Feminist economics has emerged since the 1970s as a political academic discipline to expose the global inequalities created by our capitalist economic model, and to seek its transformation based on values of justice and equality.

Feminist economics emerged from diverse critiques of mainstream economics (Marxist, radical, institutionalist, ecological, post-Keynesian, decolonial) and continues to be driven by an intentionally wide and inclusive lens. (1) What unites these approaches is their analysis of power relations and processes of inclusion and exclusion; their consideration of people’s intersectional identities and how they impact economic positions; their emphasis on valuing care and unpaid labor as fundamental economic activities; and their use of well-being as a measure of economic success. (2)

(1) Astrid Agenjo-Calderón and Lina Gálvez-Muñoz, “Feminist Economics: Theoretical and Political Dimensions,” American Journal of Economics and Sociology 78, no. 1 (2019): 137-166. 

(2) Lourdes Beneria, Gunseli Berik, and Maria Floro, “The Study of Women and Gender in Economics,” in Gender, Development and Globalization: Economics as if All People Mattered (London and New York: Routledge, 2016), 41-92.