Social Reproduction and the Changing World of Work

Feminist economics challenges conventional approaches that treat markets, economic growth and accumulation as the primary measures of progress. It makes visible the social relationships, institutions and paid and unpaid work through which people, households and societies are sustained.

The Institute for Economic Justice hosted its third Feminist Economics Summer School under the theme Social Reproduction and the Changing World of Work. The School brought together scholars, researchers, policymakers and practitioners from across Africa to develop their understanding of feminist economics and explore how it could be applied to research, policy and advocacy.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the essential role of social reproduction—the work involved in sustaining people and communities—while deepening existing inequalities. It also intensified a wider crisis of work shaped by climate change, automation, informalisation, low wages and increasingly temporary and precarious employment.

FESS 2023 used social reproduction as a lens through which to examine these changes from an African and Global South perspective. The programme challenged narrow definitions of work that privilege formal paid employment while overlooking unpaid care, informal labour, subsistence production and other activities essential to sustaining economies and societies.

Over five thematic days, participants explored:

• social reproduction and mainstream gender discourses;
• work, global production networks and care;
• agrarian labour and the informal economy;
• climate change and the green economy; and
• the state, social protection and a Universal Basic Income Guarantee.

Sessions examined social reproduction under global capitalism; feminised labour in global commodity chains; transnational fertility industries; informal and agrarian labour; and the gendered effects of climate change. Participants also considered the relationship between care and the state, South Africa’s care regime, and the potential contribution of universal basic income to supporting social reproduction.

The programme combined presentations by leading feminist scholars with participant research presentations, collective reflection and creative learning activities. It drew on African feminist thought, intersectionality and decolonial approaches to connect theoretical debates with participants’ lived experiences and areas of work.

Beyond the formal programme, FESS 2023 contributed to building a community of practice among feminist scholars and practitioners. By sharing knowledge, methods and experiences, participants strengthened relationships that could support future research, advocacy and policy interventions grounded in feminist economics.