A Herstory of Economics. Edith Kuiper. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

Автор: Edith Kuiper
Издательство: John Wiley & Sons Limited
Серия:
Жанр произведения: Экономика
Год издания: 0
isbn: 9781509538447
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in productivity and technology led over the nineteenth century in Europe and the US to changes in marriage laws and property rights. As middle-class women emerged onto the labor market over the twentieth century, their participation in the workforce grew from about 20 percent in 1900 to around 50 percent in 1980 (Goldin, 1990). Although the shift of productive activities from the household to the market is still ongoing, the increase of female labor force participation has by now maxed out, stalled, and, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, reversed into a decline. Thus far, the twenty-first century has brought some severe economic crises, and industrial society faces limits in various other respects, such as the exhaustion of resources, climate change, and the unsustainability of white male dominance.

      Talking about some central concepts where the herstory of economics is concerned, the first and often primary question that feminist scholars ask is: “Where are the women?” This question is particularly relevant where the history of economic thought is concerned because of the absence of women on various levels; as economists, as topics of research, and in terms of their specific interests. To answer this question, one needs to dive deep into the story and bring in perspectives other than the ones usually presented by historians. After addressing that initial question, which focuses on women as a group, we also need to identify and address the differences in experience among women, including the conflicted interests between them, given that they are not all positioned equally. White women in positions of power, for instance, often sided with men in the silencing of enslaved women, thus sustaining if not joining the cruel behavior of the men in their vicinity. Women of privilege exploited domestic workers, as in the case of Hannah More, a member of the Bluestocking Society in England who appropriated the intellectual work of her servant, Ann Yearsley, under the cover of philanthropy. These conflicts and opposing interests deserve attention and inclusion in the assessment of the work under scrutiny.

      By the 1980s, the absence of women and their economic interests had become a defining part of economic scientific reasoning, norms, and values that seemed to be confirmed by facts and other empirical evidence. Rational Economic Man, the central character in economic theory, was considered as generic in describing humans’ behavior, men and women alike. The analysis of labor market behavior was based on that of men only, but that limitation was not problematized. Women’s economic behavior, on the other hand, was assumed to be captured by the analysis of “family behavior,” and those who invested their career in research on women’s economic behavior were pushed to the fringes of the discipline. More generally, economic behavior and agency were defined by a conceptualization of rational behavior – choosing between two best options based on your own self-interest – that was associated with American notions of masculinity. It was when finally, as an increasing number of women and feminist economists entered economics departments and published their research in established economic journals, that women came to the table, asked their questions, and pursued them in search of answers.

      Research and experience over the past few decades, however, have contradicted this view of the differences between women and men. Women and men are not opposites – as in A and not-A – but can be perceived as being on a spectrum with respect to their DNA, physical reproductive organs, and their individual experience of gender identity (Reis, 2009). Some of us are very feminine; others have various traits traditionally considered masculine or identify as men despite being raised as women. The wide variety of gender identities cannot be captured using a binary; on the contrary, trying to do that is harmful, particularly to those who do not “fit.” To be clear, we are not talking here about “sexual orientation.” Sexual orientation refers to who you are sexually attracted to; if you are heterosexual, gay, pan-, bi- or a-sexual. That is a separate matter, which I would like to leave aside for now. Let me also clarify that men, who have masculine biological traits (DNA and hormones) do not, of course, “naturally” show signs of toxic masculinity, such as dominating and assaulting women. How one deals with being a man is a matter of nurture, not nature. Even though some try to claim that assaulting women is a “natural” thing to do, such behavior in no way makes them a “real” or “good” man.

      As I mentioned before, and as we all