Şirin Payzın attended a conference held in Rome, Italy, where feminist economists discussed the impact of the current global situation on women. Payzın included the discussion topics at the conference in her article. Payzın, "Purple economy is as important as green economy. In other words, environmental economy is not enough, it must be completed with purple economy." said.
Experienced journalist Şirin Payzin attended the conference organized by feminist economists in Rome. Şirin Payzin shared her views on the meeting where the impact of the economic situation on women around the world was discussed, and also shared the views of the conference president, Prof. Dr. İpek İlkkaracan, in her article.
Şirin Payzın’s article in Newspaper Oksijen is as follows:
"If more than 800 women and feminist economists from 85 countries came together, what would they talk about and discuss?
I went to the International Association of Feminist Economists (IAFFE) meeting in Rome because I was curious about this. The conference was at Sapienza, one of the oldest universities in the world. It was founded in 1303, developed under the auspices of the Papacy, and became the symbol of Rome in 1870 after leaving the Vatican administration. In 2008, its ties with the Vatican were severed. Because some academics and students protested Pope Benedict XVI, who was coming to give a speech at the school, saying that he supported the church’s blocking of Galileo in 1633. The professors in the history of the university have a total of 10 Nobel Prizes. It hosts world-famous academic studies, as well as students who defend and question the ideas they want.
Back to the meeting… Its official title is “Caught between the digital revolution and the crisis of democracy: Feminist economists’ solutions and future perspectives.” The simple version is as follows: Digitalization and artificial intelligence are rapidly changing almost everything. Women are not getting enough of this change and are being negatively affected.
‘WHAT DO THESE FEMINIST ECONOMISTS DO?’
When one hears the phrase “Feminist economists”, one pauses. What do these feminist economists do? In fact, they do what all economists do. They work with numbers, modeling, data, and research, but with a difference: from a feminist perspective. In other words, by advocating gender equality, fighting for women’s rights, looking at social issues from different perspectives, regardless of religion, language, ethnicity, or sexual identity, and most importantly, by protecting those who are victimized by society and politics.
‘WE ARE CONSTANTLY TALKING ABOUT THE SAME TOPICS IN TURKEY’
Another topic of the meeting was “Rising far-right and authoritarian regimes.” My favorite topic. The global democracy crisis has strengthened the far-right and authoritarian regimes. How has this polarization affected women’s participation in the workforce and gender equality? As you know, we keep talking about the same topics in Turkey.
I got to know the conference chair, ITU Business Administration Faculty Member Prof. Dr. İpek İlkkaracan, through her work in academia and civil society organizations on issues such as women’s employment and gender equality, and she was a guest in my publications. It is also a source of pride that she organized and chaired such a large conference together with Sapienza University.
The image she used in her opening speech was interesting and symbolic: Feminist author Margaret Atwood’s famous novel (the series of the same name is also very popular) “The Handmaid’s Tale” and the most well-known science fiction series in pop culture, “Star Trek”, which attracts millions. She thinks that these two works symbolize the economic, political and social crisis experienced in the world today.
POPULIST LEADERS DON’T TARGETS WOMEN FOR NO REASON
As emphasized in his opening speech, İlkkaracan claims that the strengthening and spreading authoritarianism, the far right or populist regimes see women’s participation in the workforce as a threat to the family structure. The policy they are trying to implement can be summarized as “A woman’s place is in the home, and her job is to bear children.” The results of his study, which was frequently brought up in the meeting and was also referenced by other economists, show us that women are not being targeted for nothing. Studies conducted in Italy, Spain and Turkey show that women who are confined to housework, who devote their entire lives to housework and who do not receive any wages for their labor have a very high rate of voting for authoritarian politicians, conservative policies and the far right. On the other hand, this rate decreases for women who are employed and participate in the workforce.
‘MY SUGGESTION IS ‘CARE ECONOMY’…’
While dealing with these political concerns, there is now artificial intelligence, the digital revolution, and rapidly advancing but uncontrolled technology. Professions are changing, the future is uncertain for young people, unemployment is increasing… So what can we do to prevent women from being defeated by the digital revolution? I have compiled the titles from the presentations of 4 feminist economists who gave presentations at the conference. The erosion of democracy is linked to the rise of artificial intelligence
Unemployment is increasing all over the world. Some attribute this to the financialization of the economy. In other words, a significant portion of income is provided through rent. Since real investment and industrial investment have decreased, the demand for employment has also decreased. We have a global unemployment problem. How will people find jobs in the future? My suggestion is the “care economy”…
One of the most important areas of contribution that feminist economics has made to current politics in recent times is the care economy. To define it… Everyone in the world needs care. Children, the elderly, the sick, the disabled, most importantly our self-care… For all of them, needs such as food supply, education, and daily activities arise. A significant portion of these services are produced in the home and are free. As much as they are free, they are also invisible. This is the area we are trying to make visible.
‘MAINTENANCE SERVICE IS ONE OF THE JOB WITH THE LOWEST CARBON EMISSIONS’
Purple economy is as important as green economy. In other words, green economy is not enough, it needs to be completed with purple economy. We can reduce carbon footprint with green transformation. In countries with excessive wealth, namely northern countries, they try to achieve this reduction by shrinking and economic contraction. But in the global south, we need more growth and income increase, and an equal distribution. Here is the formula. We can match green economy with purple economy, namely care services. It is also possible to reduce carbon footprint with this transformation because care economy consists of jobs with the lowest carbon emission. Kindergarten teachers, health clinic staff in the neighborhood, nurses, social workers, those who provide counseling to disabled individuals, elderly care home doctors, medical personnel, special educators. These jobs have very low emissions and waste rates. In other words, purple jobs are also green, environmentally friendly jobs. Jobs, employment and income to be created through green and purple investments are the new development model.
There is a connection between the rapid penetration of digitalization and artificial intelligence into our lives and the erosion of democracy. Quality employment policies are crucial for strong democracy and egalitarian policies.
My Greek colleague, Rania Antonopoulo, who also served as labor minister during the Syriza era, did a study in 2009-2010. In her study focusing on South Africa and the US, she asked the following question: What would be the employment opportunities if the government transferred a portion of tax revenues to the care economy instead of infrastructure, roads and bridges, and the construction sector? Her findings showed that when the same amount of investment from the budget is transferred to social services, the construction sector creates three times as many jobs.
The first female mayor of Colombia’s capital, Bogota, Claudia Lopez Hernandez, who everyone sees as the next president, created a project called “care blocks.” They opened care blocks in low-income neighborhoods all over the country. I think the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality should examine this model.
‘EXTREME RIGHT POPULISM IS FEEDING FROM HERE’
Social media, the joyful lives posted on Instagram, everyone happy, rich, beautiful… Is it really so? “It is not so,” says Rosana PInheIro-Machado, a Brazilian anthropologist who studies the far right and the digital economy. As in all developing economies, in Brazil, those who live slightly above the poverty line, those without a stable job or income, make up the largest segment of the population pyramid. They are called the “new middle class.” Yet they live in constant debt. They are vulnerable to economic shocks.
Lack of job security, inadequacy of unions, ruthless competition and the destruction of public institutions bring about reactionary feelings in political preferences. This is where far-right populism feeds.
Let’s look at the situation in Brazil shortly before the victory of Liberal Party leader Bolsonaro and the start of the digital revolution. The rise of neoliberalism, ruthless competition, exploitation, but the disappearance of cooperation with the death of cooperatives, chambers and unions.
It was in this environment that Bolsonaro targeted undocumented workers, low-income shopkeepers, street vendors, day laborers, and irregular workers. Those who gave the strongest support to the coup attempt in Brazil in 2022 were white men working undocumented.
During the deep economic crisis, Uber driving quickly became a trend among men living in favelas (slum ghettos), who had lost their jobs, were on low incomes and had difficulty supporting their families. Many of them quickly became Bolsonaro fans and voters.
In Brazil, black women make up 28.5 percent of the population, but their share of the total income is only 10 percent. Since the state cannot provide these women with proper employment opportunities, they have begun to see Instagram as an important source of income. The rulers of the digital world, influencers, also target these women and give the message that “you don’t have to stay poor, you can be famous and rich.” However, the far-right is very active and widespread on social media in Brazil. They control the digital market. They advocate for an extremely individual free market economy, sell their followers the dream of becoming millionaires, and most importantly, they promise to campaign against traditional labor, rules, and workers’ rights.
Şirin Payzın'dan Feminist Ekonomistler Konferansından İzlenimler: Popülist Liderler Kadınları Niçin Hedef Alıyor?
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