Feminist Perspectives in Economic Geography
Summary
Feminist perspectives in economic geography have transformed understandings of how gender, space and economy interrelate by exposing the masculinist biases embedded in conventional spatial and market theories. This strand of research foregrounds social reproduction and the care economy—forms of labour that underpin formal production yet remain undervalued and often invisible. It employs intersectionality to reveal how race, class, sexuality and other identities intersect with gender to produce uneven development across regions. Methodologically, feminist economic geographers combine qualitative, mixed-methods and macro-scale analyses to capture both everyday lived experiences and the dynamics of global value chains, financialisation and regional policy. Emphasis on socio-spatial relations highlights the ways in which power, resilience and resistance are negotiated in urban, rural and transnational contexts. This body of work not only deepens theoretical debates about uneven development and spatial justice but also informs more equitable urban planning, labour rights initiatives and sustainable supply-chain governance.
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Feminist Perspectives in Economic Geography publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in feminist perspectives in economic geography across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Feminist political economy: An approach that examines how economic processes and spatial arrangements are shaped by gender relations and power imbalances.
Intersectionality: The framework recognising that multiple social identities (gender, race, class) intersect to produce unique experiences of privilege and discrimination.
Social reproduction: The daily and generational activities—such as caregiving and household management—that sustain and reproduce labour power.
Care economy: The sector of paid and unpaid work centred on caregiving, domestic labour and community support essential to societal well-being.
Socio-spatial relations: The interdependence between social processes and spatial configurations in shaping economic and power dynamics.
References
- Feminism and futurity: Geographies of resistance, resilience and reworking. Progress in Human Geography (2021).
- Emergent time‐spaces of working from home: Lessons from pandemic geographies. Geographical Research (2023).
- Yolande Benarrosh (Dir.) Le travail mondialisé au Maghreb. Approches interdisciplinaires, Casablanca, Éditions La Croisée des Chemins, 529 p., 2019.. Interventions économiques (2020).
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