Week 6 - Feminist political economy

This week, we will discuss feminist political economy, which focuses on gendered economic disparities and outcomes for women (defined by the early feminist founders in traditional ways) as a result of institutional structures that underpin the economy. We study how the early founders of feminist economics challenged the way that women's behaviours and experiences were ignored or distorted by economic studies in the past and how they sought to acknowledge the value of unpaid household labour and care, and the value of care to the economy. We consider how we might continue to feature the important concerns of the early feminist founders, which still remain relevant, while opening the door to Week 11's critical extension of feminist concerns to include queer economics and 'the families we choose' (e.g. Lee Badgett).