The Work of Care and the Limits of Productivity

Maura Conlon-McIvor

Our wonderful Maura Conlon-McIvor - Certified Conversation Leader and now program facilitator - ran across this very interesting New York Times opinion piece "Let's Be Less Productive" which challenges the conventional wisdom that increasing productivity is the best driver of economic progress.

The author, Tim Jackson, does a very nice job of calling out how the work of care and craft is different from other kinds of work:

"The care and concern of one human being for another is a peculiar “commodity.” It can’t be stockpiled. It becomes degraded through trade. It isn’t delivered by machines. Its quality rests entirely on the attention paid by one person to another. Even to speak of reducing the time involved is to misunderstand its value."


Read the complete article here:  Let's Be Less Productive 


Thanks Maura!

Great visual on how USA compares on Paid Maternity Leave

Hi everyone,

Kim Otis (the Director of the Caring Economy Campaign) has passed along this terrific visual showing how the USA stacks up to other countries when it comes to paid maternity leave.

And here's the article that accompanies the graphic.  http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/05/24/489973/paid-maternity-leave-us/

Nothing like a good visual to bring home the message of how badly we in the US need to shift in the direction of a Caring Economy!

- Sara

Article on the Sharing Economy of Portland by Kristen McKee of Cohort J

Our own dear Kristen McKee of Cohort J recently published this article on the economy of sharing in Portland, OR - a great reminder of how much richness there is outside of the market economy!

http://www.shareable.net/blog/in-portland-you-can-have-all-you-need-by-sharing

Thanks for sharing the link, Kristen!

Consider Participating in the "Feminomics" Intensive this October

Dear Conversation Leaders,

This October, the Bioneers organization is hosting a day-long intensive program on "Feminomics" and our own Riane Eisler will be one of the speakers!

The Feminomics Intensive will happen in San Rafael, California on October 22nd.

This one-day intensive will explore how women, a gender lens, and valuing the well-being of people and planet can converge to inform new visions for finance, business, economics and culture. Gather with leading-edge thinkers and doers, innovators and practitioners across investment, business, philanthropy, entrepreneurship, finance, justice, policy and politics. We’ll learn, connect and share promising practices toward an inclusive vision that taps diverse voices, models and innovations to turn the tide toward a life-affirming and just economy and world.


Here are more details, and the link to register:
http://www.bioneers.org/conference/2012-schedule/intensives/feminomics-intensive

If you are in California, or can get there on October 22nd, I urge you to consider participating in this intensive.  It will be an exciting, powerful, and deeply productive day!

 - Sara

What do "Feminine Values" look like in Finance? Wonderful TED Talk

Thanks to Ellen Snortland for sharing this TED Talk by Halla Tomasdottir, who co-founded an investment banking company in Iceland based on feminine values.


http://www.ted.com/talks/halla_tomasdottir.html


Tomasdottir does a beautiful job of articulating why we must have both women and men represented in financial decision-making, and defining what feminine values look like in the context of the financial world.


And, you will love her story about the first female President of Iceland!


Enjoy!

ANNOUNCEMENT: ADDITIONS TO THE CL TOOLKIT

Sara Saltee, Program Director

Hey everyone,

Check out three new pages added to the CL Toolkit:

1.  Chapter Summaries Real Wealth of Nations - these one-pager pdfs are great resources for you and for participants in the conversations you host.

2.  PR Examples - You'll find a smattering of different PR examples shared by past Conversation Leaders.  We'd love to add some additional strong examples, so share them when you've got them!

3.  Spanish Language Materials - Marisa Iturbide (of Cohort B) translated the Women's Empowerment Slides and Script as well as some of the other class materials into spanish for us - and now they are posted in the Toolkit for your use.

This Toolkit is truly a co-created resource - please don't forget to share any additional tools you create!

Thanks,
Sara

More men entering jobs previously dominated by women

Cheers Conversation Leaders!

Here's a link to very interesting New York Times article shared by Allen Ament of Cohort K about the influx of men into previously woman-dominated fields.

As Allan says:  "If this is the start of an on-going trend, it may have major impact on both the pay scales of these professions as well as the perceived social and economic value they have."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/21/business/increasingly-men-seek-success-in-jobs-dominated-by-women.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

I was struck by two lines in the article:

"More than a few men said their new jobs had turned out to be far harder than they imagined."


And, in a passage about a man who chose to leave a lucrative data consulting job to become a nurse..  "...his starting salary will be about a third what he once earned, but database consulting does not typically earn hugs like the one Mr. Cook recently received from a girl after he took care of her premature baby sister. “It’s like, people get paid for doing this kind of stuff?” Mr. Cook said, choking up as he recounted the episode."


Isn't it fascinating that Mr. Cook's expression of emotional and spiritual satisfaction with his caring work is intertwined with his expression of amazement (and doubt?) about the fact that this work is also paid in material terms?


Will the growing ranks of men in caring professions be natural allies for women seeking to make the economic importance of this work more visible and valuable?   Will more equal representation of men and women in caring professions accelerate the cultural shift toward partnership values and raise the status and pay associated with care - as we come to view the work of care without our gender-role blinders on?


What do you think?

Interesting Strategy for Equalizing Gender Disparities in Norway

Ellen Snortland (K) shared this interesting article from Forbes.com which demonstrates the kind of policy questions which emerge from the core insight that gender equality is tied to both economic health and quality of life or "happiness."

Sex Points Equalize Gender Disparities in Norway - Forbes

Thanks Ellen!

Female Economist on Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential List

Ann Manning of Cohort J wrote recently to share the following:



"Thought you'd all enjoy reading Lynn Parramore's take on Time Magazine including a woman economist for the first time in their "100 Most Influential." It's something to celebrate to see her work finally acknowledged on a larger scale." 

Time Magazine Names First Female Nobel Prize-Winner in Economics to 100 Most Influential List  By Lynn Parramore | Sourced from AlterNet 

Parramore: As I have often remarked in the face of all-male economic panels and male-dominated conferences: "A conversation about economics solely between men is not a conversation: it's a frat party."

If you're not familiar with Elinor's work, check out the article on 'On the Commons" website--a site you should be aware of as well. 

http://onthecommons.org/elinor-ostroms-8-principles-managing-commmons

Deciding the Universe is Friendly

Ann Manning, Cohort J

Ann Manning of Cohort J shared this lovely reflection from Albert Einstein on the value of choosing to believe in a friendly universe.

The quote came to her via iJourney.org,  a project of ServiceSpace.org, an organization which may interest many of you if you are not already subscribers.

Is the Universe Friendly?

by Albert Einstein

 "I think the most important question facing humanity is, ‘Is the universe a friendly place?’ This is the first and most basic question all people must answer for themselves. 

"For if we decide that the universe is an unfriendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to achieve safety and power by creating bigger walls to keep out the unfriendliness and bigger weapons to destroy all that which is unfriendly and I believe that we are getting to a place where technology is powerful enough that we may either completely isolate or destroy ourselves as well in this process.

"If we decide that the universe is neither friendly nor unfriendly and that God is essentially ‘playing dice with the universe’, then we are simply victims to the random toss of the dice and our lives have no real purpose or meaning.

"But if we decide that the universe is a friendly place, then we will use our technology, our scientific discoveries and our natural resources to create tools and models for understanding that universe. Because power and safety will come through understanding its workings and its motives."

"God does not play dice with the universe,"

--Albert Einstein

Kristen McKee of Cohort J writes:


"Here is an article on the UN Happiness summit that I came across today. 


I especially like this quote:

'So here is a dilemma: The way the realm of goods and services expands is by transforming nature and social relationships – the very things that the World Happiness Report cites as essential to happiness – into products and services. In order to keep the financial system functioning, we are destroying the basis of human well-being.'"

Mother's Day Op Ed by Riane Eisler and Shireen Mitchell

Hello conversation leaders,

I know you will enjoy this post by Riane Eisler and Shireen Mitchell on the real worth of motherhood:

http://www.caringeconomy.org/blog/whats-mothers-worth

- Sara

Vermont Takes the Lead on Alternative Measures of Economic Health

More good news!!!

Kim Tso, Cohort K

Ellen Snortland shared this story from Vermont (which she got from Kimberly Tso, also of Cohort K) that shows how


VERMONT ESTABLISHES A GENUINE PROGRESS INDICATOR, BLAZES A PATH FOR MEASURING WHAT MATTERS



Here's a quote from the article that gives you a flavor:


"In the twenty-first century, progress will increasingly depend on expanding and protecting our human, social, and environmental wealth. With its adoption of this alternative measurement system for the state, Vermont is setting a new path for responsible governance and effective decision-making in support of shared and sustainable prosperity. This is an important step forward for Vermonters and a great example for the rest of the country."

Ellen Snortland, Cohort K

As Ellen so eloquently put it:  "The glacier has moved!!!"

News from Andre Cardoso

Andre Cardoso

The exceptional Andre Cardoso from Cohort E (Fall, 2011) writes:

Hi Sara,

I just attended a lecture by Joe Hall at a sustainability conference being held at my university in Sweden. He is the head of the campaign for Eradicating Ecocide. ...  I think that the campaign is very aligned with the Caring Economics Campaign's goal of recognizing the inherent value of the natural world.

Ecocide is defined as “the extensive destruction, damage to or loss of

ecosystem(s) of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished.” The campaign is to make ecocide a crime recognized by the International Criminal Court alongside crimes like genocide and crimes of aggression so that offenders can be tried and put to justice, and also so that corporations will have more incentive to take care of the environments where they are doing business. Here's the website for the campaign:

www.eradicatingecocide.com

I'm also happy to report that Erin, the head of the club that helped arranged my Caring Economics Conversation last October, has arranged for Dr. Eisler to come and speak at the college in California that I attended. It's scheduled for next month.

Also, I'm attaching a picture of the new mural that the club will be putting on the Social Sciences building at the college. I'm happy to say that was instrumental in helping to get the project OK'd by the administration. I think the message of the mural really speaks to the idea of caring economics so I figured you might like to see it and pass it on to anyone else who might enjoy it.

Best regards,

Andre Cardoso

Thanks Andre for staying in touch and keeping us posted on these wonderful connections and activities!  - Sara

Movie Review that Plugs the Caring Economy Leadership Program

Hi Everyone -

Ellen Snortland, Cohort K

Check out how Ellen Snortland (Cohort K) worked a plug for the Caring Economy Leadership Program into a mother's day movie review of the documentary "Erasing Hate" published in the Pasadena Weekly.

Thanks Ellen!  What a great review!

http://www.pasadenaweekly.com/cms/story/detail/erasing_hate/11213/