How (un)productive is reproductive labour? Feminist political economists on capitalism's household economy

Sirisha C. Naidu

Chapter 19 in The Elgar Companion to Women and Heterodox Economics, 2025, pp 295-307 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter discusses the contributions of three feminist political economists—Carmen Diana Deere, Maria Mies, and Paddy Quick—to our collective understanding of the household economy under capitalism. The household is often associated with the private sphere where ‘reproductive’ labour engages in unpaid work, and the workplace is the public sphere where ‘productive’ labour participates in paid work. This demarcation relies on three binaries: public-private spheres, paid-unpaid work, and productive-reproductive labour. The chapter highlights discussions and debates, from both the Global North and South, which challenge these binaries. These intellectual contributions have challenged us to reassess our conventional notions of the household, the role of gendered labour in relation to capitalism, and the distinction between productive and reproductive labour.

Keywords: Carmen Diana Deere; Household Economy; Maria Mies; Paddy Quick; Reproductive Labour; Social reproduction (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035329304
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