If Women Counted

If Women Counted (1988) is a book by New Zealand academic and former politician Marilyn Waring, that is regarded as the "founding document" of the discipline of feminist economics.[1] The book is a groundbreaking and systematic critique of the system of national accounts, the international standard of measuring economic growth, and the ways in which women's unpaid work as well as the value of Nature have been excluded from what counts as productive in the economy.

If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics
AuthorMarilyn Waring
LanguageEnglish
GenrePolitical economy, feminism, feminist economics
PublisherHarper & Row, Macmillan‚ Allen & Unwin
Publication date
1988
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages386 pp (Harper & Row edition)
ISBN0-06-250933-0

The book "persuaded the United Nations to redefine gross domestic product, inspired new accounting methods in dozens of countries, and became the founding document of the discipline of feminist economics."[1] A widely cited book, it made the analysis of this topic known to a large audience.[2]

Reception

According to Julie A. Nelson,

"Marilyn Waring's work woke people up. She showed exactly how the unpaid work traditionally done by women has been made invisible within national accounting systems, and the damage this causes. Her book [...] encouraged and influenced a wide range of work on ways, both numerical and otherwise, of valuing, preserving, and rewarding the work of care that sustains our lives. By pointing to a similar neglect of the natural environment, she also issued a wake-up call to issues of ecological sustainability that have only grown more pressing over time. In recent decades, the field of feminist economics has broadened and widened to encompass these topics and more."[3]

The noted economist John Kenneth Galbraith called If Women Counted "a splendid work... no concerned man or woman can ignore it."[4]

The book is discussed in Melinda Gates' book The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World.[5]

Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics

Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics, an anthology edited by Margunn Bjørnholt and Ailsa McKay, was published in 2014, with contributions by a diverse group of scholars on recent advances in the field of feminist economics. It was described by economist Alison Preston as "a timely reminder of the politics and economics underpinning what, how and by whom activities and outputs are valued. For those concerned with social justice and sustainable futures this important and powerful book provides an invaluable and practical insight into issues that are in need of greater visibility."[6] According to the magazine Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries, the book explores "a wide range of issues—including the fundamental meaning of economic growth and activity to consumption, health care, mortality, unpaid household work, mothering, education, nutrition, equality, and sustainability" and reveals "the breadth, depth, and substance that can grow from innovative ideas and critical analysis."[7] Diane Elson argues that "despite many valiant efforts, women do not as yet really count in the conduct of economic policy. This book is an imaginative contribution to an ongoing struggle."[8] In a review in Feminist Economics, Patricia E. Perkins calls the book "a joy to read and a revelation", and "a fitting culmination of [McKay's] lifelong work using economics to advance equity for women."[9] The book is quoted in Melinda Gates' book The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World,[5] a book that former President Barack Obama starred in a comedy sketch in order to promote.[10]

Publication history

Originally published by Harper & Row as If Women Counted with an introduction by Gloria Steinem in 1988,[11] it has since also been published by Macmillan under the same title,[12] and by Allen & Unwin and University of Toronto Press as Counting for Nothing.[13] The book remains most widely known under the title If Women Counted and has been translated into several languages.

At the time she wrote the book, Waring was a visiting fellow at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.[14]

Film adaptation

Literature
gollark: Well, they're per-socket.
gollark: Does anyone *want* that?
gollark: The Modem->Skynet relay on SC now also sends out human-readable chat messages/deaths/etc on `switchcraft-chat` for your something-or-othering.
gollark: Basically, skynet nodes will be able to connect to each other, exchange messages sent by clients, and become self-aware.
gollark: I'm going to make it a distributed system, so it's kind of important.

References
  1. Langeland, Terje (18 June 2013). "Women Unaccounted for in Global Economy Proves Waring Influence". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on 19 June 2013. Retrieved 18 June 2013.
  2. Beneria, Lourdes (2003). Gender, development, and globalization : economics as if all people mattered. New York: Routledge. p. 132. ISBN 0-415-92706-4.
  3. Nelson, Julie A. (2014). "Foreword". In Bjørnholt, Margunn; McKay, Ailsa (eds.). Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics. Demeter Press. pp. ix–x. ISBN 9781927335277.
  4. Benet, Lorenzo Benet (April 2, 1989). "Economics And The Invisible Woman". Los Angeles Daily News.
  5. Gates, Melinda (2019). The Moment of Lift: How Empowering Women Changes the World. Macmillan. ISBN 9781250313577.
  6. "Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics". Archived from the original on April 25, 2016. Retrieved January 16, 2014.
  7. Sullivan, T.E. (2014). "Counting on Marilyn Waring: new advances in feminist economics". Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries. 52 (3). doi:10.5860/CHOICE.185300.
  8. Elson, Diane (2015). "Book Review: Counting on Marilyn Waring: new advances in feminist economics". Feminist Review (109). doi:10.1057/fr.2014.58. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
  9. Perkins, Patricia E. (2015). "Book Review: Counting on Marilyn Waring: New Advances in Feminist Economics". Feminist Economics. doi:10.1080/13545701.2015.1069370.
  10. Darrisaw, Michelle (10 May 2019). "Barack Obama Is the Ultimate Funny Guy in a Video Made for Melinda Gates". Oprah Magazine.
  11. Waring, Marilyn (1988). If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics. Steinem, Glora (foreword). San Francisco: Harper & Row. ISBN 0-06-250933-0.
  12. Waring, Marilyn (1989). If Women Counted: A New Feminist Economics. London: Macmillan. ISBN 0-333-49262-5.
  13. "Counting for nothing : what men value and what women are worth". University of Toronto Libraries Library Catalogue. University of Toronto Libraries. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  14. "Marilyn Waring". The Institute of Politics at Harvard University. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
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