Dependency theory meets feminist economics: a research agenda

Belén Villegas Plá

Third World Quarterly, 2024, vol. 45, issue 8, 1325-1342

Abstract: Dependency theory had great influence in Latin America between 1940 and 1970, but since then it has lost political and academic relevance. However, in recent years, the dependency agenda has been increasingly revisited, incorporating new analytical axes and conceptual bridges with other theories. Despite this, this agenda remains largely blind to gender and racial-ethnic inequalities. This paper aims precisely to address this gap by combining the dependency school with feminist economics to address the links between gender inequalities and Latin American peripheral position. In particular, I propose to develop two analytical axes resulting from the combination of both currents. First, I argue that gender inequalities function as ‘adjustment variables’ in the ‘up’ and ‘down’ economic cycles of Latin American countries. Thus, women’s wages and more precarious working conditions constitute a central axis of peripheral countries in the international competition for attracting capital. Second, I argue that the large wage gap and high informality derived from the productive structure of the periphery catalyse the commodification of ‘low-cost’ paid domestic work. This ‘cheap’ care work satisfies the care needs not only of the upper-middle sectors of the peripheries, but also of the central markets through Global Care Chains.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2023.2292176

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