Marilyn Waring

Marilyn Waring

Marilyn Joy Waring, CNZM, D.Phil., D.Litt. (born October 7, 1952) is a New Zealand feminist, a politician, an activist for female human rights and environmental issues, a development consultant and United Nations expert, an author and an academic, known for her contributions to feminist economics.

A member of the conservative New Zealand National Party, she became at 23 the youngest member of the Parliament of New Zealand in 1975, for Raglan. In 1978 she became the MP for Waipa, and remained in the House of Representatives until 1984. As a member of Parliament, she served as Chair of the Public Expenditure Committee, Senior Government Member of the Foreign Affairs Committee and member of the Disarmament and Arms Control Committee. Waring precipitated the New Zealand general election, 1984 by threatening to vote for the opposition-sponsored nuclear-free New Zealand legislation, leading Prime Minister Robert Muldoon to call a snap election, stating that Waring's "feminist anti-nuclear stance" threatened his ability to govern. The nuclear-free New Zealand legislation was subsequently enacted by the new Labour government, and has been a sacrosanct touchstone of New Zealand foreign policy since.

Waring holds a D.Phil. in political economy (1989). Her 1988 book If Women Counted (originally published with an introduction by Gloria Steinem) is considered a classic of feminist economics. A feminist analysis of modern economics, the book argues that mainstream economics ignores women's unpaid work. Waring also argues that global economics does not account for the value of nature. She criticises the use of GDP as a surrogate for "progress," and argues that lacking valuation of women and nature drive decisions in globalisation that have unintended but terrible consequences for the world. A highly influential thinker and practitioner, her work has influenced both academia and United Nations policies.

Since 2006, Marilyn Waring has been a Professor of Public Policy at the Institute of Public Policy at AUT University in Auckland, New Zealand, focusing on governance and public policy, political economy, gender analysis, and human rights. She has held Fellowships at Harvard and Rutgers Universities. Waring was a member of the Board of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand from 2005 to 2009, and has worked as a consultant for organizations such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women), the Yukon Territorial Government, the Ford Foundation, and the Ontario Provincial Government. She is a board member of the Association for Women's Rights in Development. As a Member of Parliament, she was also the New Zealand Observer at the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and chaired the New Zealand Delegation to the OECD Conference on the Role of Women in the Economy in 1978.

Waring became a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2008 New Year's Honours List, for her services to women and economics. Waring's work was the subject of a 1995 film by Oscar-winning director Terre Nash, titled Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies and Global Economics. She was awarded an honorary D.Litt. in 2011. In 2012, she was included on the Wired Magazine Smart List of "50 people who will change the world."

Read more about Marilyn Waring:  Focus, Farming, Awards and Recognitions, Selected Works, Filmography, Audio, Discography

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