Woman's Worth: Sexual Economics and the World of Women

373 Pages·2022·17.862 MB·English

by  Lisa Leghron, Katherine Parker

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
WOMEN AND WORK
Volume 10
WOMAN’S WORTH

WOMAN’S WORTH
Sexual Economics and the
World of Women
LISA LEGHORN
and
KATHERINE PARKER
First published in 1981 by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
This edition frst published in 2022
by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa
business
© 1981 Lisa Leghorn and Katherine Parker
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or
retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
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or registered trademarks, and are used only for identifcation and
explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library
ISBN: 978-1-032-27038-8 (Set)
ISBN: 978-1-032-29815-3 (Volume 10) (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-032-30006-1 (Volume 10) (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-30299-5 (Volume 10) (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/9781003302995
Publisher’s Note
The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this
reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies
may be apparent.
Disclaimer
The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and
would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable
to trace.
Woman's worth
Sexual economics and
the world of women
Lisa Leghorn and
Katherine Parker
Routledge & Kegan Paul
Boston, London and Henley
First published in 1981
by Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd
9 Park Street, Boston, Mass. 02108, USA,
39 Store Street, London WC1E 7DD and
Broadway House, Newtown Road,
Henley-on-Thames, Oxon RG9 1EN
Set in 10/12pt Century by
Elephant Productions, London
and printed in the United States of America
Copyright © Lisa Leghorn and Katherine Parker
No part of this book may be reproduced in
any form without permission from the
publisher, except for the quotation of brief
passages in criticism
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Leghorn, Lisa
Woman's worth
1. Women - Economic conditions
I. Title II. Parker, Katherine
305'.3 HQ1381
ISBN 0-7100-0836-8
ISBN 0-7100-0855-4 Pbk
To the women who have been developing these ideas for
centuries, and the millions of women who are continuing
that work in their own ways every day

Contents
Preface and acknowledgments xi
Introduction 1
Beginning from women's perspectives 3
1 Sexual economics explored 9
Economics: the power to intimidate 9
Why the hand that rocks doesn't rule 13
I am pounding for John: women in
patriarchal economies 18
Women across cultures 31
2 Shouldering the high cost of development 33
Domination in the name of progress 36
In the wake of the West 38
Left behind to slave 42
Something for some at what cost? 53
Development for whom? 56
3 As a woman, I have no country: the diversity of
male power 60
Heaven under his feet: minimal power societies 61
The illusions of token power 69
The potential to lobby: negotiating power
societies 79
4 The personal is economic 93
Education: gaining control over the means
of reproduction 94
The economics of prestige: from survival in
scarcity to conspicuous leisure 97