Counting Care Work

Feminist economists have long argued that unpaid family care work should be counted in economic analyses and that women's extra care burden be acknowledged. These three project reports explore these gender issues in the context of economic impact studies, national GDP accounts, and recent economist reports on preschool.

• Adriance, Shira 2009. To Gender or Not to Gender: An Analysis of Economic Impact Reports of the Child Care Sector.A series of studies on the economic impact of the child care sector have paved the way for a new definition of caring labor in the U.S. economy, by emphasizing the economic as well as developmental value of child care. Most of these studies attempted to conduct a gender neutral assessment of the role of child care in society. We found that despite this attempt, gender stereotypes were unintentionally reproduced in the language and presentation of the studies. Cornell University.

• Pratt, James. 2009. Valuing Nonmarket Family Care Time Using National Income Accounts and the American Time Use Survey, Cornell University

• Warner, Mildred E 2009. "(Not)Valuing Care: A Review of Recent Popular Economic Reports on Preschool in the US,Recently a series of popular economics reports in the United States has called for increased investment in children's early education. These reports articulate a new concept, the 'public finance value' of children, and argue for increased investment in preschool because of its positive impact on the long term fiscal health of the nation. These papers are analyzed to assess their attention to the multi-dimensional aspects of early care and education (ECE). Although these papers evaluate increased investment in preschool, they fail to recognize the need for a comprehensive system of ECE that includes support for child care and the unpaid care and education provided by parents. As a result, the reports undervalue the contributions of women and of the ECE sector itself. Feminist economics offers a broader perspective that would help these authors avoid conceptual traps and recognize the need for more comprehensive reform." Feminist Economics, 15(2)

Mildred Warner presented on the Economic Importance of Early Care and Education at the Achieving Equity for Women: Policy Alternatives for the New Administration conference on April 2nd, 2009 in Washington DC. See the slides from the presentation, or watch a video of the presentation.