Introduction: Revisiting the Feminism and Basic Income Debate

Abstract

In this issue of Basic Income Studies, six philosophers and social scientists answer the question of whether, all things considered, feminists should embrace basic income. Basic income proposals have always had strong defenders and critics among feminists. Some feminists have argued that basic income will finally deliver the long-awaited recognition of unpaid work and caregiving, work that is primarily performed by women. Other feminists have worried that a basic income would function as hush money, discouraging women from striving for more far-reaching gender equality. Both views are prima facie plausible. Both views have also been defended in the growing body of gender analyses published in the last decades. The first published views by basic income advocates stated that basic income was a good thing for women: unpaid work would be socially recognised, women’s autonomy would be strengthened, women’s bargaining position within the household would improve, and men would be encouraged to share more in the