Feminist Economics provides an open forum for dialogue and debate about feminist economic perspectives. The journal solicits high quality contributions from a broad spectrum of intellectual traditions in economics. It welcomes the treatment of economic issues from cross-disciplinary and cross-country perspectives. Contributions from countries in the South are especially welcome, as are those from non-economists concerned with economic issues.

Specifically, Feminist Economics seeks submissions which:

• stimulate dialogue and debate on feminist economic perspectives among diverse scholars worldwide
• extend feminist theoretical and methodological insights into economics
• promote a rethinking of theory and policy in diverse fields, including those not directly related to gender
• provide insights into the relationship between gender and power relations in the economy
• explore the construction and legitimation of economic knowledge, including cultural, institutional, and historical influences
• advance inquiry into economic issues affecting the lives of all children, women, and men.

The journal also solicits short exploratory essays and comments on previously published articles. Articles should be written clearly and concisely and be accessible both to economists and to scholars in related fields who are concerned with economic issues.

For information on how to submit articles, please go to Author Instructions.

Special Issue Calls

A Special Issue on Unpaid Work, Time Use, Poverty, and Public Policy
Guest Editors
Diane Elson, Caren Grown, and Maria Floro 

Feminist Economics invites submissions of papers for a Special Issue on Unpaid Work, Time Use, Poverty, and Public Policy. We encourage scholars from economics and other disciplines to consider submitting abstracts for papers by August 15, 2007. Late abstract submissions may be considered at the discretion of the editors. If the abstract is accepted, the completed manuscript is due April 15, 2008.

Over the last two decades, feminist economists and women’s organizations have challenged the invisibility of unpaid work in economic analysis and policy-making and have helped increase attention to accounting for unpaid work. As a result, many industrialized countries including Canada, Australia, Denmark, Norway, and Germany have conducted time-use studies on a periodic basis and have developed a consortium that has harmonized their national time-use surveys by implementing a standard set of methodologies. Over the last few years, several countries in Asia, Africa, and Latin America have also collected nation-wide time-use data, and some have developed satellite accounts including unpaid work.

Despite significant progress on data collection, information on time-use patterns and trends has not been incorporated in the formulation or evaluation of policy nor in monitoring the quality of life and progress in human development. Such data are potentially very useful for examining the gendered effects of public policies, especially macroeconomic and fiscal policies, on time use and unpaid work. Furthermore, research can now examine important dimensions of well-being that standard economic indicators do not convey, such as the relationship between poverty and time use.  Existing well-being and economic indicators do not take into account, for example, the serious consequences of prolonged periods of work, the intensification of work, and the reduction of sleep and leisure, particularly for women who maintain their families alone and for those in poor households.  Also, new research needs to explore the linkages between time poverty and its many corollaries, including an individual’s capabilities and functioning and children’s health and development.

While individual papers may be narrowly focused, the scope of this special issue will be broad and may include work from a variety of analytical and methodological approaches. Empirical work on countries at different levels of development or income is especially welcome.

Possible topics interacting with time use and unpaid work include:

• Welfare reforms
• AIDS/HIV
• Social policy
• Employment, underemployment and labor policy
• Globalization

Please direct queries and abstracts (500 words maximum) to Guest Editors Maria Floro (mfloro@american.edu), Diane Elson (drelson@essex.ac.uk), and Caren Grown (cgrown@gmail.com).

Final papers (after approval of abstracts) should be submitted to Feminist Economics through the submissions website (http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rfec). Questions about these procedures may be sent to feministeconomics@rice.edu, +1 713.348.4083 (phone), or +1 713.348.5495 (fax).