Feminist Economics, Debt, Structural Adjustment, & the Climate Crisis panel discussion at #IAFFE2023

During the annual International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE) Conference in Cape Town from 5 to 8 July 2023, the IEJ and International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs), alongside the IAFFE conference organisers and hosts, hosted a panel discussion on Feminist Economics, Debt, Structural Adjustment and the Climate Crisis.

Chaired by Professor Kanchana N. Ruwanpura from the Human Geography Department at the University of Gothenburg, in discussion, the event also had:
Prof Jayati Ghosh (attending virtually) from the University of Massachusetts Amherst;
Prof Vera Fiador from the University of Ghana Business School; and
Dr Basani Baloyi, the Programme Co-Director at the Institute for Economic Justice.

The panel delved into the critical issues surrounding the current debt crisis and its intersections with climate change. The event acknowledged the significant contributions of feminist macroeconomic analysis in uncovering the gendered repercussions of Structural Adjustment Programs during the 1980s and 1990s, shedding light on the multifaceted consequences of austerity measures on work, livelihoods, care, resource accessibility, household dynamics, and social reproduction. With the Global South currently standing on the precipice of another debt crisis, marked by the imposition of new waves of structural adjustment, the event aimed to provide a feminist lens to comprehensively understand the intricate relationships between austerity, privatisation, marketisation, and financialisation, both in production and social reproduction domains.