Economy

Picture: Jonas Hansel. Creative Commons - Some rights reserved.

Economy

Contemporary social change is characterised by a change in the age structure of our society as well as by changes concerning life styles, relationships and gender relations. Sustained high unemployment rates have meant that the idea of full employment has become a remote possibility. At the same time this has refocused the debate on the crises of the wage economy and the adverse effects it has on systems of social security. Thus current problems do also give scope to the development of new concepts of work – of work beyond a salaried economy.

India

The Invisible Hands - India

- What is the impact on the country's economy and society when its women double up as unpaid and underpaid labourers? Are these women subsidising the economy? If yes, how much is it? This short documentary raises such questions and provides apparent answers so that you will raise even more questions. Presenting "The Invisible Hands… that build India"- a curtain raiser on Gender and Macroeconomics. Pramod Dev more»

Participants from Liberia and Malawi at the end of their six-month solar engineering course

Gender Equality in the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Where Does it Stand?

- The Rio + 20 Conference ‘The Future We Want’ took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in June 2012. Women’s groups were critical of the Conference because it failed to make a stronger link between women’s rights and the environment, and to bring more women experts and activists into the official dialogue and meeting structure. Alexandra Spieldoch more»

Report

Missing Women: The G20, Gender Equality and Global Economic Governance

- The policy priorities of the G20 have profound gender implications, although the G20 rarely recognizes this fact. This report explores the possibilities for gender bias in the G20's policies, including those related to: fiscal and monetary priorities, employment, social protection, and development. James Heintz - University of Massachusetts, Amherst more»

Rio 20+ Gender Equity and Sustainable Development

- On the eve of Rio+20, the Heinrich Böll Stiftung North America has asked several of its partners from civil society to reflect in short commentaries about some of the linkages and synergies between gender equity and key issue areas of sustainable development. more»

India

Informalisation of Women's Work in India

- Can we speak of a ‘feminization of labour’ in the Indian context? Questions on Informal labour, the casualization of work and possibilities for a gender targeted social security in an Interview with Dr. Govind Kelkar. more»

germany

Questions of care and gender seen from the focus of the care economy

- A commentary by Elisabeth Scharfenberg, spokeswoman of the Green parliamentary group for care and policies for senior citizens. Elisabeth Scharfenberg more»

European policies in the wake of the globalisation of care work

- Women’s increasing integration into the labour market comes with a crisis of care systems and the development of a labour market for care work. Increasingly women migrate to richer countries to seek employment in the care sector, hoping their salary will improve the living conditions of their families. Maria Kontos more»

Care, the market economy and gender equity – how is politics to find a balance?

- Finding an economic, social and bio-political balance between production and social reproduction, between private households and the market is a central task for the state. In western welfare states this is achieved through social security; by dividing care between the family, networks of solidarity, the private sector and the public sector; policies directed at influencing birth rates; and the regime of migration which attracts the workforce it needs in both the market and the care economy. Christa Wichterich more»

The personal is (still not) political - What does the fashionable word ‘care economy’ actually mean?

- In the current debate surrounding the future of work the care economy has become an issue worthy of discussion. ‘The concept of the care economy refers to paid and unpaid work directly related to the everyday care of other people but also to the work involved in care provision. Gisela Notz more»

Solidarity networks: between self-determination and the new obligations of an aid society

- Thomas Birk on the topics new forms of comunity, diverse ways of life and how politics and the public should deal with. Thomas Birk more»

The feminine twin in economics

When we speak about economics or read about the subject in the newspapers, generally the focus is on the market, prices or competition. Our daily lives now reflect an economic theory and practice which has established itself over the last two hundred years. Yet the modern economy is far more than that. In my opinion, it has been a twin birth since the outset: the birth of non-identical, bisexual twins.

Adelheid Biesecker more»

‘Paid or unpaid’ – a challenge for care policy

- A central claim in the introduction to this dossier is that ‘care is everywhere, even in the economy’. Yet for many areas of care work this no longer holds true. New concepts such as that of the ‘care economy’ attempt to highlight this fact by pointing to the overlap between care and efficiency, use, process maximisation and productivity. more»

europe

Knowledge Networking and Capacity Building Program on Engendering Macroeconomics and International Economics

- We are pleased to announce the first European regional program on knowledge networking and capacity building on gender, macroeconomics and international economics. Economists from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan are welcome to apply. The summer school will take place in Istanbul on 9-17 October, 2011. more»

Europe

The Global Financial Meltdown And The Impact Of Financial Governance On Gender

- Which risks, tasks and opportuneties come up with the financial crisis in the context of gender (in-)equality? - With their Garnet Policy Brief Paper Brigitte Young and Helene Schuberth make a contribution to find answers in the discussion. more»