Review Of Marilyn Waring's Counting For Nothing

This week we are reading “Counting for nothing” a feminist analysis of the women’s place in the economic world by Marilyn Waring, a woman that made history in her political career in New Zealand; she had the courage to take a stand and challenge the government over the issue of “Nuclear free New Zealand” bringing down the same government. What is different in this book from other feminist ones is the critique to the economic system that develops through both a feminist and ecological perspective. Denouncing the patriarchal nature of Economics at page 3 she writes; “Those who are making the decisions are men, and those values which are excluded from the determination are those of our environment, and of women and children.” In her work, she isolates the gender bias that exists in the
This would give a more accurate accounting of how productively people spend their time and whether national economies are actually producing or depleting resources: “In this transparent picture of reality, the range of knowledge and expertise across disciplines can be brought to the policy process. Economics no longer has us by the throat. Politicians will be required to exercise transparent judgments and find no simplistic and cowardly retreat behind growth-rate indices.” (p. xlviii) Through chapters 7-9, “The Value of Death”, “A Value on Your Time” and “The Eye of the Beholder” Waring describes how capitalist development often means that “In the old days we were poor but there was plenty of food. Now, we have money but nothing to eat.” (Dona Ettelvina, a Mayan villager (p.194).
In fact, what economists say is good for the economy is not necessarily, what we would see as being good for the people trapped in that