Deficit

Brought to you by Penguin.

In 2020, Emma Holten read an article stating that women were a net ‘deficit’ to society. Women apparently took more than they gave: they took more parental leave, frequently worked part-time, and typically worked lower paying jobs in the public sector. They also ‘drained’ the public purse by doing expensive things like give birth. Denmark would be richer if women’s lives looked more men’s, the experts concluded. It’s a similar story across the globe.

How did we get here? How are the contributions of half the population seen as a loss? In Deficit, Emma Holten traces how economic thinkers – from the Enlightenment onwards – created a value framework that left out ‘women’s work’ and acts of care. She reveals how the economic models that drive political decisions today are just as flawed. They shape our world with rhetoric that sounds objective but is really based on centuries of oversight and omission, with terrible consequences for us all.

If we cannot properly value the things that matter, how can we build a better future?

'One of the most important feminist voices of the 21st century . . . The book about capitalism we didn't know we needed' - Sofie Hagen

© Emma Holten 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025