GENDER macroeconomics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

GENDER macroeconomics - Essay Example Neither the individual nor gender has been a main concern of macroeconomic policy or macroeconomic theory. It is also clear that gender is ignored in the majority of the conventional means of macro-economic behavior that are representative of the manner in which individual women and men are affected by macroeconomics (Seguino, 2010: p1216). Individual economic indicators are rarely referred to with macroeconomic language being un-gendered and impersonal. In addition, the sex based labor division is rarely mentioned in macroeconomic policies. Although the policy impact on functional categories of actors in the economy like investors, savers, sellers, and buyers can be identified in debate on macroeconomic policy, absence of gender-specific references suggests that it is assumed to have an equal effect on men and women. Literature especially that covering women in developing nations shows that this is not so. Bringing a Gender Perspective into Macroeconomics Conventional policy framewo rks on the economy are ignorant of non-market work like voluntary, community work and unpaid care work. These activities are normally taken for granted and rarely discussed in monetary or fiscal policy. Rather than being considered as economic activities, these are thought of as social roles. However, these are economic activities because they need the utilization of scarce resources, as well as because they give vital inputs to private and public economic sectors. Unpaid care work can be described as a tax in kind levied on domestic sectors so as to reproduce the economy with the tax paid mainly by women (Elson, 2011: p240). Unpaid work can be incorporated into macroeconomic policy making through viewing national output as being a product of the domestic sector, the public sector, the private sector, and equally important the voluntary sector. Wealth creation in a country is dependent on output from the four sectors. At times, policy makers tend to assume that the sector that creat es wealth is the private sector with other sectors spending that is produced by the private sector. However, these four sectors depend on each other. The private sector cannot create wealth for use by families, the government, and the communities if these communities, families, and the government do not create wealth, in turn (Elson, 2011: p241). In particular, unpaid care by women, as well as voluntary work, proves vital for the creation of social and human capital. There are essential differences, of course, between looking after one’s own children and parents and being paid to care for children or old people as an employee for the private and public sector (Elson, 2011: p241). This difference is not personal in nature. The costs for the care given to children and old people in the public and private sector appears in the national accounts, being taken into consideration in decisions on policy. However, the costs regarding unpaid care for children and old people in domestic sectors are not reflected in the national accounts and are, therefore, not accounted for in decisions of policy. However, this care imposes energy and time costs on those who do