ESSAY 3: FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE (THE GLOBALISATION OF PRODUCTION AND ITS EFFECTS ON WORKERS)

What does Feminist Political Economy (FPE) aim to highlight in global economic analysis?

FPE emphasizes the gendered nature of traditional economic dichotomies like production/reproduction and public/private, showing how these binaries devalue women's labor, social reproduction, and household work.

What are the key gendered dichotomies critiqued by Feminist Political Economy?

• Production/Reproduction: Production seen as masculine (valued); reproduction as feminine (devalued)

• Public/Private: Public (market/state) valued over private (home/family)
  FPE reveals these divisions are artificial and interdependent.

How does globalization reinforce gendered labor divisions in home-based work?

• Women in the Global South often engage in informal, home-based work

• This work is undervalued, low-paid, and lacks legal/social protections

• Feminist analysis reveals the interweaving of paid and unpaid labor at home

What statistic highlights the gendered nature of informal work globally?

Almost 70% of workers in developing regions are informal, and women are overrepresented, especially in home-based and low-income sectors.

Why is home-based work often not recognized as "real work"?

• Seen as supplemental or natural for women

• Takes place in the private sphere, outside formal wage labor structures

• Feminist analysis challenges this devaluation of labor and space

What is social reproduction, and why is it important in Feminist Political Economy?

• Activities that maintain life: cooking, cleaning, caregiving, educating

• Necessary for capital accumulation but often unpaid and feminized

• FPE stresses its centrality to sustaining the workforce and capitalism

How did the COVID-19 pandemic expose capitalism's dependence on social reproduction?

• Revealed reliance on unpaid care work, especially by women

• Double/triple burdens: working from home, childcare, and education

• Showed that social reproduction is not peripheral, but foundational

What is the care economy and how does it disrupt traditional economic categories?

• Involves both paid and unpaid care work (e.g., nurses, nannies, family care)

• Combines emotional commitment with wage labor

• Blends logics of accumulation and altruism, public purpose and private gain

How does FPE reframe the understanding of economic value and work?

• Centers marginalized workers like home-based and care workers

• Demonstrates that “private” labor contributes to global capital

• Seeks to decenter wage labor as the sole marker of productivity

Provide 3 key examples used to illustrate FPE’s insights into globalization.

• Informal home-based workers in the Global South

• Women’s unpaid domestic work supporting formal labor markets

• Paid care workers navigating emotional and economic roles during crises (e.g., COVID-19)

How does capitalism destabilize the very processes it depends on, according to FPE?

• Seeks endless accumulation but neglects investment in care and reproduction

• Leads to burnout, crisis in care systems, and increased burden on women

What does Feminist Political Economy contribute to our understanding of globalization’s effects on workers?

• Shows that globalization exploits invisible, feminized labor

• Highlights how homes and care work are integrated into global value chains

• Urges a redefinition of economic analysis to include social reproduction

What kind of future does FPE envision?

• One that transcends false binaries

• Centers care, equity, and social reproduction in economic planning

• Recognizes and values all forms of labor, including unpaid and emotional work