It’s time to have a space for feminists who want to understand the world of economics. Hopefully this will be that place.
First, a bit about me.
I cut my teeth as an economist at UMass Amherst where I earned my PhD in 1981. I became interested in feminism and feminist economics when in my first job (at an un-named large public metropolitan university in Richmond Virginia) I was on the receiving end of retrograde sexist behavior.
Not surprisingly but certainly unfairly I was denied tenure. Figuring out economists’ hostility to women as colleagues—and their even greater hostility to feminism—became my number one priority.
So I started to study how economists teach (indoctrinate) students about the impossibility of discrimination co-existing with capitalist competition. Absurd? Not hardly. Check out any economics text book. There you will discover that discrimination can’t possibly exist … it must be in your head (like PMS or morning sickness).
In the early 1990s a group of like minded feminists with PhDs formed a professional organization IAFFE (the International Assocaition for Feminist Economics) which now meets annually and publishes an award winning academic journal, Feminist Economics.
Where Women’s Studies Meets Economics is intended to fill the gap between professional discussions of economic issues and the generally “gender blind” and/or outright sexist discussions of economics found in the media.
One thing that I am really keen on doing … answering your questions!
Over the years I’ve met hundreds of women and men who’ve said, “I took economics in college. I memorized the graphs and formulas, but it made no sense.”
I will do my best to provide clear explanations of economic events—that take into account the reality of gendered differences!
A word of caution: this is not the place to ask for investment advice. I don’t have any.
But if you think the economy isn’t fair, that many economic relationships are exploitative (of people and the environment) and if you want to understand what needs to change and how to change it—then this is the blog for you.
Do write to me soon.
feinersf@gmail.com