From economic metrics to the sustainability of life: Feminist proposals on well-being

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33064/36euph8892

Keywords:

well-being, feminisms, relational justice, care, interdependence, public policies

Abstract

This article critically examines traditional theories of well-being from feministperspectives, arguing that dominant conceptions —centered on individualautonomy, economic income, and quantitative metrics— reproduce genderhierarchies and structural exclusions by assuming an abstract and universal subject.In contrast, this work shows that feminist proposals not only broaden thedimensions considered relevant for assessing well-being, but also transform its onto-epistemic and normative bases by situating it in relationships of interdependence,care, and social justice. Drawing on a dialogue with authors such as MarthaNussbaum, Judith Butler, and Ingrid Robeyns, as well as approaches from theeconomics of care and ecofeminism, I argue that well-being should be understood asa relational and situated process, sustained by bonds of solidarity, the diversity ofbodies and experiences, and the sustainability of life in its material, symbolic, andecological dimensions. I analyze also the translation of these perspectives into publicpolicy, showing that the measurement and institutional design of well-being involvenormative decisions that can expand or restrict the conditions of livability. In thissense, this work proposes understanding well-being not as a fixed state or a mereevaluative metric, but as a collective political horizon aimed at expanding dignifiedways of life and building more just, pluralistic, and sustainable societies.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Alba Marcela Zárate Rochín, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Posdoctorante. Faculta de Psicología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

References

Adler, M. D., & Posner, E. A. (2006). New foundations of cost-benefit analysis. Harvard University Press.

Alkire, S. (2016). The capability approach and well-being measurement for public policy. In M. D. Adler & M. Fleurbaey (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of well-being and public policy (pp. 615–644). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199325818.013.18

Barad, K. (2007). Meeting the universe halfway: Quantum physics and the entanglement of matter and meaning. Duke university Press. https://doi.org/10.1086/597741

Bastia, T. (2014). Intersectionality, migration and development. Progress in development studies, 14(3), 237-248. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464993414521330

Benería, L., Berik, G., & Floro, M. (2015). Gender, development and globalization: Economics as if all people mattered. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203107935

Bentham, J. (2000). An introduction to the principles of morals and legislation. Batoche Books. (Trabajo original publicado en 1781)

Benard, S., & Correll, S. J. (2010). Normative discrimination and the motherhood penalty. Gender & society, 24(5), 616-646. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243210383142

Bhattacharya, T. (Ed.). (2017). Social reproduction theory: Remapping class, recentering oppression. Pluto Books. https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctt1vz494j

Bowleg, L. (2012). The problem with the phrase women and minorities: Intersectionality—an important theoretical framework for public health. American Journal of Public Health, 102(7), 1267–1273. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2012.300750

Burnham, T. C., & Phelan, J. (2023). Biological welfare economics: A natural science critique of normative economics. Journal of Bioeconomics, 25(1), 1-33. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10818-023-09333-x

Butler, J. (1990). Gender trouble: Feminism and the subversion of identity. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203824979

Butler, J. (2004). Undoing gender. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203499627

Butler, J. (2009). Performativity, precarity and sexual politics. AIBR. Revista de Antropología Iberoamericana, 4(3). https://doi.org/10.11156/aibr.040305

Butler, J. (2015). Notes toward a performative theory of assembly. Harvard University Press.

Cabnal, L. (2010). Acercamiento a la construcción de la propuesta de pensamiento epistémico de las mujeres indígenas feministas comunitarias de Abya Yala. Momento de paro Tiempo de Rebelión, 116(3), 14-17. https://rosalux- ba.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/minervasfinal2PAGINAS.pdf

Chambers, C. P., & Echenique, F. (2025). Empirical welfare economics. Theoretical Economics, 20(3), 911-939. https://doi.org/10.3982/TE5845

Chant, S. (2016). Women, girls and world poverty: empowerment, equality or essentialism? International Development Planning Review, 38(1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.3828/idpr.2016.1

Chappell, R., Meissner, D., & MacAskill, W. (2024). An Introduction to Utilitarianism: From Theory to Practice. Hackett Publishing.

Collins, P. H. (2015). Intersectionality's definitional dilemmas. Annual review of sociology, 41(1), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112142

Coyle, D., Fabian, M., Beinhocker, E., Besley, T., & Stevens, M. (2023). Is it time to reboot welfare economics? Overview. Fiscal Studies, 44(2), 109-121. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-5890.12334

Crenshaw, K. (1997). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against. The Legal Response to Violence Against Women, 5, 91. https://doi.org/10.2307/1229039

Crisp, R. (2002). Routledge philosophy guidebook to Mill on utilitarianism. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203410615

De La Bellacasa, M. P. (2017). Matters of care: Speculative ethics in more than human worlds. University of Minnesota Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5749/j.ctt1mmfspt

Duran, A., & Pérez II, D. (2019). The multiple roles of chosen familia: Exploring the interconnections of queer Latino men’s community culturalwealth. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 32(1), 67-84. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518398.2018.1523484

Dworkin, R. (2001). What is equality? Part 1: Equality of welfare. In The notion of equality (pp. 81-142). Routledge. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2264894

Elson, D. (1999). Labor markets as gendered institutions: equality, efficiency and empowerment issues. World development, 27(3), 611-627. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-750X(98)00147-8

England, P., & Folbre, N. (1999). The cost of caring. The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 561(1), 39-51. https://doi.org/10.1177/000271629956100103

Eschle, C. (2004). Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. American Anthropologist, 106(3), 627. https://doi.org/10.1525/aa.2004.106.3.627

Esquivel, V. (2014). What is a transformative approach to care, and why do we need it? Gender & Development, 22(3), 423-439. https://doi.org/10.1080/13552074.2014.963303

Esquivel, V. (2011). La economía del cuidado en América Latina. PNUD. https://evaluacionyseguimientoproyectosindesol.wordpress.com/wp- content/uploads/2015/09/ind15_atando_cabos.pdf

Federici, S. (2020). Revolution at point zero: Housework, reproduction, and feminist struggle. PM press.

Federici, S. (2018a). El patriarcado del salario. Críticas feministas al marxismo. Madrid: Traficantes de sueños.

Federici, S. (2018b). Re-enchanting the World: Feminism and the Politics of the Commons. PM Press.

Fish, J. (2007). Getting equal: the implications of new regulations to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination for health and social care. Diversity and Equality in Health and Care, 4(3).

Fleurbaey, M. (2009). Beyond GDP: The quest for a measure of social welfare. Journal of Economic literature, 47(4), 1029-1075. https://doi.org/10.1257/jel.47.4.1029

Folbre, N. (2011). The invisible heart: Care and the global economy. En N. Kabeer & A. Stark (Eds.), The women, gender and development reader (pp. 41–42). London: Zed Books.

Folbre, N. (2005). Valuing Care: A Feminist Critique of Global Capitalism. In draft notes for presentation at Invited Session, Women's Worlds 2005 International Conference, Seoul Korea, June. https://aaws07.org/english3/speech/4.3.NancyFolber.pdf

Fraser, N. (2013). Fortunes of feminism: From state-managed capitalism to neoliberal crisis. Verso Books.

Fraser, N. (2007). Feminist politics in the age of recognition: A two-dimensional approach to gender justice. Studies in social justice, 1(1), 23-35. https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v1i1.979

Fraser, N., & Lamas, M. (1991). La lucha por las necesidades: esbozo de una teoría crítica socialista-feminista de la cultura política del capitalismo tardío. Debate feminista, 3, 3-40. https://www.jstor.org/stable/42623971

Gaard, G. (2015). Ecofeminism and climate change. Women's Studies International Forum, 49, 20-33. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2015.02.004

Gatrell, C., Cooper, C. L., & Kossek, E. E. (2017). Maternal bodies as taboo at work: New perspectives on the marginalizing of senior-level women in organizations. Academy of Management Perspectives, 31(3), 239-252. https://doi.org/10.5465/amp.2014.0034

Hajad, V., & Ikhsan, I. (2024). Ecofeminism as a movement: Choosing between economics and nature protection. Theoretical and Practical Research in Economic Fields, 15(1), 91-100. https://doi.org/10.14505/tpref.v15.1(29).09

Hancock, A. M. (2007). When multiplication doesn't equal quick addition: Examining intersectionality as a research paradigm. Perspectives on politics, 5(1), 63-79. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592707070065

Hands, D. W. (2012). The positive-normative dichotomy and economics. Handbook of the Philosophy of Science, 13, 219-239. https://www.dwadehands.com/uploads/1/4/0/5/140531545/positive- normative_2012.pdf

Harcourt, W. (2023). The ethics and politics of care: reshaping economic thinking and practice. Review of Political Economy, 1-17. https://doi.org/10.1080/09538259.2023.2241395

Harsanyi, J. C. (1977). Rule utilitarianism and decision theory. Erkenntnis, 11(1), 25- 53. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00169843

Harvey, J. T. (2010). Neoliberalism, neoclassicism and economic welfare. Journal of Economic Issues, 44(2), 359-368. https://doi.org/10.2753/JEI0021-3624440208

Hausman, D. M., & McPherson, M. S. (2007). The philosophical foundations of mainstream normative economics. The philosophy of economics: an anthology, 226, 247. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819025.017

Hooks, B. (2000). Feminist theory: From margin to center. Pluto press. (Trabajo original publicado en 1984).

Ibrahim, S., & Alkire, S. (2007). Agency and empowerment: A proposal for internationally comparable indicators. Oxford development studies, 35(4), 379- 403. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600810701701897

Kittay, E. F. (2019). Love's labor: Essays on women, equality and dependency. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315108926

Kittay, E. F. (2005). At the margins of moral personhood. Ethics, 116(1), 100-131.

Kittay, E. F. (2001). When caring is just and justice is caring: Justice and mental retardation. Public Culture, 13(3), 557-579. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/26257

Kymlicka, W. (2002). Contemporary political philosophy: An introduction. Oxford University Press.

Little, I. M. D. (2002). A critique of welfare economics. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198281191.001.0001

Published

2026-03-23

How to Cite

Zárate Rochín, A. M. (2026). From economic metrics to the sustainability of life: Feminist proposals on well-being. Euphyía, 19(36), 1–48. https://doi.org/10.33064/36euph8892