If Women Counted

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If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics
If Women Counted (Marilyn Waring book).jpg
Author Marilyn Waring
LanguageEnglish
Genre Political economy, feminism, feminist economics
Publisher Harper & Row, Macmillan‚ Allen & Unwin
Publication date
1988
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages386 pp (Harper & Row edition)
ISBN 0-06-250933-0

If Women Counted (1988) is a book by New Zealand academic and former politician Marilyn Waring, that is regarded as the "founding document" of the discipline of feminist economics. [1] The book is a groundbreaking and systematic critique of the system of national accounts, the international standard of measuring economic growth, and the ways in which women's unpaid work as well as the value of Nature have been excluded from what counts as productive in the economy.

Contents

The book "persuaded the United Nations to redefine gross domestic product, inspired new accounting methods in dozens of countries, and became the founding document of the discipline of feminist economics." [1] A widely cited book, it made the analysis of this topic known to a large audience. [2]

The book's core argument can be summarized as follows: "UNSNA's rules to determine what should be defined as economic activity needed to be understood as an expression of patriarchal power that valued militarism, environmental destruction, and tools of colonisation while deeming peace, environmental resources, and social reproduction worthless." [3]

Synopsis

Written from a feminist point of view and drawing from statistical data, Waring challenges the assumptions underlying national income accounting. In particular, she problematises the fact that women's unpaid work as well as the value of nature are not accounted for in national income accounting, which, according to her, implies a sexual discrimination that allows for the continued domination of women. [4] Waring observes that not all categories included in calculations of a country's gross domestic product (GDP), such as the state sector, are market activities, which leads her to criticise the fact that housework is left out of these calculations. [5]

Context

Waring was elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 1975. She was part of the Public Expenditure Committee, at a time when New Zealand was adapting its national accounts system to fit the United Nations’ directives. Through this work, she realized that the work performed by women and by natural resources that make life on earth possible (such as lakes, beaches, fresh air, trees) were both invisible in national accounts. In that way, they counted as unproductive, or counted for nothing; and therefore would not be addressed by any public policies.

Waring later comments: "If you are invisible as a producer in a nation' s economy, you are invisible in the distribution of benefits (unless they label you as a welfare 'problem' or a burden)." [6]

Driven by such realization, she conducted in depth investigation on the rules of the United Nations System of National Accounts (UNSNA), which led to the publication of this book. [7]

Influence

Waring's argumentation builds on traditions of feminism and feminist economics. [3] The recognitions of the exclusion of women and nature from accounts of the productive economy makes If Women Counted a relevant contribution in discussions around ecofeminism. Although Waring's book led to the revision of national accounting by the United Nations, critics emphasise the ongoing importance of If Women Counted for political economy and feminist economics as long as unpaid housework and impacts on nature are not accounted for in these statistics. [8]

The book, and Waring's work in general, can also be considered as being historically significant and influential for the degrowth movement: first, in its argument of economic growth being both in theory and in practice connected to the oppression of women and ecological degradation, and second in its emphasis on the false representation economic indicators offer of the true wellbeing of communities. [3]

If Women Counted inspired the anthology Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics, edited by Margunn Bjørnholt and Ailsa McKay. Published in 2014 and written by a diverse group of scholars, it maps new advances in the field of feminist economics since the publication of If Women Counted.

It was described by economist Alison Preston as "a timely reminder of the politics and economics underpinning what, how and by whom activities and outputs are valued. For those concerned with social justice and sustainable futures this important and powerful book provides an invaluable and practical insight into issues that are in need of greater visibility." [9]

According to the magazine Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries , the book explores "a wide range of issues—including the fundamental meaning of economic growth and activity to consumption, health care, mortality, unpaid household work, mothering, education, nutrition, equality, and sustainability" and reveals "the breadth, depth, and substance that can grow from innovative ideas and critical analysis." [10]

Diane Elson argues that "despite many valiant efforts, women do not as yet really count in the conduct of economic policy. This book is an imaginative contribution to an ongoing struggle." [11]

Reception

According to emeritus professor of economics Julie A. Nelson, "Marilyn Waring's work woke people up. She showed exactly how the unpaid work traditionally done by women has been made invisible within national accounting systems, and the damage this causes. Her book [...] encouraged and influenced a wide range of work on ways, both numerical and otherwise, of valuing, preserving, and rewarding the work of care that sustains our lives. By pointing to a similar neglect of the natural environment, she also issued a wake-up call to issues of ecological sustainability that have only grown more pressing over time. In recent decades, the field of feminist economics has broadened and widened to encompass these topics and more." [12]

The noted economist John Kenneth Galbraith called If Women Counted "a splendid work... no concerned man or woman can ignore it." [13]

The book is discussed in Melinda Gates' book The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. [14]

In a reflection on If Women Counted, Ulla Grapard, professor of economics and women's studies at Colgate University, comments : "If Women Counted opened my eyes further. After reading the book, I kept on seeing connections to many other things that I was observing, reading, writing and simply living. Unpaid care work, as we call it now, was everywhere." [5]

Publication history

Originally published by Harper & Row as If Women Counted with an introduction by Gloria Steinem in 1988, [15] it has since also been published by Macmillan under the same title, [16] and by Allen & Unwin and the University of Toronto Press as Counting for Nothing. [17] The book remains most widely known under the title If Women Counted and has been translated into several languages.

At the time she wrote the book, Waring was a visiting fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. [18]

Film adaptation

Literature

Related Research Articles

A variety of measures of national income and output are used in economics to estimate total economic activity in a country or region, including gross domestic product (GDP), gross national product (GNP), net national income (NNI), and adjusted national income. All are specially concerned with counting the total amount of goods and services produced within the economy and by various sectors. The boundary is usually defined by geography or citizenship, and it is also defined as the total income of the nation and also restrict the goods and services that are counted. For instance, some measures count only goods & services that are exchanged for money, excluding bartered goods, while other measures may attempt to include bartered goods by imputing monetary values to them.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ecological economics</span> Interdependence of human economies and natural ecosystems

Ecological economics, bioeconomics, ecolonomy, eco-economics, or ecol-econ is both a transdisciplinary and an interdisciplinary field of academic research addressing the interdependence and coevolution of human economies and natural ecosystems, both intertemporally and spatially. By treating the economy as a subsystem of Earth's larger ecosystem, and by emphasizing the preservation of natural capital, the field of ecological economics is differentiated from environmental economics, which is the mainstream economic analysis of the environment. One survey of German economists found that ecological and environmental economics are different schools of economic thought, with ecological economists emphasizing strong sustainability and rejecting the proposition that physical (human-made) capital can substitute for natural capital.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feminist economics</span> Gender-aware branch of economics

Feminist economics is the critical study of economics and economies, with a focus on gender-aware and inclusive economic inquiry and policy analysis. Feminist economic researchers include academics, activists, policy theorists, and practitioners. Much feminist economic research focuses on topics that have been neglected in the field, such as care work, intimate partner violence, or on economic theories which could be improved through better incorporation of gendered effects and interactions, such as between paid and unpaid sectors of economies. Other feminist scholars have engaged in new forms of data collection and measurement such as the Gender Empowerment Measure (GEM), and more gender-aware theories such as the capabilities approach. Feminist economics is oriented towards the goal of "enhancing the well-being of children, women, and men in local, national, and transnational communities."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marilyn Waring</span> New Zealand politician and academic

Dame Marilyn Joy Waring is a New Zealand public policy scholar, international development consultant, former politician, environmentalist, feminist and a principal founder of feminist economics.

Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional, or philosophical discourse. It aims to understand the nature of gender inequality. It examines women's and men's social roles, experiences, interests, chores, and feminist politics in a variety of fields, such as anthropology and sociology, communication, media studies, psychoanalysis, political theory, home economics, literature, education, and philosophy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman Daly</span> American economist (1938–2022)

Herman Edward Daly was an American ecological and Georgist economist and professor at the School of Public Policy of University of Maryland, College Park in the United States, best known for his time as a senior economist at the World Bank from 1988 to 1994. In 1996, he was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for "defining a path of ecological economics that integrates the key elements of ethics, quality of life, environment and community."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Capability approach</span> Normative approach to human welfare

The capability approach is a normative approach to human welfare that concentrates on the actual capability of persons to achieve lives they value rather than solely having a right or freedom to do so. It was conceived in the 1980s as an alternative approach to welfare economics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nancy Folbre</span> American feminist economist

Nancy Folbre is an American feminist economist who focuses on economics and the family, non-market work and the economics of care. She is professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julie A. Nelson</span> American feminist economist

Julie A. Nelson is an emeritus professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts Boston, most known for her application of feminist theory to questions of the definition of the discipline of economics, and its models and methodology. Nelson received her Ph.D. degree in economics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Her work focuses on gender and economics, philosophy and methodology of economics, ecological economics, and quantitative methods. Nelson is among the founders and the most highly cited scholars in the field of feminist economics.

Degrowth or post-growth economics is an academic and social movement critical of the concept of growth in gross domestic product as a measure of human and economic development. Degrowth theory is based on ideas and research from a multitude of disciplines such as economics, economic anthropology, ecological economics, environmental sciences and development studies. It argues that the unitary focus of modern capitalism on growth, in terms of monetary value of aggregate goods and services, causes widespread ecological damage and is not necessary for the further increase of human living standards. Degrowth theory has been met with both academic acclaim and considerable criticism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unpaid work</span> Labor that does not receive any direct remuneration

Unpaid labor or unpaid work is defined as labor or work that does not receive any direct remuneration. This is a form of non-market work which can fall into one of two categories: (1) unpaid work that is placed within the production boundary of the System of National Accounts (SNA), such as gross domestic product (GDP); and (2) unpaid work that falls outside of the production boundary, such as domestic labor that occurs inside households for their consumption. Unpaid labor is visible in many forms and isn't limited to activities within a household. Other types of unpaid labor activities include volunteering as a form of charity work and interning as a form of unpaid employment. In a lot of countries, unpaid domestic work in the household is typically performed by women, due to gender inequality and gender norms, which can result in high-stress levels in women attempting to balance unpaid work and paid employment. In poorer countries, this work is sometimes performed by children.

Critique of political economy or simply the first critique of economy is a form of social critique that rejects the conventional ways of distributing resources. The critique also rejects what its advocates believe are unrealistic axioms, faulty historical assumptions, and taking conventional economic mechanisms as a given or as transhistorical. The critique asserts the conventional economy is merely one of many types of historically specific ways to distribute resources, which emerged along with modernity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Care work</span> Type of employment based on affection rather than immediate pecuniary reward

Care work is a sub-category of work that includes all tasks that directly involve the care processes done in service of others. It is often differentiated from other forms of work because it is considered to be intrinsically motivated. This perspective defines care labor as labor done out of affection or a sense of responsibility for other people, with no expectation of immediate pecuniary reward. Regardless of motivation, care work includes care activities done for pay as well as those done without remuneration.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ailsa McKay</span> 20th and 21st-century Scottish economist

Ailsa McKay was a Scottish economist, government policy adviser, a leading feminist economist and Professor of Economics at Glasgow Caledonian University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iulie Aslaksen</span> Norwegian economist (born 1956)

Iulie Margrethe Nicolaysen Aslaksen is a Norwegian economist and Senior Researcher at Statistics Norway. She was a member of the Petroleum Price Board from 1990 to 2000. She is an expert on energy and environmental economics, including petroleum economics, climate policy and economics and sustainable development. She is cand.oecon. from the University of Oslo in 1981 and dr.polit. from 1990. She has been a visiting researcher and Fulbright Fellow at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley, and Associate Professor of Economics at the University of Oslo. She was a member of the government commissions resulting in the Norwegian Official Report 1988:21 Norsk økonomi i forandring and the Norwegian Official Report 1999:11 Analyse av investeringsutviklingen på kontinentalsokkelen.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Margunn Bjørnholt</span> Norwegian sociologist and economist (born 1958)

Margunn Bjørnholt is a Norwegian sociologist and economist. She is a research professor at the Norwegian Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies (NKVTS) and a professor of sociology at the University of Bergen. Her research has focused on financial institutions, management and working life and later on gender equality, migration and violence. She has also worked as a consultant, a civil servant, served as an expert to the European Commission and been president of the Norwegian Association for Women's Rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Association for Feminist Economics</span>

The International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) is a non-profit international association dedicated to raising awareness and inquiry of feminist economics. It has some eight hundred members in over 90 countries. The association publishes a quarterly journal entitled Feminist Economics.

Fanaura Kimiora Kingstone QSO is a Cook Islands former politician and Cabinet Minister. In 1983 she became the second woman elected to the Parliament of the Cook Islands, and the first appointed to Cabinet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elli Saurio</span> Finnish economist (1899–1966)

Elli Saurio was a Finnish economist. She was the first professor of household economics in Europe, the first woman in Finland to hold a doctorate in economics, and the first female professor in the University of Helsinki Faculty of Agriculture and Forestry.

References

  1. 1 2 Langeland, Terje (18 June 2013). "Women Unaccounted for in Global Economy Proves Waring Influence". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  2. ↑ Beneria, Lourdes (2003). Gender, development, and globalization : economics as if all people mattered. New York: Routledge. p. 132. ISBN   0-415-92706-4.
  3. 1 2 3 Gregoratti, C. and Raphael, R. 2019. The Historical Roots of a Feminist 'Degrowth': Maria Mies's and Marilyn Waring's Critiques of Growth. in Chertkovskaya, E.; Paulsson, A., and Barca, S. edds. 2019. Towards a Political Economy of Degrowth, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International.
  4. ↑ Postner, H. H. (1992). Review of If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics. Income and Wealth, 38(2), 237-243).
  5. 1 2 Rai, S., Budlender, D., & Grapard, U. (2014). Feminist Classics/Many Voices: Marilyn Waring. If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 16(3), 523-529.
  6. ↑ Marilyn Waring. 2003. 'Counting for Something! Recognising Women's Contribution to the Global Economy through Alternative Accounting Systems'. Gender and Development 11 (1): 35-43.
  7. ↑ Gregoratti, C. and Raphael, R. 2019. The Historical Roots of a Feminist 'Degrowth': Maria Mies's and Marilyn Waring's Critiques of Growth. in Chertkovskaya, E.; Paulsson, A., and Barca, S. edds. 2019. Towards a Political Economy of Degrowth, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers / Rowman & Littlefield International
  8. ↑ Saunders, C., & Dalziel, P. (2017). Twenty-five years of counting for nothing: Waring's critique of national accounts. Feminist Economics, 23(2), 200-218.
  9. ↑ "Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics". Archived from the original on April 25, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  10. ↑ Sullivan, T.E. (2014). "Counting on Marilyn Waring: new advances in feminist economics". Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries . 52 (3). doi:10.5860/CHOICE.185300.
  11. ↑ Elson, Diane (2015). "Book Review: Counting on Marilyn Waring: new advances in feminist economics". Feminist Review. 109 (109): e9–e11. doi: 10.1057/fr.2014.58 . Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  12. ↑ Nelson, Julie A. (2014). "Foreword". In Bjørnholt, Margunn; McKay, Ailsa (eds.). Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics. Demeter Press. pp. ix–x. ISBN   9781927335277.
  13. ↑ Benet, Lorenzo Benet (April 2, 1989). "Economics And The Invisible Woman". Los Angeles Daily News .
  14. ↑ Gates, Melinda (2019). The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. Macmillan. ISBN   9781250313577.
  15. ↑ Waring, Marilyn (1988). If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics . Steinem, Glora (foreword). San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN   0-06-250933-0.
  16. ↑ Waring, Marilyn (1989). If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics. London: Macmillan. ISBN   0-333-49262-5.
  17. ↑ "Counting for nothing : what men value and what women are worth". University of Toronto Libraries Library Catalogue. University of Toronto Libraries. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  18. ↑ "Marilyn Waring". The Institute of Politics at Harvard University. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
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