Banúlacht Economic Literacy publication

Looking at the Economy through Women’s Eyes: A Facilitators’ Guide for Economic Literacy

Based on Banúlacht’s experience of developing and delivering Economic Literacy Training, the facilitator’s guide is a compilation of resources and activities which have been tried and developed through interaction with these women. It begins with an introduction to Economic Literacy, which lays the foundation for Banúlacht’s approach.

€25 plus postage and packing (€2 within Ireland and €8 international.)

Contents

Introduction to Economic Literacy
Presents Banúlacht’s analysis of the economy and introduces the idea of ‘neo-liberal economics’. It presents an overview of the thinking that informs the following five modules.

Module 1. Gender, care and the economy
Introduces the concepts of gender, patriarchy and gender analysis. It explores the question ‘what is the economy and why should women care?’. It introduces the idea of the 'care economy’ and the value placed on caring in society and the economy.

Module 2. Economic Growth: a measure of well-being?
Focuses on how the economy is measured. It explains and critiques the standard measures of economic growth and compares them with notions of well-being. It analyses what is included and what is omitted from measures of economic growth and explores the value systems behind these measures from a feminist perspective.

Module 3. Globalisation and trade
Highlights the increasing importance of international trade. It explains the policies of ‘free trade’ or ‘trade liberalisation’ and questions the assumptions of policy makers that trade policy is ‘gender neutral’. It looks at how decisions on trade policy are made and by whom, and at the impacts of trade policy on women, especially women in the South.

Module 4. Gender budgeting
Explores the idea of gender sensitive budgets as a potentially powerful strategy to achieve the implementation of economic rights and gender equality. It uses a range of examples from different countries to show how women’s organisations have developed tools to influence national budgets and spending by local authorities.

Module 5. A human rights approach
Presents a feminist approach to human rights and introduces the notion of economic rights as integral to women’s human rights. It presents an overview of the international human rights frameworks of the United Nations system, and relates human rights to the economy.

Each of the sections covers one major concept area, and opens with a conceptual overview designed to give facilitators a broad understanding of key concepts and terminology. At the end of each module is a series of activities which can be used to facilitate groups in developing their analysis of the issues raised in the concept section. The concept section is followed by a reference section, with references for the main sources used in the module, web addresses for organisations working on the issues and suggestions for further readings.

Reviews

“A powerful tool in that it will enable any learner to enter into the discourse of neo-liberalisation with confidence. Given training and/or experience of adult education on the part of the trainers, this manual can be widely used within many different contexts. It can be unreservedly recommended.”
-- Dr. Eilís Ward, Lecturer in Women’s Studies at NUI Galway, in a review in the Aontas Adult Learner Journal, 2005.

“The guide is the result of almost eight years of planning, design and compilation of information, resources and practical activities carried out by feminist, development training organisation - Banúlacht. It has been tried, tested and enhanced through work with over twenty women’s organisations, which is evident in the logical structure and the attention to detail throughout the textual direction and support offered to facilitators. Billed as a guide, the book does not disappoint. It is both a theoretical and factual storehouse and contains inspirational quotations, invaluable references and web addresses.”
-- Maggie Feeley retired Manager of Community and Enterprise, Research and Training at the North East Institute of Further and Higher Education, Northern Ireland, in a review in WomenZone, February 2005

“The publication of the book ‘Looking at the Economy Through Women’s Eyes’ is a very welcome addition to the burgeoning literature in the area of economic literacy. It has come about as a result of five years of practice and extensive training experience on the ground with over 35 workshops on economic literacy with 21 different women’s organisations. The value of the background to this publication is obvious in its clarity of purpose and design and the compilation of material and activities that have been tried and tested. The book is clearly elucidated, well presented and will be a very good resource for use in many sectors in Irish life.”
-- Sara Cantillon, Head of the School of Social Justice at University College Dublin, in a review in the Trócaire Development Journal, 2005.