On Heidi Gottfried, Gender, work and economy: Unpacking the global economy (2012, Polity Press, pp.327)

Abstract

Gottfried, as the title indicates, challenges the central conceptions of economic sociology on work since she claims it is too narrow for use in understanding the more hidden consequences of the current economic crisis. Instead, the author clearly suggests using a feminist perspective. She argues that feminist theory and economic policy must go together if we want to understand that productive work does not occur accidentally somewhere in random time and space, out of the vacuum of economy. Similarly, a worker, let it be a woman or a man, is not a carefree person without the responsibilities of the private sphere. The image of the ideal (male) worker who only has a career and no private life still exists at workplaces. It is therefore necessary to use a broader and more gender-sensitive concept when analyzing the economy to see how the world of economy functions and how economic processes of labor activity work. In order to broaden and complete the definition of economy, the social reproduction that is typically performed by women in every corner of the globe has to be taken into account.