This is going to be similar in intent to my recent couple of posts on the legal system and the media – a speculative attempt to consider possible ways that a system adapted to patriarchy could be changed to make it fit with sexual equality. This time I want to consider the economy.
One of the key ways that women have been held back is that while overt and obvious barriers to them entering high-status professions have largely been removed, they continue to bear the great majority of the burden of unpaid work – having children, raising children, cleaning homes, and emotionally supporting others. This not only means they find it harder to compete, it means that they can then be excluded from high-status jobs on the grounds that they will soon leave to look after their children.
This reflects not just sexism but several core features of our economic system.
