Feminist political economy

We facilitate research and discussion of the gendered dimensions of the global political economy.

About

We focus on the complex ways deeply ingrained gender norms and relations condition and are being conditioned by, political-economic practices and distributional outcomes.

The members share a critique of mainstream economics as a mode of reinforcing and normalising gender norms and power relations and seek to challenge the dominance of its central concepts and methodologies.

They interrogate:

  • feminist, queer and intersectional theoretical approaches to political economy;
  • the gendered nature of the global political economy;
  • the institutions of global economic governance;
  • gender and development;
  • gendered state forms;
  • the gendered nature of environmental problems and responses.

With a focus on macroeconomic structures and their implication for the everyday experiences of citizens.

We have a broad range of expertise, including:

  • social reproduction theories and approaches;
  • the interactions between gender and debt;
  • governance and institutional change;
  • gender and trade;
  • gender, labour, and work;
  • ecofeminism.

This research area is led by Dr Adrienne Roberts. Please contact her directly if you are interested in being included in the group and/or notified about relevant events.

People

  • Dr Sherilyn MacGregor specialises in the interdisciplinary field of gender and environmental politics. Her research explores themes of environmental unsustainability, gender inequality, and theories and practices of citizenship. It critically questions power relations, environmental and social justice, the gendered divisions of labour and responsibility, and strategies for eco-political transformation in affluent societies.
  • Adrienne Roberts' research interests are in the area of feminist international political economy, where she has a particular focus on the gendered relations of finance, debt, development, and trade. She also researches neoliberal and corporate-driven gender equality initiatives, namely in the areas of financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, and trade.
  • Prof. Georgina Waylen's main research interests lie in the fields of comparative politics/political economy. With a focus on gender and politics, international political economy, transitions to democracy, and governance and institutions.
  • Dr Silke Trommer's research interests focus on the politics of global trade, global governance, development, and social movements in the international political economy. One current line of inquiry investigates ongoing global economic policy initiatives to mitigate the gender-differential impacts of trade.
  • David Alderson is particularly interested in the relations between neoliberalism, gender and sexuality. He is currently working on a book that focuses on what is sometimes termed 'post-gay culture'. He is interested in the contradictory usages of these terms, the tensions between the usages, but also in the complex ways they relate to the marketisation of sexuality.
  • Dr Ellie Gore's research expertise are located at the interface between feminist and queer political economy and critical development studies. Their research examines how global development policies and processes impact on gender and sexual power relations in the African context, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ rights, gender equality, and decent work.
  • Anna-Maria Köhnke investigates the links between work and wellbeing. She draws from feminist, environmental, and Marxist theories of the political economy to re-centre work in discussions of inequality and socioeconomic policy-making. Her doctoral research explores alternative ways of capturing, comparing, and ultimately improving the quality of work, expanding the study of job quality by including e.g. atypical employment and unpaid reproductive labour.
  • Dr Aliki Koutlou's research interests lie at the intersections of feminist political economy, everyday political economy, and feminist geography. Broadly, she is interested in how social reproduction and its everyday realities, practices and relations (e.g., kinship, friendship) are shaped by gendered and capitalist structures of power at times of crisis and restructuring with a particular focus on semi-peripheral spaces, particularly in Southern Europe. Her current research explores this theme with a focus utilities-based indebtedness in the context of the Greek debt crisis and its aftermath.
  • Ish Tominey-Nevado's research interests are in the governance of crises in the institutions of capitalist social reproduction, particularly in health and welfare services. Their current doctoral research applies a feminist political economy framework to the governance of health in the UK, investigating how neoliberalisation has instituted processes of social depletion and disablement which are reshaping the governance of labour markets, particularly significantly since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.