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Universal Basic Income and Divergent Theories of Gender Justice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2023

Olga Lenczewska Open the ORCID record for Olga Lenczewska [Opens in a new window]
Olga Lenczewska*
Affiliation:
Department of Philosophy and Religion, University of North Carolina Wilmington, Bear Hall, 5174 Randall Drive, Wilmington, NC 28403
*
Corresponding author. lenczewskao@uncw.edu
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Abstract

This article assesses the potential for basic income to become a tool for empowering women in the household and in the workplace. Recent debates among feminist political theorists indicate that it is not obvious whether basic income has the potential to push our society toward greater socioeconomic gender justice. I show that arguments for and against basic income put forward by feminist theorists rely on implicit assumptions about how women's work should be conceived—assumptions that are not shared among all of them. I also argue that these beliefs can be sorted into two dichotomies: one concerned with the suitability of remuneration for caregiving, the other with the question of who should be responsible for caregiving. I conclude by explaining the possible causes of the divergences in the views of feminist supporters and critics of UBI, and by recommending ways to arrive at common conceptual grounds.

Type
Article
Information
Hypatia , Volume 37 , Issue 4 , Fall 2022 , pp. 705 - 725
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Hypatia, a Nonprofit Corporation

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