Start the Week

Wages for Housework – then and now


Listen Later

From the early 1970s feminist activists from across the globe campaigned under a single demand – Wages for Housework. The historian Emily Callaci traces the lives and ideas of its key creators in her new book, Wages for Housework: The Story of a Movement, an Idea, a Promise. The campaign highlighted the need to change the way work, and especially what has been traditionally deemed women’s work, is valued.

Although men are still paid more than women, and women still play a greater role in the home, recent polling reveals that nearly half of Britons say women's equality has gone far enough. And that figure has been rising significantly in the last decade. Rosie Campbell, Professor of Politics at King’s College London also points out that a growing number of young men believe it will be harder to be a man than a woman in 20 years’ time.

So is it time for women to stop campaigning and #JustBeKind? Definitely not, according to the writer Victoria Smith. In her new book, UnKind, she unpicks the kindness trend that emerged in the 2020s, and argues that women and girls have again been coerced into a passive role.

Producer: Katy Hickman

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

Start the WeekBy BBC Radio 4

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

152 ratings


More shows like Start the Week

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,390 Listeners

From Our Own Correspondent by BBC Radio 4

From Our Own Correspondent

368 Listeners

The Documentary Podcast by BBC World Service

The Documentary Podcast

1,832 Listeners

The Penguin Podcast by Penguin Books UK

The Penguin Podcast

147 Listeners

Front Row by BBC Radio 4

Front Row

124 Listeners

Global News Podcast by BBC World Service

Global News Podcast

7,678 Listeners

Arts & Ideas by BBC Radio 4

Arts & Ideas

294 Listeners

Thinking Allowed by BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

305 Listeners

Great Lives by BBC Radio 4

Great Lives

506 Listeners

6 Minute English by BBC Radio

6 Minute English

1,812 Listeners

Learning English Conversations by BBC Radio

Learning English Conversations

1,076 Listeners

More or Less: Behind the Stats by BBC Radio 4

More or Less: Behind the Stats

896 Listeners

Books and Authors by BBC Radio 4

Books and Authors

369 Listeners

The Infinite Monkey Cage by BBC Radio 4

The Infinite Monkey Cage

1,940 Listeners

Newshour by BBC World Service

Newshour

1,051 Listeners

In Our Time: History by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: History

1,904 Listeners

In Our Time: Culture by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Culture

594 Listeners

The Life Scientific by BBC Radio 4

The Life Scientific

236 Listeners

Moral Maze by BBC Radio 4

Moral Maze

56 Listeners

Bookclub by BBC Radio 4

Bookclub

238 Listeners

The Briefing Room by BBC Radio 4

The Briefing Room

76 Listeners

Americast by BBC News

Americast

741 Listeners

You're Dead to Me by BBC Radio 4

You're Dead to Me

2,979 Listeners

Limelight by BBC Radio 4

Limelight

258 Listeners