Economic restructuring and dismantling of social welfare provisions have disparate effect across different segments of the population. Women are disproportionately affected because the multiple types of work they do inside and outside the formal economy, which restricts their capacity to sustain themselves today and develop options for the future. This Conference will examine the utility of the concepts of innovative strategies that groups of women use to provide for themselves and the members of their households and neighborhoods. An emphasis of the Conference breaks down distinction between market, familiar and social activities.

Work calls upon women’s time and energy in ways that men escape. Women carry particular obligations to do provisioning and it is women who bear the heaviest consequences when these efforts fail. The Conference aims to re-frame the problem that women face as they strive to acquire resources for meeting the responsibilities they carry for the well-being of themselves and others. Do these attempts to address their economic needs tend to turn women into female equivalents of male breadwinners? The contradiction in women’s lives remains hidden when theory, research and discourse reinforce the separation of the public worlds of employment from the private world of family responsibility. These dualisms, divisions and boundaries are not drawn by women, nor do they account for the complexities that are the reality of women’s lives. This Conference explores the capacity to capture the multiple dimensions of women’s experiences.

During these two days, we investigate what happens, what different types of questions are posed when women are positioned as citizens trying to marshal resources to meet obligations they carry for themselves and those who depend upon them. We will try to answer what , why and how of options are used by women for achieving successful careers and securing resources and highlight the aspects of women’s lives that remain hidden.

The WBC 2008 Organizing Committee