Political Economy of Race, Class and Gender - Book Report/Review Example

The significance of Household Work in Economic Production The economic system of different nations consistsof non-market and market systems. The household economy makes up the non-market system while the market system comprises the market economy. The market economy features monetary payments in the labor market as well as the use of physical capital. Under the household economy, households utilize own capital and labor hours to produce services for own consumption. The Gross Economic Production of a given economy is given as the sum of Gross Household Production and Gross Market Production.

This paper discusses the importance of household production as it explains why it matters when household work is invisible.When household work is invisible, there is no revelation of the inequalities and imbalances in responsibilities between men and women. While men dominate the market system, women dominate the household system. However, in the market system there is pay for labor time while in the household economy there is no payment for labor time.The invisibility of household work leads to stereotypic perceptions of men being the breadwinners of their families.

However, research indicates that the number of unpaid labor hours in the household market exceeds the number of paid labor in the market system. This shows that women contribute more than men do only that there are difficulties in measuring the contribution of household economy unlike the market economy that has different measurement metrics. When household work is invisible, there would be no entry of gender in economic production and as such, policy makers would not have the basis on which to implement strategies to eliminate inequalities in responsibilities between men and women.

Women in the household economy would continue contributing a lot to the total economic production without receiving payment for their labor time.In conclusion, it is necessary for researchers and scholars to develop metrics of measuring household work. This would enable the recognition of household economy workers who would start receiving pay for their labor time in the process eliminating the inequalities between workers in the economy market (pre-dominantly men) and workers in the household economy (pre-dominantly women).

Work CitedIronmonger, Duncan. "The Interaction Between Household and Market Work in Economic Downturns." Dialogue 30. 2011. 45-51. Print.