True Currency: About Feminist Economics

The coronavirus pandemic has thrown light upon many of the issues covered so far in True Currency, from what is valued and measured as work, to inequalities, to the inadequacy of the current system to support everyone in society equally. Ruth and Amy catch up with speakers from the previous episodes to find out how lockdown has affected them, and what hopes they have for the ‘new normal’. True Currency: About Feminist Economics is a 6 part podcast by The Alternative School of Economics (artists Ruth Beale and Amy Feneck) who draw on their experiences as artists and mothers, and speak to academic researchers, policy experts, community leaders and activists, to explore financial inequality, feminism, intersectionality, labour exploitation, unpaid work, care, unionisation and reproductive labour. -- Voices in this episode Lisa Baraitser, Professor of Psychosocial Theory, Birkbeck Shiri Shalmy, Organiser with Cooperation Town, Antiuniversity Now, United Sex Workers and the Women’s Strike Assembly Marion Sharples, Project Manager of the Commission for a Gender Equal Economy, Women’s Budget Group Claire Summers, mother, NHS Community Nurse Full speaker bios available here: https://gasworks.org.uk/events/episode-6-the-economy-is-still-happening/ -- Amy Feneck and Ruth Beale are the third artists to undertake the Gasworks Participation Artist in Residence programme, which supports London-based artists to develop work in collaboration with local community groups. The podcast series was developed between September 2019 and April 2020, through conversations with experts and workshops with community groups at the Henry Fawcett Children’s Centre and IRMO (Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation). These workshops encouraged conversations between women and parents who were interested in these ideas, and are actively involved in feminist economic projects. Commissioned by Gasworks, supported by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Arts Council England.

What do we want the economy to be? How can we make a feminist economy? What does a feminist economy want? This episode looks at how feminist principals are used to shape research and economic policy, including the Women’s Budget Group’s commission for a Gender Equal Economy, as well as artists who are creating radical new spaces for rethinking what a feminist economy might look like. True Currency: About Feminist Economics is a 6 part podcast by The Alternative School of Economics (artists Ruth Beale and Amy Feneck) who draw on their experiences as artists and mothers, and speak to academic researchers, policy experts, community leaders and activists, to explore financial inequality, feminism, intersectionality, labour exploitation, unpaid work, care, unionisation and reproductive labour. -- Voices in this episode Usma Ashraf, Assistant Manager, Swap Market Kathrin Böhm, artist & co-founder of Company Drinks & Centre for Plausible Economies Lucila Granada, CEO of FLEX (Focus on Labour Exploitation) Ailie Rutherford, artist & Artistic Director of The People’s Bank of Govanhill Shiri Shalmy, Organiser with Cooperation Town, Antiuniversity Now, United Sex Workers and the Women’s Strike Assembly Marion Sharples, Project Manager of the Commission for a Gender Equal Economy, Women’s Budget Group For full speakers bios visit: https://gasworks.org.uk/events/episode-5-we-are-the-true-currency/ -- Amy Feneck and Ruth Beale are the third artists to undertake the Gasworks Participation Artist in Residence programme, which supports London-based artists to develop work in collaboration with local community groups. The podcast series was developed between September 2019 and April 2020, through conversations with experts and workshops with community groups at the Henry Fawcett Children’s Centre and IRMO (Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation). These workshops encouraged conversations between women and parents who were interested in these ideas, and are actively involved in feminist economic projects. Commissioned by Gasworks, supported by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Arts Council England.

Exploring the role unpaid care has in relation to women and work, this episode focuses on motherhood, and the profoundly shocking experience (for some) of infant dependency and the subsequent assertion of gender roles. It features mothers taking part in a workshop with Ruth and Amy at a local Children’s Centre, alongside academic Lisa Baraitser whose psychosocial theoretical work speaks to ideas of maternal time, and whether the maternal subject can be radical. True Currency: About Feminist Economics is a 6 part podcast by The Alternative School of Economics (artists Ruth Beale and Amy Feneck) who draw on their experiences as artists and mothers, and speak to academic researchers, policy experts, community leaders and activists, to explore financial inequality, feminism, intersectionality, labour exploitation, unpaid work, care, unionisation and reproductive labour. -- Voices in this episode Lisa Baraitser, Professor of Psychosocial Theory, Birkbeck Ingrid & Maite, mothers & workshop participants at the Henry Fawcett Children’s Centre Claire Summers, mother, NHS Community Nurse and workshop participant Full speaker bios available here: https://www.gasworks.org.uk/events/episode-4-suspended-time/ -- Amy Feneck and Ruth Beale are the third artists to undertake the Gasworks Participation Artist in Residence programme, which supports London-based artists to develop work in collaboration with local community groups. The podcast series was developed between September 2019 and April 2020, through conversations with experts and workshops with community groups at the Henry Fawcett Children’s Centre and IRMO (Indoamerican Refugee and Migrant Organisation). These workshops encouraged conversations between women and parents who were interested in these ideas, and are actively involved in feminist economic projects. Commissioned by Gasworks, supported by The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Arts Council England.

This is second part of Worker Struggles, centering on issues around women and paid work. Women working in the sex industry talk about their struggle to name sex work as work, meaning they can demand safer and fair working conditions. The episode also starts to unpack the idea of ‘reproductive labour’, a central idea in feminist thought, describing the usually unpaid care-giving and domestic work predominantly done by women, and whether this is considered work. True Currency: About Feminist Economics is a 6 part podcast by The Alternative School of Economics (artists Ruth Beale and Amy Feneck) who draw on their experiences as artists and mothers, and speak to academic researchers, policy experts, community leaders and activists, to explore financial inequality, feminism, intersectionality, labour exploitation, unpaid work, care, unionisation and reproductive labour. PRESENTED BY: Ruth Beale and Amy Feneck (The Alternative School of Economics) PRODUCED BY: Lucia Scazzocchio (Social Broadcasts) COMMISSIONED BY: Gasworks SUPPORTED BY: The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Arts Council England. VOICES IN THIS EPISODE: Jade, sex worker & member of United Sex Workers Stacey Clare, stripper and member of United Sex Workers and East London Strippers Collective (ELSC) Shiri Shalmy, Organiser with Cooperation Town, Antiuniversity Now, United Sex Workers and the Women’s Strike Assembly. Full speaker biographies and project information available here: https://bit.ly/tc-episode3.

The first of two episodes which consider the different forms of waged work women do, 'When Migrant Women Rise, We All Rise' looks at the multiple layers of discrimination and exploitation affecting women in ‘feminised’ industries. Ruth and Amy visit the Women’s Strike in central London, and speak to workers and activists fighting for better working conditions and rights for migrant women at work. True Currency: About Feminist Economics is a 6 part podcast by The Alternative School of Economics (artists Ruth Beale and Amy Feneck) who draw on their experiences as artists and mothers, and speak to academic researchers, policy experts, community leaders and activists, to explore financial inequality, feminism, intersectionality, labour exploitation, unpaid work, care, unionisation and reproductive labour. PRESENTED BY: Ruth Beale and Amy Feneck (The Alternative School of Economics) PRODUCED BY: Lucia Scazzocchio (Social Broadcasts) COMMISSIONED BY: Gasworks SUPPORTED BY: The Paul Hamlyn Foundation and Arts Council England. VOICES IN THIS EPISODE: Adabeybi Candelo & Carmenza Sierra Lopez, members of AMPLA (Association of Latin-American parents) Flor Andrade Valencia & Jaquelin Saldaña, members of United Voices of the World Lucila Granada, CEO of FLEX (Focus on Labour Exploitation) Jeannine Moros-Noujaim, Project Manager, IRMO (Indo American Refugee and Migrant Organisation) Mozzaika, Artist Shiri Shalmy, Organiser with Cooperation Town, Antiuniversity Now, United Sex Workers and the Women’s Strike Assembly Andrea Francke, Artist Full speaker biographies and project information available here: https://bit.ly/tc-episode2