The Real Domestic Product: How Birth Control Built Equality (and Why the Future of the Economy and the...

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Elizabeth Gregory

The Real Domestic Product

Name: The Real Domestic Product
Price: 65 AUD
Availability: PreOrder
ISBN: 9780262051682

How Birth Control Built Equality (and Why the Future of the Economy and the Planet Depends on...

Elizabeth Gregory

$65

Hardback

Forthcoming
Pre-Order now

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English

MIT Press
08 September 2026

Economics

An urgent and clear-eyed look at the battle over reproductive control in our tipping-point moment-and how to forge a path forward.

Birth control, which includes contraception, abortion access and more, has not only enabled women to enter civic life in significant numbers for the first time, but it has also expanded our democracy and grown our economy. While many embrace these changes, which aim to share the nation's economic bounty among all Americans, those who see themselves as benefiting from the old hierarchies do not. They resist this progress with divisive rhetoric condemning ""woke""-ness in anything they find threatening.

In The Real Domestic Product, fertility researcher Elizabeth Gregory argues that our battles over abortion and LGBTQ bans and pronatalism are economic at base-that conservatives seek to push women out of civic life through forced childbearing. Their goal? To maintain their discount on domestic labor and a steady supply of low-wage workers. But, she contends, this shortsighted approach overlooks the huge benefits that a caring democracy can engender for our economy and for our fragile planet.

By connecting the dots among fertility patterns, economics, climate change, equitable work, expanding longevity, and the rising status of formerly excluded groups, the author counters reactionary narratives, adding depth and perspective to the incomplete national conversations we've had to date. Never more urgently needed, The Real Domestic Product envisions the way forward to an economy of care for our planet and our people.

By: Elizabeth Gregory
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 567g
ISBN: 9780262051682
ISBN 10: 0262051680
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 08 September 2026
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Elizabeth Gregory directs the Institute for Research on Women, Gender & Sexuality at the University of Houston, where she is a professor of English and the Taylor Professor of Gender & Sexuality Studies. She is the author of Apparition of Splendor and Ready- Why Women Are Embracing the New Later Motherhood. She writes for The Nation and other magazines.