Feminism Against Austerity: The Past, Present and Future of Wages for Housework

Historically, the effects of austerity policies have fallen most heavily on the world’s women, yet austerity is conventionally presented as a matter of balancing budgets, rather than gender politics. How do feminists mobilize against austerity? Across the globe in the 1970s, a network of feminists resisted austerity with a single demand: Wages for Housework! This talk will explore the history of this brilliant, creative and controversial feminist movement. Then as now, Wages for Housework poses profound questions. What would it be like to live in a society that prioritizes care rather than the production of commodities? How would this change our relationship with the natural world? And what would women do with their lives if they had more time?

This talk is presented as part of the Bill Gray Speaker Series hosted by the Center for Urban Studies (CUS).

Emily Callaci is a feminist historian, writer and professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her recent book is called Wages for Housework: The Feminist Fight Against Unpaid Labor.