Episode
The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism
- Podcast
- Feminist Economics Podcast
- Published
- Apr 27, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 2401
- Processing state
not_requested- Canonical source
- HTTPS://IAFFE.org
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Summary
In our first episode, we begin with one of the thinkers who helped shape the field itself: Heidi Hartmann. Best known for her groundbreaking article The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism , Hartmann’s work has consistently returned to questions mainstream economics has often treated as secondary, or ignored altogether: questions about care, power, and how economies actually sustain people’s lives. In this conversation, Hartmann reflects on how those questions first emerged in her own work, from studying women’s labour in economic history to challenging the sidelining of gender in both Marxist and mainstream economic thought. She revisits the origins of The Unhappy Marriage, not as abstract theory but as a response to exclusion, to intellectual spaces in which gender was treated as secondary to class. But this episode is not only about theory. Hartmann also traces how those ideas moved beyond academia, into policy, advocacy, and institution-building through the Institute for Women’s Policy Research. She speaks candidly about what it takes to make research matter: working with advocacy groups, translating findings into usable evidence, and understanding that impact often depends on timing, clarity, and how ideas travel. Across the conversation, one thread remains constant: feminist economics is not just about adding women into existing models, but about changing the questions those models are built around in the first place. Disclaimer: IAFFE brings together a global community of scholars, activists, and practitioners, and this podcast reflects that diversity of thought. The views shared by our guests and hosts are their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of IAFFE. Quick Resources: IAFFE website: https://www.iaffe.org/ IWPR: https://iwpr.org/ Heidi Har…