Story of the Untold Household

    In this unit of our class, Econ: Risking Value, we took a look into the works of Kate Raworth, an economist from the UK with a new view of how we should view the world in terms of our economy and how to make it benefit everyone and the planet. Reading chapter after chapter of her book Doughnut Economics, it was time to think about our last project for the term. We were given the prompt of what we thought this eighth chapter of Doughnut Economics would look like and my first thought was if we were to adopt this model to its entirety, what would that look like? I thought more about it and brought it all down to the role of the household reflecting both on Kate Raworth’s model and the one we’ve adopted for our economy today. Below is a write-up just of an intro of what I think the subject matter of this next chapter should be.

                

Chapter Photo | DN | 2022

My idea for this kind of a topic came up as I was watching a TedTalk of Kate's. She was reflecting on all that was said so far as it was nearing the end of her time and asked the question "How does the way I eat, shop, earn a living, vote, volunteer, and bank, affect humanity's ability to come into the doughnut?" and I then immediately started thinking about everyone not as an investor, CEO, or consumer but as people who all come from homes with hard-working families that built up what they live on. I thought if we were to adopt the doughnut it should be fair for all and take into account everyone's situations. First on that list are homeworkers and stay-at-home mothers who put their whole hearts into the work they do for their families. 

If I was going to write this chapter I needed a simple but memorable image to go along with the writing and its message so what I came up with is a simple design portraying a person with a hammer about to strike down as the bigger shape of a house circle around them. It's meant to symbolize all work done in the home that goes unnoticed. 

                                               

Chapter logo | DN | 2022

It's not the first time an idea of community and equal work has been proposed into an economic idea. Karl Marx the economist and writer of the Communist Manefesto also belived that there was something to be gained by leveling work out. Of course, the idea I'm proposing wouldn't necessarily make it so all work was considered the same but bring to light a lot of the work we take forgranted. Karl Marx did say that "Only in community with others has each individual the means of cultivating his gifts in all directions; only in the community therefore, is personal freedom possible" and I think that would relate to what I'm envisioning the role of the household to be in the future, part of it's own big community that helps contribute to all other parts of the economy and the world. 

All Action Projects we've done always connect in one way or another back to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. What I would assign this problem imaprticular to is SDG 8.5 whose goal is to "achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of value". Efforts specifically are being made yearly with the ILO (International Labour Orginazation) to try and create equal working conditions by reporting any progress and conversation had on the matter from ratified conventions and that information is backed up by a team of supervisors that help ensure the implementation of those decisions. It has not been since 2019 when we heard last of any progress made on target 8.5 but other indicators are being reached for other goals and progress made towards any of the goals helps.

This project while seeming to call on the least amount of writing surprisingly took a while to gather all information. I have now found a new interest in the world's economy and economic issues and hope that the issues addressed in Doughnut Economics and by the SDGs are worked on more thoroughly throughout the next couple of years.

Sources:

Indicators and a Monitoring Framework, https://indicators.report/indicators/i-57/. 

“Goal 8 | Department of Economic and Social Affairs.” United Nations, United Nations, https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal8.

International Labour Organization, https://www.ilo.org/global/lang--en/index.htm.

Marx, Karl. “D. Proletarians and Communism.” The German Ideology, https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01d.htm.