Published by Bridget Williams Books, Wellington, 2019, 144 pages.
‘Underneath the numbers, a philosophical judgement is always being made based on values, not facts.’
Thirty years ago Marilyn Waring’s groundbreaking book Counting for Nothing was released. Waring explained, through meticulous economic analysis, how the success of the global economy rests on women’s unpaid work. Counting for Nothing became a phenomenon: it was read and discussed around the world, and even made into a film.
Today, many people hope that the shift to a wellbeing approach – moving beyond narrow economic indicators when assessing New Zealand’s progress – will mean women’s work is finally valued fairly. But what does Marilyn Waring make of it? This short book provides an essential assessment of wellbeing economics from a leading feminist scholar.