With every year that passes, evidence mounts that the current economic and political systems cannot deliver the social and ecological justice that is necessary to sustain life on our planet.
Where then do we turn? Women are an obvious and undervalued source—an answer hiding in plain sight. Women are creating systems that are far more just, and far more life-giving than the ones which currently stress the planet and most people. Let me clarify one point. Today's podcast conversation is not about women elevated to positions of leadership in male oriented paradigms. Rather, our conversation is about women who can act boldly in expressing the wisdom of the feminist ways of running households, businesses, societies, economies, and political policies. Today you'll hear such a woman—a feminist economist who focuses on economic justice as a primary measure of a healthy economy. She recognizes that focusing on economic growth can never get us to the economy we need in the 21st century. So with hundreds of other women in the economy who are intent on feminist economics, Dr. Brenda Wyss [weess], our guest, points us to the way through, where currently there seems to be no way.
Lee met Brenda 15 or so years ago. He was staying in her home because her husband, Barry Shelley, and Lee were attending and leading a workshop in the Solidarity Economy Network conference happening in Amherst, Massachusetts. Lee's introduction to feminist economics was just beginning at the time. In this podcast conversation Lee asks Brenda, "What is feminist economics?" She gives us a thorough answer. It's clearly her passion. Lee also asks her about evaluating an economy by measures other than growth. Her answers are really important.
Brenda Wyss is professor of Economics and Coordinator of Development Studies at Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts.
In her own words, Brenda says: I am particularly interested in issues of economic justice and I bring that commitment to my research, teaching, college service, and my life off campus. I strive to make economics exciting and accessible and to introduce students to a range of viewpoints, issues and questions often left out of economics courses. I've been teaching a course about women in the U.S. economy for 30 years. I also teach Foundations of Political Economy which highlights how power shapes the economy and economic outcomes.
I've worked with the Center for Popular Economics (CPE) since the 1980s, providing economic literacy training and analysis to social change activists and grassroots organizations.
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