About
Diane Elson

Research Areas

I have examined the changing forms of women’s disadvantage in labour markets, in the context of globalisation. Old forms of disadvantage are decomposed but new forms are recomposed, so that no simple narrative of progress is possible. Women’s collective organisation is critical for making sustainable gains in the context of structural discrimination. I originated the three R’s framework for developing policy on unpaid care and domestic work: Recognise, Reduce and Redistribute this work.

I have analysed development, growth and trade from a feminist economics perspective, critically scrutinising the idea that inclusion of women in these processes would automatically improve women’s lives and reduce gender inequality. I argued that the call for ‘inclusive growth’ ignores the ways in which ‘inclusion’ can harm women.

I have conducted pioneering feminist research on gender equality and macroeconomic policy, uncovering the adverse implications for women of not including unpaid care and domestic work in macroeconomic analysis. I highlighted the ways in which macroeconomic policy implicitly assumes that women will provide a safety net of last resort, ignoring the depletion of women’s capabilities.

In a series of Working Papers I developed the idea of the economy as a gendered structure, emphasising that gender is not just a characteristic of individuals. The structure comprised a productive paid economy and a reproductive unpaid economy, interacting at macro, meso and micro levels.

I have analysed the international financial architecture with a focus on gender equality and the distribution of risks. I created a framework for analysing the gender dimensions of financial crisis in terms of the interactions of finance, production and social reproduction.

I am one of the founders of gender budgeting, the analysis of government budgets from gender equality perspective. I emphasize that taxation must be included as well as expenditure; and that not just financial allocations but impacts on women’s lives must be considered. I am strategizing to reclaim the transformative potential of gender budgeting, linking it to fiscal policy rather than financial management.
 
I have helped develop the analysis of economic policy from a human rights perspective, showing that economic policy makers have human rights obligations and cannot escape these by claiming that there is no alternative. I have helped create tools to audit compliance of economic policy with human rights treaties. 
 
I have analysed the fundamental relations between forms of labour and capitalism, and the ways that markets could be transformed to serve socialist rather than capitalist objectives.