Emerging Themes in Feminist Political Economy: Explorations at the Intersection of Paid and Unpaid Labor

Abstract

One of the most significant contributions made by feminist political economy literature is to demonstrate the crucial role that social reproduction plays in the sustenance of human life, and in the salaried productive labor and capital accumulation that traditionally have been conceptualized as the ‘real’ economy. The undertaking of salaried labor and the production of capital cannot take place without social reproduction, and the separation between the two is a fiction that arose with the capitalist system. The undertaking of reproductive labor is structured along gendered, racialized, and classed lines, as it is predominantly carried out by women. This panel seeks to explore one of the fundamental questions that feminist political economists have grappled with from the start: How do we conceptualize contemporary developments in labor, and how do our conceptualizations have a material impact on people’s lives and policymaking? The panel interrogates the gendered, heteronormative, racialized, and ableist assumptions that sustain the idea of a separation between productive salaried work and reproductive labor. It examines a range of contemporary topics, including the emerging phenomenon of care platforms as new business models, underexplored discrepancies in working hours between heterosexual and queer couples, the gendered impact of the mental load on political participation and labor market participation, as well as the uneven distribution of hermeneutic labor in academia and its role in the retention of academics who do not conform to the traditional ideal-type academic. The panel features distinct methodological approaches, both qualitative and quantitative in nature, grounded in a feminist analytical approach and brings empirical insights from different European countries. It is an interdisciplinary panel composed of early career scholars speaking to feminist political economy debates in political science, sociology, and socio-legal studies.

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Platformization of Care: How Do Care Platforms Transform the Reproductive Sphere in the Netherland and Italy	View Paper Details
The 'mental load': Trends and consequences at the gender equality frontier	View Paper Details
The Governance of Reproduction	View Paper Details