Marilyn Waring

Safe drinking water counts for nothing. A pollution-free environment counts for nothing. Even some people - namely women - count for nothing. This is the case, at least, according to the United Nations System of National Accounts. Author Marilyn Waring, former New Zealand M.P., now professor, development consultant, writer, and goat farmer, isolates the gender bias that exists in the current system of calculating national wealth. As Waring observes, in this accounting system women are considered 'non-producers' and as such they cannot expect to gain from the distribution of benefits that flow from production. Issues like nuclear warfare, environmental conservation, and poverty are likewise excluded from the calculation of value in traditional economic theory. As a result, public policy, determined by these same accounting processes, inevitably overlooks the importance of the environment and half the world's population. Counting for Nothing, originally published in 1988, is a classic feminist analysis of women's place in the world economy brought up to date in this reprinted edition, including a sizeable new introduction by the author. In her new introduction, the author updates information and examples and revisits the original chapters with appropriate commentary. In an accessible and often humorous manner, Waring offers an explanation of the current economic systems of accounting and thoroughly outlines ways to ensure that the significance of the environment and the labour contributions of women receive the recognition they deserve.

In 1975, Marilyn Waring was elected to the New Zealand Parliament as the MP for Raglan. Aged just twenty-three, she was one of only a few female MPs who served through the turbulent years of Muldoon’s government. For nine years, Waring was at the centre of major political decisions, until her parliamentary career culminated during the debate over nuclear arms. When Waring informed Muldoon that she intended to cross the floor and vote for the opposition bill which would make New Zealand nuclear free, he called a snap election. And the government fell. . . This is an autobiographical account of Waring’s extraordinary years in parliament. She tells the story of her journey from being elected as a new National Party MP in a conservative rural seat to being publicly decried by the Prime Minister for her ‘feminist anti-nuclear stance’ that threatened to bring down his government. Her tale of life in a male-dominated and relentlessly demanding political world is both uniquely of its time and still of pressing relevance today.

This edited volume maps new advances in theories and practices in feminist economics and the valuation of women, care and nature since Marilyn Waring’s groundbreaking critique of the system of national accounts, If Women Counted (1988). It features theoretical, practical and policy oriented contributions, empirical studies, and new conceptualizations, theorizations and problematizations of defining and accounting for the value of nature and unpaid household work, eco-feminism, national and international policy processes, gender budgeting, unpaid care and HIV/AIDS policy, activism and artwork, and mirrors the wide-ranging impact and resonance of Waring’s work as well as the current frontiers of feminist economics.

‘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 Nothingbecame 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.

In the years since leaving Parliament in 1984, Marilyn Waring has continued to write. The best from her popular Listener columns (1984-1998) appear here, along with much new writing. Introductions provide a contemporary framework for the central themes - international questions, New Zealand politics, feminist issues, women of influence, and (by no means least) life on the farm.

Presenting a range of voices and first-hand experiences, this edited collection provides real-world advice and tips and tricks to help students embarking on postgraduate study to get through the thesis journey. Edited by Marilyn Waring and Kate Kearins, the 23 essays which make up Thesis Survivor Stories seek to demystify the ups and downs of postgraduate life and the PhD research process.

A powerful and essential anthology that sheds light on the status of women throughout the world Hailed by Alice Walker as “one of the most important human documents of the century,” this collection of groundbreaking essays examines the global status of women’s experiences, from oppression to persecution. Originally published in 1984, the compilation features pieces written by a diverse set of powerful women—journalists, politicians, grassroots activists, and scholars—from seventy countries. Author Robin Morgan, a champion of women’s rights herself, expertly weaves these inspiring essays into one comprehensive feminist text. These compelling “herstories” contain thoroughly researched statistics on the status of women throughout the world. Each chapter focuses on a different country and includes data on education, government, marriage, motherhood, prostitution, rape, sexual harassment, and sexual preference. Sisterhood Is Global transcends political systems and geographical boundaries to unite women and their experiences in a way that remains unequalled, even decades after its first publication.

Edited by Marilyn Waring and Christa Fouche, Managing Mayhem: Work-Life Balance in New Zealand explores the reality of what work-life balance means in Aotearoa-New Zealand. Waring and Fouche have brought together recent research that reveals the complexities and nuances that people grapple with in their lives as they seek to balance unpaid work with paid work and still find time to live in between. It exposes the hidden issues for, among others, women who are Maori, of the Pacific, who are unpaid caregivers, older women parenting for the second time, or who are establishing businesses or living portfolio lives. Importantly it also examines the experiences of men, who until now have been underrepresented in the debate. Each of the contributors adds richly textured material to the emerging mosaic of knowledge about work-life balance in Aotearoa-New Zealand.