University of Valencia logo Logo Chair for Feminist Economics Logo del portal

Final Statement of the 6th Congress on Feminist Economics

  • September 11st, 2019
Image de la noticia

We, women and feminists gathered at the 6th State Congress of Feminist Economics, in Valencia, denounce that we are living in a moment of counter-reaction and violent re-articulation of colonialist patriarchal capitalism at a global level.

The themes and proposals that we have discussed over these three days are social issues to address transitions that are fair to life.

NEOLIBERALISM is not only a privatising, deregulating and mercantilising socio-economic model, but also a machine that produces individualised, competitive and depoliticised subjectivities. Both dimensions prevent the bet for a vital situation that starts from the recognition of our vulnerability and interdependence.

We feminists are betting on other economies that are radically transforming the world we live in and ourselves. We are rehearsing ways to ensure that they are feminist and that we are all there. We are changing ways of doing, feeling and knowing. With all that we have done, we have a lot to teach, because no one has "the recipe"; together we are building the road.

From the ECOFEMINISMS we feel the need for collective institutions and individual people to address - from their respective responsibilities - the human needs inserted in the reality of a planet with physical limits, on the one hand, and from the certainty of being incarnated in vulnerable bodies that need to be cared for, on the other hand.

We want to open a way to explore the synergies between food sovereignty and feminist economics, including analysis of how the food chain addresses production, distribution, consumption and households, expanding the complexity and seeing how the different dominations in this chain cross us.

The feminist transformation of the work of CARE involves the deprivatization, redistribution and social co-responsibility of this work, through public policies, the promotion of feminist community networks and the politicalisation of care, both in the private and public spheres; knowing that the separation of both spheres must be blurred.

Furthermore, it is now impossible to postpone changing the working conditions of domestic employment and to demand the effective ratification of ILO Convention 189.

There is an urgent need for PUBLIC POLICIES that can serve as a lever for change, directing their efforts towards social transformation and the dilution of the sexual division of labour, integrating proposals and measures from a feminist economic programme.

Among the social emergencies we require the articulation of a Public System of Care and attention to dependence based on universalist criteria, free of charge, with acceptable quality standards and sufficient development through the public service network, instead of direct monetary benefits.

Incorporating the GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN THE BUDGETING PROCESS at all administrative levels is a key to advancing the construction of a society with feminist values in practice.

All those involved in these initiatives must work in a network, building and strengthening tactical and strategic alliances within public administrations and especially with the feminist movement, to ensure that public resources are directed towards addressing inequalities and generating just life transitions.

From here to the next, we continue to accompany and agree on the struggle; and we continue to build spaces and alliances in which we are more and more.

See you in Bilbao, in July 2021!