WHR special issue: work, poverty, and policy INTRODUCTION

Over the past several decades, feminist theory has disrupted present-day and historical categorizations of work by redefining the term to include reproductive as well as productive activities, labour in the home and for the family-cooking, cleaning, and caring-as well as employment. Scholars of women and gender not only redefined the private and the intimate, spheres associated with domestic labour, but also expanded the conceptual boundaries of the political with close examinations of public policy and poverty. This collection of essays, crafted by a global cohort of scholars, offer new insights and fresh approaches to these areas of inquiry. While the first group of essays examines how the relative strength and presence of labour law shaped the commodification of domestic and care work, the articles in the second grouping illuminate how state action has also impacted women's work and economic status in myriad ways.