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Licensed Unlicensed Requires Authentication Published by De Gruyter December 31, 2008

All Things Considered, Should Feminists Embrace Basic Income?

  • John Baker
From the journal Basic Income Studies

As a feminist, I am committed to equality of condition between men and women, defined multidimensionally in terms of respect and recognition; resources; love, care and solidarity; power; and working and learning. I concentrate in this comment on equality in the affective system, i.e., the set of social relations that operates to meet people's needs for love, care and solidarity. A central problem for egalitarians is that recognising, valuing and supporting care work risks reinforcing the gendered division of labour, a problem of much wider remit than the issue of basic income. I argue, however, that basic income can be construed as recognising and supporting care work as a form of worthwhile but noncommodifiable activity and that this should be combined with confronting the division of labour culturally and ideologically. I cite recent empirical work on caregivers and care recipients in Ireland in support of my position.

Published Online: 2008-12-31

©2011 Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin/Boston

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