I would like to explore the connection between the degrowth perspective and contemporary feminism. The main finding that comes from feminist critics, is that unpaid care work carried out by women, still remains invisible on the official economy; and this invisible work supports, not only the reproduction of salaried workers, but more in general, the same process of capitalistic accumulation (Shiva 1990; Mies, Shiva 1993; Mies, 1998; Federici, 2014 e 2015). That process essentially bases itself on the separation between production and reproduction, on the imposition of salaried work for men, on the de-valorization and naturalization of female care work, and contemporaneously on the expropriation of common lands (Federici 2015).

Capitalistic exploitation has been present from the origin of growth economy, but today faces a new transformation. The capitalistic system is now exploring a series of post-industrial developments, such as futures market, disasters economy, cognitive capitalism, bio-patents, tissue market and in general the so-called biocapitalism. The current capitalistic accumulation system takes its profit from reproduction and regeneration of life, of bodies and the same biosphere (Codeluppi, 2008; Cooper et al. 2011; Cooper 2013, Cooper, Waldby 2015). Therefore it’s necessary to reflect and see the end of oil industrial accumulation system and the same time the challenges of new biocapitalism that claim to overcome physical, biological and ecological limits. Today the main obstacle is new theory and practice of capitalist accumulation and growth associated with the commodification of body, human organs and tissue but also with the exploitation of sex and care

This media entry was a contribution to the special session „Incarnating degrowth. “ at the 5th International Degrowth Conference in Budapest in 2016.