Making feminism pro family. A study of women’s waged-labor participation inside the poverty-ridden households in Tbilisi, Georgia

The proposed research is a qualitative study undertaken among the povertyridden households residing in Tbilisi, Georgia. The central research question is: How can a gender justice perspective interpret interaction between women’s waged-labor participation and emancipation? The research has three subquestions: 1) Has increased access to waged-labor for women ensued in gender justice? 2) Did poor material conditions, necessitating waged-labor participation of women, help or hinder gender justice in Georgia? 3) Do the social protective forces in the society envision gender justice and female emancipation in it? The findings of the research are premised on the analysis of the empirical material collected through in-depth individual and group interviews during the field work. The paper attests that in the periods of capitalist economic crisis (poverty, job market insecurities, unemployment), it is necessary for feminism to avoid a fight for female emancipation to mean deterioration of social relations and solidarity networks, but rather to mean a struggle for establishing equality and egalitarian society. Theoretical framework developed in the paper is underpinned by the ‘double-movement’ theory by Karl Polanyi and the ‘triple- movement’ theory by Nancy Fraser. The chapters discussing the collected empirical material evidence the social protective reflex of the society towards the condition of social rupture. The findings of the paper explain what feminist struggles shall be envisaging as emancipatory strategies amid the given social dynamic.