Brownhill, Leigh S.

Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)

INTRODUCING RACE AND GENDER INTO ECONOMICS Robin L. Bartlett, Ed. London: Routledge, 1997. Teachers of introductory economics courses should take an interest in Robin L. Bartlett's Introducing Race and Gender Into Economics. The text is aimed at correcting the omissions of race and gender in mainstream economics courses and texts, the majority of which, tend to put such issues into special chapters, and of- ten treat them in stereotypic ways. For that matter, many of the lesson plans and critiques in the bookwould fit nicely into many introductory courses, from women's studies to sociology. The content is heavily weighted to material from the United States, but some of the data is inter- national andlor applicable to stu- dents globally. The 17 chapters are organized into four sections and each addresses race andlor gender issues in economics courses. Part I develops a framework for integrating gender and race into introductory courses. Bartlett details the process of transforming "a very traditional" syllabus into one with a "more balanced presentation of a more inclusive range of topics, a broader range ofmethodologies, and a greater mix of teaching and evalu- ative techniques." Part I1 offers six lesson plans for microeconomics, ranging from protective legislation and housing to affirmative action and risk analysis. Part I11 contains five lesson plans for macroeconom- ics, including a basic labor force model, the Asset Required Reserve Proposal, national accounting, the c1.1 (Consumer Price Index) and in- flation. Part IV presents five chap- ters: a feminist critique of gender in the study ofeconomics, introducing race and gender into microeconomics courses, minimizing stereotyping among students and in course mate- rial, embracing students with vari- ous learning orientations, and ques- tioning basic definitions underlying socio-demographic data. Pamela J. Nickless and James D. Whitney's chapter, entitled "Protec- tive labor legislation and women's - employment," perfectly illustrates the practical uses of this text, as well as the limitations. The authors cite the "learned," decisions of the Supreme Court in 1905 and 1908 concerning protective legislation, which rest on sexist assumptions: "That woman's physical structure and the perform- ance of maternal functions place her at a disadvantage in the struggle for existence is obvious (Muller). O n  the other hand, the activist opinion of a French suffragist in the 1890s illustrates the overlap between eco- nomics, labour politics and femi- nism: ". . .[women] newspaper fold- ers ... are now authorized to wear themselves out for very little gain . . . [yet] . . . not women compositors. The inspectors received strict orders, and everywhere the women com- positors were replaced by men" (Pognon). Nickless and Whitney put the debate in economic terms and cover important historical data. But they leave untouched the question of the exploitation inherent in the capi- talist workstructure. The lesson plans areuseful within thecontext ofmain- stream capitalist economics; they fail to challenge the boundaries of that science, as many feminists and anti- racists have come to do. After Marilyn Waring published her seminal text, Ifwomen Counted (NewYork: Harper and Row, 1988), and released the video version under the title Whose Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Eco- nomics (Toronto: National Film Board, 1995), anyone writing about the integration of race and gender analyses into the teaching of eco- nomics has a challenge cut out for her. Robin L. Bartlett's editedcollec- tion is a practical action-oriented book for teachers, many of whom have been steeped in race- and gen- der-blind classical economics for their whole lives: it is a step in the right direction. However, Waring's work is cited in only one chapter of Bartlett's book, Rachel A. Nugent's,"Critique of national ac- counting." The want of Waring's analysis in Bartlett's book points to a difference amongst the authors in the approaches to application. Whereas Waring promotes awomen- centred social transformation em- bracing multiple forms of feminist action, most of the authors in Bartlett's collection seek rather to make adjustments to courses and texts, which they hope will make future economists more sensitive to and inclusive of the female and mi- nority populations. Waring spot- lights the devastating outcomes of the kind ofeconomics that are taught and practiced in the schools and gov- ernments of the major world pow- ers. Bartlett instead begins at the beginning of the "process of produc- tion" of economists-the introduc- tory level economics course. While Bartlett's critique of the teaching of mainstream economics is convinc- ing, the remedies that are offered do - not go far enough in stemming the policy-related decisions that result from sexist and racist economics and have such an immediate effect on the entire world population, most di- rectly and heavily, Third world wo- men. Bartlett's text, however, could well be complemented by excerpts from Waring's work and videos such as the exposition on women's semi- slave labour inTanzania, These Hands (directed by Flora M,mbugu-  Schelling, CaliforniaNewsreel, 1992) or the classic of women's war-time labour, The Lffe and Times of Rosie the Riveter (Clarity Educational Pro- ductions, 1980, distributed by Full Frame, Toronto). VOLUME 19, NUMBER 4 

Introducing Race and Gender into Economics

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Introducing Race and Gender into Economics

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Canadian Woman Studies / les cahiers de la femme (E-Journal, York University)