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Intelligence Squared
Revisiting Wages for Housework, with Emily Callaci
Mar 30, 2025
Join historian Emily Callaci, a professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, as she revisits the bold Wages for Housework movement from the 1970s. Callaci discusses the fight for recognizing unpaid domestic labor as real work, intertwining feminist thought with historical movements. She highlights the struggles that marginalized women face in the Global South and addresses the impacts of capitalism on environmental racism. The conversation digs deep into redefining labor, challenging gender norms, and empowering women's voices in activism.
42:33
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Quick takeaways
- The Wages for Housework movement challenged societal norms by arguing for the economic recognition and compensation of unpaid domestic labor predominantly performed by women.
- Activists redefined the concept of labor to include all forms of care work and addressed the intersectionality of gender inequality with environmental justice issues.
Deep dives
The Wages for Housework Movement's Core Idea
The Wages for Housework movement emerged in the 1970s as a revolutionary approach to recognizing and compensating the unpaid labor predominantly performed by women in households. This movement argued that domestic tasks such as caring for children, managing households, and other forms of caregiving should not only be acknowledged as work but should also receive equivalent wages. By demanding compensation for this labor, activists highlighted the economic systems that exploit and depend on women’s unpaid work while simultaneously reinforcing gender inequality. The movement sought to challenge societal norms and envision a new way of living that values both domestic work and care equally within the broader economic framework.
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