Economic Update with Richard D. Wolff

Episode: Unfinished Revolution: Women's Paid Labor
Date: March 2, 2017
Guest: Dr. Harriet Fraad

Main Theme / Purpose

This episode dives into the economic and societal transformations brought about by the increasing participation of women in the paid labor force over the last 40 years. Host Richard D. Wolff and guest Dr. Harriet Fraad, a psychologist and founding member of the women's movement, discuss the lack of social and institutional supports that make this transition deeply challenging for families—and especially for women. The discussion combines economics and psychology, exposing the tension between rhetoric about “family values” and the lived realities of American women and families.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Recent Economic News: Corporate Malpractice & Defense Spending

• Takata Airbag Scandal (00:54–10:30)
  • Wolff critiques profit-driven corporate behavior, highlighting repeated safety shortcuts by major corporations (Takata, GM, Volkswagen) and insufficient penalties compared to the harm caused.
  • Quote:
    “A rational society would ask the question, is the problem here the system? Is it that when you make every producer work under the gun of profitability... do you run a risk?”
    — Richard D. Wolff [06:50]
• U.S. Defense Spending (10:30–15:15)
  • Criticizes the massive increase in military budgets despite already outsized spending compared to potential adversaries.
  • Discusses the economic trade-offs: either cut other programs, raise taxes, or increase the deficit.
  • Quote:
    “Most of what we do these days under the heading of defense spending is really not so much defense as it is offense.”
    — Richard D. Wolff [13:30]
• Inequality and the Myth of Recovery (15:15–22:00)
  • Cites car sales and private prison stocks as evidence of a “recovery” only for the very wealthy.
  • Quote:
    “It is a good time for the rich who buy Maseratis and it is a good time for those who make prisons and who make money off of making prisons.”
    — Richard D. Wolff [18:22]
• Mandates in Capitalism (22:00–28:30)
  • Counters critiques of “mandates” in the Affordable Care Act, pointing out that mandates have always existed (education, food safety, workplace safety) to correct capitalism’s failures.
  • Uses the taxi industry and the advent of Uber/Lyft as examples of businesses bypassing necessary regulation.

2. The Unfinished Revolution: Women’s Paid Labor

A. How Women Entered the Workforce, What Was Missing (32:23–35:53)

• Both Wolff and Fraad note the shift: widespread necessity for women to earn income as single-earner families became unsustainable.
• Quote:
  “Half the labor force is women and most women can't manage it... Marriage is collapsing under the weight of this.”
  — Dr. Harriet Fraad [33:40]
• Emotional and psychological impacts: rising divorce rates, marriage now a “luxury good” due to economic pressures.

B. Lack of Social & Institutional Support (35:53–41:24)

• U.S. has little to no universal early childhood care (pre-K), paid maternity leave, subsidized afterschool and summer programs—putting it behind all other developed countries.
  • Quote:
    “All the other Western industrialized nations have universal [childcare] care from 3 to 5... The United States is the only one ... that has no paid maternity leave.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad [36:00]
• U.S. one of only four countries globally with no paid maternity leave (the others: Swaziland, Lesotho, Somalia, Papua New Guinea).
• This lack of support makes it nearly impossible for most families to sustain traditional structures without severe stress.

C. Cultural Devaluation of Women’s Unpaid Work (41:24–46:58)

• Societal refusal to value domestic and care labor leads to systemic discrimination and undervaluation in the labor market.
• Fraad recounts an anecdote from a client:
  • “Her employer said, well, what have you been doing? And she said, nothing. Our culture doesn't show you ... I have been managing a household, I have been a negotiator, I have been a nurturer, I have created order.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad [40:10]
• Salary.com estimates: if paid for all tasks, household labor would be worth $134,000/year.

D. The Family Values Contradiction: Rhetoric vs. Reality (41:24–49:50)

• Despite “family values” rhetoric, real policy undermines families—“fake totally,” as Wolff puts it.
• Quote:
  “Those who most tout family values are doing the least to preserve families.”
  — Dr. Harriet Fraad [44:09]
• Motherhood penalized: mothers, especially unmarried ones, earn less than childless women or men.
  • “Single mothers ... in Sweden make 98% of what men in Sweden make. ... Here it’s 70 cents on the dollar.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad [44:55]

E. Gender Roles, Masculinity & Societal Stress (49:50–53:33)

• Gender roles have not evolved to match economic reality. Men, women, and families are caught between outdated ideals and new economic necessities.
• The “mismatch” leads to isolation, less shared family life, and even fuels the boom in fast food and convenience eating.
  • Quote:
    “We've had an explosion in this country of fast food ... women, desperate in the vice that you've described for us, can save a little time if on the way home from the job, they pick up the already partly or fully cooked prepared food.”
    — Richard D. Wolff [52:15]
• Family meals, once emotionally and socially central, are disappearing except in wealthy or immigrant families.

F. Toward Solutions: Support Systems & Cultural Change (55:32–57:17)

• Beyond policies like parental leave and childcare, deep cultural change is needed: media portrayals, education, gender norms.
• World War II campaigns (“Rosie the Riveter”) are cited as examples of successful mass culture shifts.
  • Quote:
    “You could have a government push to change the culture, to make it manly to be cleaning and cooking and taking care of children.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad [56:16]
• Empirical bonus: Studies show men who share equally in housework have better family and sexual lives.

Memorable Quotes & Moments with Timestamps

• On Corporate Profit:

  • “The car companies themselves and the Takata airbag company are driven by profit. … We should have a debate about profit-driven production systems like capitalism. But we don't, do we?”
    — Richard D. Wolff [05:53]

• On Divorce & The New Working Family:

  • “Marriage is collapsing under the weight of this ... The mass of our country was white at that time. So what you had was a culture based on assuming that women's primary role was marriage, childcare and home maintenance. Now half the labor force is women. Women have to work and many want to work ... But the culture has not prepared this at all.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad [33:37–35:50]

• On Lack of Supports:

  • “The United States is the only one of the developed nations that has no paid maternity leave. ... We are among four other nations who have no paid maternity leave. They are Swaziland, Lesotho, Somalia and Papua New Guinea.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad [36:19–37:48]

• On Devaluation of Domestic Work:

  • “Our culture doesn't show you ... I have been managing a household, I have been provisioning it, I have been a negotiator, I have been a nurturer, I have created order.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad [40:40]

• On Mothers' Wage Penalty:

  • “Mothers make 70 cents on the male dollar in the United States. Single mothers ... in Sweden make 98% of what men in Sweden make.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad [44:55]

• On Solutions and Cultural Change:

  • “You could have a government push to change the culture, to make it manly to be cleaning and cooking and taking care of children.”
    — Dr. Harriet Fraad [56:16]

Important Segment Timestamps

• Intro & Weekly Economic Updates: [00:54–28:41]
• Main Interview with Dr. Harriet Fraad begins: [32:23]
• History & economic necessity of women working: [32:23–35:53]
• Social supports in other countries vs. the U.S.: [35:53–41:24]
• Devaluation of women's work, women's pay penalty: [41:24–46:58]
• Marriage as luxury, family ideology mismatch: [46:58–49:50]
• Ideology vs. lived experience; fast food & family dissolution: [49:50–53:33]
• Policy and culture, need for change: [55:32–57:17]

Conclusion

Wolff and Fraad argue that the U.S. has failed to adapt to new economic realities for women by not providing critical supports—like paid parental leave and affordable childcare—which have become standard elsewhere in the developed world. At the same time, old ideologies linger, leading to social strain, undervaluation of essential labor, and new forms of inequality. The solution, they assert, is not just policy reform, but a sweeping cultural shift in how we value caregiving, work, and gender roles.