Broad History
Broad History
Isabelle Roughol
"All work is sh*t" or the anti Girl Boss feminism of the 1970s (with Emily Callaci)
43 minutes Posted Mar 24, 2026 at 4:36 pm.
Chapters:
03 Wages for Housework (Emily Callaci)
Addressing housework in the women's right struggle
Two workers for the price of one
"All work is shit"
Not wages for housewives
Biographies of 5 campaign leaders
Selma James
Mariarosa Dalla Costa
Silvia Federici
Wilmette Brown
Margaret Prescott
Welfare
How far did the movement go?
The care work of the climate crisis
How housework got remarketed as care work
How the campaign ended
The long tail legacy of Wages for Housework
0:00
43:33
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Show notes
In the 1970s, Wages for Housework demanded pay for cooking and cleaning without any illusions about making it in the workplace. What if work was never our liberator? On this episode:
Isabelle Roughol - Host
Emily Callaci - Guest
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 🇬🇧 Buy the book in the UK: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/9178/9780241502907🇺🇸 Buy the book in the US: https://bookshop.org/a/79408/9781541603516(Affiliate bookshop.org links support Broad History and indie bookstores.)Click here to watch a video of this episode.
Click here to view the episode transcript.
Chapters: (
00:00) - 03 Wages for Housework (Emily Callaci)
(
01:31) - Addressing housework in the women's right struggle
(
02:50) - Two workers for the price of one
(
04:00) - "All work is shit"
(
07:51) - Not wages for housewives
(
10:43) - Biographies of 5 campaign leaders
(
11:20) - Selma James
(
13:48) - Mariarosa Dalla Costa
(
15:38) - Silvia Federici
(
17:49) - Wilmette Brown
(
19:58) - Margaret Prescott
(
22:21) - Welfare
(
26:53) - How far did the movement go?
(
29:32) - The care work of the climate crisis
(
32:39) - How housework got remarketed as care work
(
36:48) - How the campaign ended
(
38:45) - The long tail legacy of Wages for Housework