International Association for Feminist Economics

International Association for Feminist Economics 2010 Annual Report IAFFE2010 ANNUANNUAALL RREEPOPORRTT 2010 A vision, a promise… providing a space for research-based activism Can feminism find a home in economics? This question, the theme of a session at the 1990 American Eco- nomics Association annual conference, drew so much interest that the eager audience spilled into a nearby hallway. Within months, the enthusiasm generated at this early gathering of researchers in the then-fledgling field of feminist economics led to the creation of the International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE). From those vibrant beginnings, IAFFE has evolved into an open, supportive, and truly diverse community of nearly 600 academics, activists, policy theorists, and practitioners from around the world. IAFFE’s purposes include not just advancing feminist inquiry globally but also helping to expand opportunities for women within the field of economics – especially for women from underrepresented groups, the Global South, and transition economies. IAFFE aims high: it seeks to promote interaction among researchers, activists, and policy-makers to the end of creating better analytical frameworks, better policy, better scholarship, and more effective, research-based activism. By opening new areas of economic inquiry, welcoming diverse voices, and encouraging critical exchanges, IAFFE’s many activities and award-winning journal provide needed space for a variety of theoretical perspectives and advance gender-based research on contemporary economics issues. The working version of IAFFE’s mission statement, below, captures these objectives. IAFFE The International Association for Feminist Economics is an open, diverse community of academics, activists, policy theorists, and practitioners from around the world. Our common cause is to further gender-aware and inclusive economic inquiry and policy analysis with the goal of enhancing the well-being of children, women, and men in local, national, and transnational communities. Cover photo courtesy of Brent Martin. Hebei Province, China, February 2010 2 | International Association for Feminist Economics 2010 ANNUAL REPORT Diverse Membership In 2010, IAFFE consisted of 585 members from 64 countries. Members hailed from around the world, including from the African Union (25 members), Asian countries and territories (58), European countries and territories (154), North America (292), South America (27), and Australia and New Zealand (29). The 2010 IAFFE membership included 104 new members from 35 countries. Six of these countries were newly represented in the organization: Mauritius, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Senegal, Tanzania, and Venezuela. International Association for Feminist Economics | 3 IAFFE2010 ANNUANNUAALL RREEPOPORRTT 2010 Dear Friends, Diversity has been an important theme and objective of IAFFE since its inception. Its importance arises, in part, from the need for IAFFE to be a truly representative organization, one that is relevant to people from all over the world. People from various parts of the world face extremely different economic, social, and cultural realities. Their experiences generate unique perspectives on how to address social and economic exclusion, poverty, and democratic governance. Bringing diverse peoples together enriches IAFFE members’ understanding of their current realities and how best to achieve meaningful change. By engaging with those who offer new ways of viewing economic and social issues, IAFFE promotes alternative perspectives. In this context, the highlight of 2010 was IAFFE’s Annual Conference in Buenos Aires, “Global Economic Crises and Feminist Rethinking of the Development Discourse,” which brought together 250 scholars and students from fifty- six countries. Thanks to the generosity of the Swedish International Development Agency, scholars from thirty- six countries received travel grants that enabled them to participate in and contribute to the conference. As IAFFE’s first Latin American president, I was pleased by the strong representation of Latin Americans at the conference. The event was the first completely bilingual one that IAFFE has organized, which helped build IAFFE membership in the region. IAFFE further promotes regional and cultural diversity in its membership through strategic selection of conference locations, the use of translation services, and through global outreach to organizations and social movements. Additionally, I am delighted to announce that IAFFE has begun a strategic visioning process to further define IAFFE’s goals and to develop realistic means of achieving them. By the time you read this letter, IAFFE’s strategic visioning process will be in full swing, with a formal plan for the organization’s future on the near horizon. Determining what sort of organization IAFFE will be in the coming decade is a vitally important task, one that the members, leaders, and founders of IAFFE will all participate in. The current global situation represents not simply an economic crisis, but a crisis of confidence in the prevailing model of how economies should work. In this context, IAFFE enhances the search for alternative policies by challenging and exposing its participants to different perspectives. Rosalba Todaro IAFFE President 4 | International Association for Feminist Economics 2010 ANNUAL REPORT The photograph, courtesy of IAFFE member Rose-Marie Avin, is of a project for women’s empowerment in Nicaragua (2009). Fostering a Culture of Impact From the outset, in its vision and membership, IAFFE has sought to be inclusive and open, a global community of economists and noneconomists, of academics, practitioners, and activists who are interested in feminist viewpoints on questions of economic analysis, policy, and practice. Our goals are wide-ranging and include creating collaborations to develop feminist analyses of economic issues; educating economists, policy makers, and the general public on feminist points of view on economic matters; providing aid in expanding opportunities for women, especially women from underrepresented groups within economics; and encouraging inclu- sion of feminist perspectives in the economics classroom. Current initiatives include a number of pathbreaking special issues of Feminist Economics. In 2010 the journal published the first of two special issues on Unpaid Work, Time Use, Poverty, and Public Policy, guest edited by Caren Grown, Maria Floro, and Diane Elson (with the second volume following in 2011). Special issues in progress address a variety of urgent concerns, as detailed below. In addition, various IAFFE members are working to educate a nonacademic audience in feminist economic issues. For example, IAFFE member and former president Nancy Folbre has been contribut- ing to the New York Times Economix blog since 2008. Gender and International Migration Women are increasingly prominent in international migration, and by 2005 represented almost half of the total number of international migrants, with many more women now migrating on their own rather than in association with other family members. Increase in migration of women is partly in response to the care crisis that has emerged in the North. An aging population and more women taking paid jobs has intensified the need for caregivers. In some Asian societies shortfalls of women is generating international migration of marriageable women. In general, women migrants tend to be located at the lower echelons of labor mar- International Association for Feminist Economics | 5 IAFFE2010 ANNUANNUAALL RREEPOPORRTT 2010 kets, working in temporary and unstable jobs in the manufacturing and service sectors. Their jobs are often poorly paid and reserved almost exclusively for migrant women. These employment conditions call for active labor policies in migrant-receiving countries, particularly anti-discrimination measures and social protection policies. Migration can be especially disruptive in rural communities. The women or men who are “left behind” tend to assume new responsibilities, which can be burdensome. In their newly found role, whether as head of household or as the migrant breadwinner, women may exercise greater agency in decision-making. Welfare of the children left behind is also an issue of concern: children may benefit to the extent that remittances improve their nutrition, health, and schooling prospects, but the increased care burdens in the migrant’s household may also deprive daughters from schooling when they have to pick up these activities. These issues highlight the importance of gender in the analysis of migration and in policy discussions. The various intersections of gender and migration will be examined in a forthcoming special issue of Feminist Economics, guest-edited by Lourdes Benería, Carmen Diana Deere, and Naila Kabeer, and supported by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, the Urrutia - Elejalde Foundation, and Rice University. Land, Gender, and Food Security Hunger and food security have long been central issues in feminist economic analyses. The global food price crisis of 2007–8, which was followed by economic recession and financial crisis, foreshadowed the intercon- nectedness of food and energy policies and the vulnerability to rising food prices of the vast numbers of poor and chronically malnourished people throughout the world. Diminishing access to food for growing numbers of the poor in regions of sub-Saharan Africa, as well as land grabs by richer countries demonstrate the sense

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