urgent need for redistribution of income and care work

Analysing fiscal policy from the perspective of feminist economics means examining gender equality policies, both in terms of tax revenue and other sources of fund (indebtedness), as well as redistribution and public spending. Finding out the number of resources assigned to these policies, their macroeconomic impact, and their temporality (longevity) is extremely essential. In this paper, we will analyse public expenditure in the budgets of Latin American countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The budget proposals tabled for the region focus on employment generation through the creation of care centres, with policies that focus on both redistribution of income and redistribution of care work. © 2022 Oxfam KEDV.

The Care Policy Scorecard: a new tool to shift progress towards a caring economy

COVID-19 has highlighted the centrality of care and women’s labour (paid and unpaid). While there is a growing body of literature on specific policy measures to address care work in different contexts, there is no global practical tool to track progress against key policy areas. This article introduces the Care Policy Scorecard, an evidence-based policy tool developed through extensive collaboration between several institutions, care policy advocates, policymakers, and researchers in the global South and North. The Scorecard helps care advocates to assess how care-related policies are adopted, budgeted for, and implemented by governments, and to what extent they can transform the social organisation of care. The paper also includes preliminary results from the application of this tool in Kenya, and shares learnings from the use of the findings for national-level care policy advocacy. © 2022 Oxfam KEDV.

COVID-19: From health crises to food security anxiety and policy implications.

Like the rest of the world, African countries are reeling from the health, economic and social effects of COVID-19. The continent's governments have responded by imposing rigorous lockdowns to limit the spread of the virus. The various lockdown measures are undermining food security, because stay at home orders have among others, threatened food production for a continent that relies heavily on agriculture as the bedrock of the economy. This article draws on quantitative data collected by the GeoPoll, and, from these data, assesses the effect of concern about the local spread and economic impact of COVID-19 on food worries. Qualitative data comprising 12 countries south of the Sahara reveal that lockdowns have created anxiety over food security as a health, economic and human rights/well-being issue. By applying a probit model, we find that concern about the local spread of COVID-19 and economic impact of the virus increases the probability of food worries. Governments have responded with various efforts to support the neediest. By evaluating the various policies rolled out we advocate for a feminist economics approach that necessitates greater use of data analytics to predict the likely impacts of intended regulatory relief responses during the recovery process and post-COVID-19.

Raising children amid an employment crisis Towards the transformation of gender relations and the promotion of new parenting practices?

The economic recession that began in 2008 led to a severe employment crisis. In Southern European countries, although not homogeneously, this crisis resulted in a decrease in employment opportunities, an increase in precariousness and a reduction in real wages that had a substantial impact on family practices, dynamics and organizations (working, caring, consumption and leisure practices, among others). Feminist economics analyses have demonstrated how economic and employment crises historically aggravate or transform pre-existing gender inequalities concerning the distribution of time and workloads and decisions and actions around motherhood and fatherhood, fostering an intensification of women’s work to sustain family well-being – or mere survival. However, these perspectives have not comprehensively addressed how these processes interconnect and can be understood as transformations in family practices. In this sense, our article builds bridges between Feminist economics and the proposals derived from the work of D.H. Morgan. Drawing on the every-day life concept and life course perspective, we approach the study of the use of time (and its transformations) in families in the post-Great Recession context, marked by economic recovery but also by precariousness and the echo of austerity policies. These concepts and perspectives allow us to analyse the impacts of the employment crisis on family practices, paying specific attention to the transformations and continuities in gender relations and parental roles. To do so, methodologically, we propose a qualitative design based on in-depth and separate interviews with the two members of 32 heterosexual couples, with and without university studies and with different employment situations/conditions. The sample is located in two Spanish regions with very different unemployment rates: Andalusia and the Basque Country. The interviews, close to life stories, are divided into four sections: life and couple trajectory;work situation;daily life and decisions at home;and future expectations and perspectives. This article focuses on the interviews with couples with young children, who make up half of the sample. We aim to analyse the impact of the employment crisis on parenting practices from a critical gender perspective. To do so we focus on three major discursive areas: mothers’ and fathers’ (self)identification as earners/caregivers and current work/family articulation practices;(expressed/ deduced) value given to employment and maternity/paternity;and idiosyncrasies of intensive parenting in Spain. Although the fieldwork took place in a pre-pandemic context, the results obtained may be relevant for understanding the new transformations in family practices that may emerge, and indeed are emerging, in the heat of the Covid-19 crisis. © 2021 Societa Editrice il Mulino. All rights reserved.