Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book aims to show that the interconnection between the woman question and political economy as a determinant in the progression of women’s empowerment. It seeks to contextualize both feminist economics and gender neoclassical economics in their historical framework and to describe their contents. The book describes the emerging woman question within political economy and the place of the first women academic economists. It deals with the emerging of home economics and household economics as academic disciplines in the United States. The book examines the initial divergence between feminist economics and gender neoclassical economics covered many issues. It focuses on the latest developments in gender studies in economics in order to show that the impact of gender as a cultural category within feminist economics has been different from the impact that it has had on gender neoclassical economics.