The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a key truth of human society; at some time or another we all need to be cared for. To visualize this reality, imagine the COVID-19 pandemic is the Titanic and the economy is the iceberg. The collision between the two has revealed what feminist and Marxist scholars have long argued, that below the water line of the formal economy resides social reproduction. This is where essential often invisible or low and unpaid work occurs that supports the structures of the capitalist economy.
This work of social reproduction allows workers to regenerate themselves (rest, eat and be provided the necessities of life), where those outside of the workforce are cared for and nurtured (the young, the old, the differently abled), and where potential new workers are born, raised and converted into productive members of society and the economy. Research suggests that if this socially reproductive labour were fully accounted for in national calculations, it might increase GDP by anywhere from 15% to 70%.
Illustration is based on Gibson-Graham, J. K. (2002). A diverse economy: rethinking economy and economic representation. Consultado a, 19, 2017.
