ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the possible impacts of a UBI on Australian women's economic (in)security in both the short and long term. First, I discuss how a UBI might contribute to valuing unpaid care work that is disproportionately undertaken by women. Although most women interviewed for this book agreed this would be a particularly beneficial outcome of a UBI for Australia, there are also caveats to this approach. Second, I turn to the possible impacts of a UBI on Australian women's experiences with paid work, often in lower-paid feminised sectors. Reflecting broader UBI research, participants highlighted the potential for a UBI to provide a baseline of economic security, enabling them to make different employment choices. Third, and picking up on some of the content covered in Chapter 2, I canvass women's views about how a UBI might help circumvent what they overwhelmingly see as harmful, miserly, and stigmatising interactions with Australia's social security system. Before discussing these three core themes, however, I initially turn to whether and how the specific hypothetical UBI scenario used in this study ($1,203 per fortnight) might affect women's self-reported economic security, overall. The following section responds to this question, providing a foundation for exploring the detailed mechanisms through which a UBI might shape economic security in the remainder of the chapter.
