Measuring GDP is ‘anti-feminist and colonial’ Oxfam bosses claim amid calls it should measure the value of women’s domestic work
- Oxfam bosses claim GDP fails to recognise the value of cooking and cleaning
- They claim GDP gives precedence to market relations over family relations
Bosses at Oxfam have branded GDP ‘anti-feminist and colonial’ amid calls that it should measure the monetary value of women’s domestic work.
The charity – which has been embroiled in a litany of recent scandals relating to women’s rights – added its voice to calls to move ‘beyond GDP’ (Gross Domestic Product) – the main measure of a country’s economic growth based on the value of goods and services produced.
Failing to include cooking, cleaning and unpaid care – much of it carried out by women – in the calculations ultimately means these activities are not valued properly, Oxfam said.
It added: ‘Market relations are given precedence over family and social relations, individualism over solidarity and interdependence, rational choice over wellbeing.
‘Women are rendered to the ‘private’ sphere and their work is invisible. At the same time, GDP has helped erase indigenous and alternative conceptions of what can and should be valued.’
Bosses at Oxfam have branded GDP ‘anti-feminist and colonial’ amid calls that it should measure the value of women’s domestic work
Oxfam was forced to apologise for releasing a video that appeared to demonise JK Rowling as an anti-trans villain
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) – which collects, analyses and publishes statistics about the UK’s economy, society and population – has already said it is working on radical plans to go ‘beyond GDP’.
A report last year by the Centre for Progressive Policy think tank found women in the UK are providing more than twice as much unpaid childcare per year as men – 23.2 billion hours compared with 9.7 billion hours – as well as spending more time caring for adults than men.
Oxfam has faced claims women in Haiti and Africa were sexually exploited by its staff, and was for a time banned from receiving government funding.
It was also forced to apologise when an LGBT video it released appeared to demonise JK Rowling as an anti-trans villain.
The charity, founded in 1942 as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief, has also caused controversy for telling staff that racism is a ‘power construct created by white nations for the benefit of white people’ and for its Inclusive Language Guide, which says workers should not use the words mother and father or headquarters, because it ‘implies a colonial power dynamic’.
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