The Toronto Wages for Housework Committee: a contribution to the critique of society and space

Abstract

Renewed attention to social reproduction theory has generated fresh scholarly interest in socialist-feminist movements from the 1970s-80s such as Wages for Housework. While the critique of domestic labour mounted by the international Wages for Housework campaign is widely known, less attention has been paid to the spatial dimension of their politics. This paper therefore investigates the relations between social reproduction feminism and urban geography, with special reference to the Toronto Wages for Housework committee. On the basis of archival research, I examine how Wages for Housework Toronto collaborated with other urban social groups such as immigrant domestic workers, shelter operators, tenants, and welfare activists to challenge dominant views about property and work. This historical-geographical study shows that a key lesson from Wages for Housework in Canada consists in considering urbanization as an essential element in the relationship between production and reproduction. I argue in conclusion that this critical spatial perspective on social reproduction holds vital political implications for making sense of contemporary crises of care in cities.

Keywords:

• Domestic labour
• feminist geography
• housing
• social reproduction theory
• urban social movements
• wages for housework Toronto

Acknowledgements

I wish to acknowledge the beneficial feedback on earlier versions of this paper from Kanishka Goonewardena, Martin Danyluk, and members of the summer 2022 research colloquium at the Center for Metropolitan Studies (TU Berlin). I am grateful to the reviewers for their clarifying comments on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The author declares no potential conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes on contributors

Sinead Petrasek

Sinead Petrasek is a doctoral candidate in geography at the University of Toronto. She holds a bachelor’s degree from McGill University and a master’s degree from The New School.