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| Wages for Housework | |
|---|---|
| Name | Wages for Housework |
| Founder | Maria D'Agostino; Silvia Federici; Selma James |
| Founded | 1972 |
| Location | United States; United Kingdom; Italy |
| Focus | Feminist economics; labor rights; social reproduction |
Wages for Housework is a political and feminist campaign advocating payment for unpaid domestic labor performed primarily by women, framing housework as productive, economically valuable, and socially essential. The movement emerged in the early 1970s, linked to broader currents in feminist activism, radical left politics, and debates about social reproduction, influencing scholarship, policy proposals, and grassroots organizing across multiple countries.
The campaign traces origins to activist networks and publications including Selma James, Silvia Federici, Mariarosa Dalla Costa, and the International Wages for Housework Committee, intersecting with organizations such as the Union of Radical Women, Redstockings, and the National Organization for Women. Influences included Marxist feminists like Angela Davis, theorists associated with Autonomist Marxism including Antonio Negri and Operaismo thinkers, and radical publications such as Notes from the First Year. Early demonstrations and conferences connected to the campaign engaged with political bodies like the Trades Union Congress, the Italian Communist Party, and student movements at institutions including the London School of Economics, the University of California, Berkeley, and the New School. Key texts and pamphlets circulated alongside works by Simone de Beauvoir, Betty Friedan, and Kate Millett, while cultural allies ranged from Gloria Steinem networks to socialist feminist periodicals.
Advocates grounded arguments in writing by Federici, Dalla Costa, and Evelyn Reed, engaging theorists such as Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Marx on value, and linking to activists including bell hooks, Audre Lorde, and Angela Davis on racialized and classed division of labor. The movement aligned with campaigns like the Committee for Abortion Rights and Against Sterilization Abuse and intersected with trade union struggles in the International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union and National Women's Trade Union League. Proposals referenced welfare state debates involving institutions like the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, and policy discussions in parliaments including the House of Commons and the Italian Parliament. Feminist intellectual interlocutors included Nancy Fraser, Judith Butler, and Michele Barrett, while activists compared strategies to movements such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party, and anti-colonial struggles involving figures like Frantz Fanon.
Economic literature engaged with mainstream and heterodox economists such as Gary Becker, Amartya Sen, Joan Robinson, and John Maynard Keynes, while feminist economists like Nancy Folbre, Marilyn Waring, and Julie Nelson modeled unpaid care work valuation. Researchers from institutions including the World Bank, International Labour Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and United Nations Development Programme incorporated household production into national accounts alongside national statistical agencies like the Office for National Statistics and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Empirical studies referenced work by Ester Boserup, Angus Deaton, and Elinor Ostrom, and connected to labor market institutions such as the International Trade Union Confederation and the Economic Policy Institute. Analyses considered taxation systems involving the Internal Revenue Service and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, and welfare programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Supplemental Security Income.
Proposals ranged from direct cash transfers advocated by Selma James and policies modeled by social democrats in Nordic countries including Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, to universal basic income pilots supported by proponents such as Philippe Van Parijs and Guy Standing. Policy designs referenced existing programs like child benefit schemes in Germany and France, family allowance systems in Canada and Australia, and paid leave frameworks in Finland and Iceland. Models interacted with legal instruments including the Social Security Act, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, and labor statutes enforced by the International Labour Organization. Alternative proposals drew on cooperative frameworks exemplified by Mondragon Corporation, mutual aid networks linked to Solidarity movements in Poland, and community care initiatives inspired by Paulo Freire and Ivan Illich.
Legal debates involved courts and legislatures such as the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court of the United States, the Constitutional Court of Italy, and parliamentary committees in Westminster and Washington. Policy shifts intersected with legislation like the Care Act, family leave laws, and social assistance reform undertaken by ministries in Japan, Brazil, and South Africa. Advocacy engaged international bodies including the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women monitored by the UN Human Rights Council, and regional institutions such as the European Union and the African Union. Legal scholars referenced case law and statutory regimes considered by Columbia Law School, Harvard Law School, and the London School of Economics.
Critics from neo-classical economics, libertarian scholars associated with the Cato Institute, and conservative commentators in outlets linked to think tanks like the Heritage Foundation argued about incentives, labor supply, and fiscal cost, echoing analyses by Milton Friedman and Friedrich Hayek. Feminist critics including Iris Marion Young, Wendy Brown, and Carole Pateman raised concerns about implications for gender roles, state regulation, and patriarchal control, while intersectional scholars such as Kimberlé Crenshaw and Patricia Hill Collins highlighted race and class stratification. Policy analysts from the Brookings Institution and the Peterson Institute debated practicability, referencing public finance frameworks used by the Congressional Budget Office and national treasuries. Trade unionists and labor economists at the International Labour Organization and Trade Union Congress examined effects on collective bargaining and informal labor markets.
Case studies included social policy reforms in Sweden, Norway, and Finland; cash transfer programs in Brazil's Bolsa Família and Mexico's Prospera; caregiving allowances in Japan and South Korea; and pilot experiments in Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Community initiatives linked to Solidarity in Poland, Landless Workers' Movement in Brazil, and feminist collectives in Italy and Spain provided grassroots data, while academic evaluations emerged from universities such as Oxford, Cambridge, the London School of Economics, University of California system campuses, and the University of Toronto. Comparative work engaged researchers at the World Bank, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, and the International Labour Organization.
Category:Feminist movements Category:Social policy Category:Labor movements