– preface –
Women and the Economy Resource Book
This Women and the Economy Resource Book is the culmination of two years of work to empower women to better understand the economic and financial systems of which they are a part, however invisible or apparently insignificant their work may seem. Once women have a better understanding of these systems, they can see whether their needs are being met in equitable ways, and if not, work towards their reform and improvement.
UNPAC was motivated to do this work by the perception of some, including the Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Action (FAFIA), that of all the threats facing the women, and hence the people, of the world, the closed-minded belief in economic fundamentalism was the greatest. This insight had been fed by Canadian women’s preparation for, experience of and follow up to the United Nations’ Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China. The central concern was that the theories and institutions of free market based economics were too often aggravating rather than advancing women in their global struggle for equality. Add to this the understanding that women’s work — paid or unpaid, raising children, doing housework or in the mainstream labour force — was undervalued, underpaid and even invisible when it came to measuring economic progress; and that too few women were sharing equitably in the benefits of expanding markets, or playing roles in macro economic decision making, and you can sense their unease.
Inspired by these experiences and analysis from academics in women’s studies, like Deborah Stienstra, UNPAC proposed and received a Status of Women Canada grant for a participatory, community-based research project to explore women’s views on the economy. An advisory committee was established — Robby Simpson, Brenda Maxwell, Tara Pratt and Muriel Smith. A coordinator, Jennifer deGroot, was hired.
Jennifer sought out a representative group of women to video-interview. They described their daily economic activities and contributions as well as their experiences of economic inequalities. UNPAC had learned from the books and Winnipeg visit of New Zealand economist and activist, Marilyn Waring, that studying how women spent their time surviving and meeting the needs of their families each day was the best way to discover how they related to the economy, both the formal and paid economy and the informal unpaid one. Together they explored the fact that in the formal economy, far too much of the work of far too many women is uncounted, unrecognized, undervalued and too often unpaid or underpaid. In asking why this should be, they found their answers in the stereotypical notions of women’s roles in society. Interestingly, they found a similar downgrading and invisibility in mainstream economics of ecological values.
As Jennifer built up her picture of “what is” using women’s stories, she built links with basic economic theorists, activist groups dealing with women’s main points of stress, and ideas for change from women’s perspective. This information found its way onto the Women & Economy website — upon which these Resource Books are based. She included references to the need for activism by individuals and groups, by governments and institutions at all levels, and by women’s voices being heard in more equal numbers wherever decisions relating to the macro as well as the micro economy are being made. She livened up the website with activities and quizzes, and completed the project with this set of resource books. These books are suitable for a wide range of individuals or groups of all stages of sophistication to use as they explore the economy and their relationship to it. She also produced a 26-minute video, Banging the Door Down: Women and the Economy, to serve as a companion piece to the website.
“Banging the Door Down” indeed! May these materials enable women to create a more accessible, equitable and ecologically sound economy that will allow all of us to thrive on a healthy planet.