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    Basic Income - Basic Security: Path to Emancipation?

A Feminist Intervention in a Current Sociopolitical Debate

Feminist perspectives of economics and social security are closely tied to the demand for women to be able to support themselves as well as to the critical discussion surrounding the current conception of labor.
 Further Information  | |      
Terms and Definitions
|  Basic Income
Advocates of the unconditional basic income aim to uncouple employment and income. Everyone receives a monthly stipend that covers basic subsistence needs and has no preconditions. The impacts of such proposal would be diverse, spanning from poverty reduction to structural change in society. 
|  Welfare
Need-based basic security (welfare) is based on the update of today's archetype of the social welfare state. Social welfare will cover unemployment and is dependent on a list of requirements.

The demand for women to be able to support themselves is directed at the archetype of established welfare states in Europe, particularly those in Germany and Austria. Various forms of social security (such as pension plans, health insurance, wage contracts, etc.) perpetuate economic inequality between men and women by not guaranteeing all citizens a basic income.

When analyzing today's model of the welfare state from a feminist perspective, it becomes clear that it focuses on the male bread-winner and the male head of the household. From a feminist perspective, it is also necessary to critically reflect on the capitalist and increasingly neoliberal conception of labor. In doing so, the focus remains on the distinction between paid and unpaid work, which are heirarchially ranked. The gender-specific structure of paid vs. unpaid work in addition to its importance for replicating the status quo of gender in the field of economics, makes this issue a linchpin in feminist politics.

An unconditional basic (minimum) income and a need-based social welfare system are put forth in this debate by various sides as solutions to the above problems. In comparison, the demand for women to be able to support themselves is not put forth as an alternative model, but rather as a benchmark for other concepts, such as minimum income and the social welfare. 


   The Path to Emancipation?

The 25th Ladies Lunch discussed this question, from feminist and politically-green points of view. The presentations of the panelists as well as the discussion are documented below.

The event took place on March 23rd, 2007 in the gallery of the Heinrich Boell Foundation. Approximately seventy women participated in the discussion. Presentations were given by Astrid Rothe-Beinlich, Gabriele Michalitsch and Paula Riester. The discussion was moderated by Gitti Hentschel.

Central Questions for the Discussion:

  • What concept and what approach promotes emancipation in society as well as gender emancipation?
  • What promotes financial independence, which, from a feminist perspective, is seen as the fundamental condition for economic reforms?
  • Under what circumstances and with what requirements are the models of basic income and welfare relevant for emancipation and societal transformation?

Gabriele Michalitsch
Political scientist and economist, Vienna University of Economics and Business [website]

Presentation as a >>  PDF File







Paula Riester
Spokeswoman for Green Youth [website]

Basic Income vs. Social Welfare - The Position of the Green Youth
Presentation as a >>  PDF File






Astrid Rothe-Beinlich
Spokeswoman for women's issues at the Federal Board of the Green Party [website]

Demands for Financial Independence from a feminist Perspective
Presentation as a >>  PDF File






   Events

July 5th, 2007 Ingrid Robeyns (Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen) will participate in a workshop at the Heinrich Boell Foundation, speaking on the topic of basic income from a feminist perspective
Download the presentation as a >> PDF File

July 11th, 2007  Professor Irene van Staveren (Institute for Social Studies, The Hague): The feminist economics of trade

Aktualisiert: 12.07.2007, kra