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  5. Reflections on Gendered Structural and Normative Constraints
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Reflections on Gendered Structural and Normative Constraints

Paper Session

Sunday, Jan. 8, 2023 8:00 AM - 10:00 AM (CST)

J.W. Marriott New Orleans, Endymion
Hosted By: Association for Social Economics
  • Chairs:
    Ariane Agunsoye, Goldsmiths, University of London
  • Iris Buder, Idaho State University

For Whom Does One Toil? Time Use Differentials, Social Reproduction, & Occupational Prestige: Evidence from the American Time Use Survey

Iris Buder
,
Idaho State University

Abstract

The central tenant of Social Reproduction Theory (SRT) is that human labor constitutes the heart of society. It insists, therefore, that any understanding of capitalism is incomplete if one treats it as simply an economic system that fails to account for the actually historically-specific means by which human labor is reproduced and, in turn, sustains capital accumulation. SRT provides a unique lens for analyzing the specificities by which labor power differentials contribute to structural inequity. Utilizing data from the American Time Use Survey (ATUS), we analyze time use differentials by gender, race/ethnicity and the intersection thereof by occupational prestige. Specifically, we seek to analyze the time use differentials in time spent doing housework. We analyze differentials of time spent in housework through the lens of occupational prestige, which, in essence, is a proxy for social class. As such, we seek to analyze the significance of gender, race/ethnicity, and the intersection thereof of occupational prestige on time spent on housework to specify whether a higher social standing is associated with more or less time spent on housework. Our analysis, therefore, provides for more of an acute understanding of unpaid labor time under capitalism. In totality, this study expands the feminist economics literature on the ways in which surplus labor is extracted, driving social stratifying processes that are requisite for sustaining capitalism as the dominant mode of production.

‘I Had to Take Control’: Gendered Pension Strategies in the UK

Ariane Agunsoye
,
Goldsmiths, University of London

Abstract

In the UK, the gender pension gap is striking with women’s pension wealth representing only one fifth of that of a man at retirement age. Two main explanations have been put forward to explain the gender pension gap: a pension system built on a male life-trajectory uninterrupted by caring duties and differential investment preferences with women being arguably less financially inclined than men. Drawing on 61 interviews, our paper moves beyond identifying structural barriers to participation or behavioral deviations from assumptions of economic rationality and conceptualizes practices adopted by women within a gendered understanding of rationality. Rather than being passive victims of the pension system, women have developed three unique strategies to deal with its constraints: coping with high childcare costs and reduced earnings possibilities by increasing pension contributions beforehand, responding to the lack of control in workplace pensions by reducing their time investment, and seeking alternative savings and investment strategies to gain more control over their retirement income. These pension strategies should not be perceived as irrational, but represent logical responses to an unequal welfare system, challenging theoretical assumptions of economic rationality and the universal benefit of financial products and educational campaigns.

The Evolution of Marriage, Households, and the South African Labour Market: An Analysis of Household Survey Data, 1995-2020

Odile Mackett
,
University of the Witwatersrand

Abstract

Studies on labour market outcomes and household formation have drawn on unrealistic Euro-North American family norms to explain persistent gender inequalities. Feminist scholars have, however, argued against the characterisation of this presumably cooperative, male-headed household; highlighting the contested nature of interests which co-exist and also the extent to which it has contributed to women’s continued social and economic subordination. In many developing countries, nuclear households are not the norm. Studies on household formation have demonstrated how this has been driven by decreasing marriage and increasing divorce rates, high unemployment rates, the growing incidence of the working poor and the remnants of the migrant labour system, which has had consequences for marriage and household formation in the southern African region. These labour market and demographic changes have undermined the male breadwinner model and introduced complexity into discussions related to traditional gendered norms and economic constraints within households. Using South Africa’s General and October Household survey data (1995-2020), the purpose of this study is to investigate how marital trends have changed over the post-apartheid period; how household composition has altered; and how marital status and household composition have been associated with labour market outcomes. The study will draw conclusions about how socio-cultural factors accompany economic changes within the South African economy and further demonstrate why the continued exclusion of working-age individuals from non-contributory social security benefits is unsustainable, regressive to the positive outcomes of South Africa’s current social security framework, and detrimental to women who are disproportionately burdened by unpaid care work.
JEL Classifications
  • J1 - Demographic Economics
  • D6 - Welfare Economics