Revisiting ‘Making Women’s Unpaid Work Count’, by Anne Manne, The Monthly (2018).
Our modern societies have benefitted from decades of feminist activism. Australia now has a higher percentage of female tertiary educated graduates than male. The possibilities for women have vastly improved as equal opportunity laws have been reformed. Despite all of this, Australia still has a 14% gender pay gap (Workplace Gender Equality Agency 2020) and sees far fewer women in positions of power. Australian writer and social commentator Anne Manne explains why in the article ‘Making Women’s Unpaid Work Count’ (Manne 2018). Manne expands on the explanation through interviewing Professor Marilyn Waring, author of Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women are Worth (1988). This classic feminist analysis states that the measurement of women’s work (or lack thereof) in the world economy accounts for the lag in gender parity. This article review will summarise Manne’s main points, analyse the writing style, and reflect on my personal views. Manne’s approach to complex issues surrounding women’s work, gender equity, and continued feminist activism is not so much about considering radical new directions but rather revisiting pertinent, sound arguments that pursue success.
From the opening line in the article, in which Manne describes Waring’s actions in caring for her terminally ill father, the admiration Manne holds for Waring is palpable. The admiration is well-founded. Waring, a professor at Auckland University, Nobel Prize nominee, former goat farmer, and political activist, is considered the principal founder of feminist economics. Waring’s ground-breaking book, Counting for Nothing: What Men Value and What Women are Worth (1988), is a feminist critique of mainstream economics. Waring pinpoints failings in the United Nations System of National Accounts and the calculations that form the basis of working out a nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). The calculations, Waring argues, only count monetary transactions that occur within the formal economic sector. The calculations disregard informal economic activities, including all forms of unpaid labour, reproductive work, childcare, and work performed within a household. Most of this work is performed by women. The exclusion makes women’s essential contribution to society invisible. Waring conceivably argues that these uniform economic measures are detrimental to society and perpetuate restrictive gender roles.
What is striking about Manne’s writing is the warmth and intimacy developed throughout the piece. Manne’s portrayal of Waring is of a woman who is controversial, unflinching, and intelligent, as well as empathetic and grounded. The stories of Waring’s upbringing in small-town New Zealand and details about her life around caring for her elderly parents form a sense of who Waring is and the values which no doubt informed her ideologies. Manne successfully describes how Waring’s time as ‘an accidental politician’ galvanised those ideologies and paved the way for her impassioned pursuit for gender equity.
As a woman who decided to leave full-time employment to care for children, this article resonates with me. I have long-held views on the importance of care work in our society. I believe all carers should receive superannuation contributions, regardless of their paid work status. Whether it is for the young, old or vulnerable, the work that carers do saves our economy significant sums of money. Additionally, our society would cease to function without it. According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, the fastest growing cohort of homelessness is amongst older women aged 55 and over. This is partly due to the significant gap in wealth accumulation between men and women across their lifetimes (2019). If, as current research shows, homelessness and poverty are the rewards older women receive after a lifetime of caring, there is something fundamentally wrong with how our societies are structured. This is the point Manne makes by referring to Waring’s claim for the need to challenge the patriarchal structures in our economy, which undervalue women’s work and undermine the endless struggle for equality.
The purpose of Manne’s article is to argue that although we have come some way in the battle for gender equality, the feminist revolution is unfinished. Instead of continuously seeking radical new directions in the strive for progress, Manne suggests revisiting the economic structural issues raised by Waring thirty years ago that remain unresolved. Waring’s main point is that women’s unpaid work is disregarded in the current economic system, even though it is essential to a functioning society. Therefore, if half the world’s population is deemed invisible in the current economic structure, how are we to ensure equity for all? Manne suggests we take on Waring’s challenge of rejecting the systems that no longer serve us and insist on a world in which women are not only visible but count.
Reference List.
Australian Human Rights Commission 2019, ‘Risk of Homelessness in Older Women’ viewed 26 February 2021,https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/age-discrimination/projects/risk-homelessness-older-women
Manne, A 2018, ‘Making Women’s Unpaid Work Count’ The Monthly, May 2018, viewed 26 February 2021,https://www.themonthly.com.au/issue/2018/may/1525096800/anne-manne/making-women-s-unpaid-work-count?cb=1613959760
Workplace Gender Equality Agency 2020, ‘Australia’s Gender Pay Gap Statistics 2020’, viewed 26 February 2021,https://www.wgea.gov.au/publications/australias-gender-pay-gap-statistics
