New Books Network Emily Callaci, "Wages for Housework: The Feminist Fight Against Unpaid Labor" (Seal Press, 2025)
Nov 20, 2025
Join historian Emily Callaci, a professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, as she explores the bold demands of the 1970s Wages for Housework movement. Callaci delves into the inspiring lives of key activists and how their fight for compensation for domestic work sought to reshape society and challenge capitalist norms. She examines the movement's diverse appeal, the tension with Marxism, and the significance of framing labor as housework. With a focus on generational solidarity, Callaci highlights this enduring idea's relevance today.
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Personal Spark For The Research
- Emily Callaci describes hanging a Wages for Housework poster while parenting and working late nights.
- She turned personal exhaustion after having a child into historical research on the movement.
Unpaid Labor As Capitalism's Hidden Engine
- Wages for Housework united diverse activists by exposing how capitalism depends on unpaid domestic labor.
- The campaign reframed domestic care as invisible, extracted labor central to capitalist reproduction.
Five Founders, Five Contexts
- Callaci sketches five founders with distinct backgrounds showing the movement's global reach.
- These biographies illustrate how different political histories converged on unpaid domestic labor.
