<p>Austerity has dominated the policy agenda in the past decade. Although it appeared to end with the COVID-19 pandemic, a return to harsh cutbacks in the future cannot be ruled out.</p> <p>In this incisive analysis, Diane Perrons shows that while austerity policies have devastating effects on people’s lives, their gendered dynamics are particularly conspicuous: budget cuts have been overwhelmingly aimed at services used by women. She shows how the gender aspects of this economic and social catastrophe intersected with a range of other factors, making the experience of austerity very different for different groups – and highly unjust. Not only that, it undermined responses to COVID-19.</p> <p>She finishes by critiquing the justifications for austerity policies and asks whether there are compelling alternatives that can re-invigorate economies and societies after the pandemic, and avoid a return to austerity. This compelling book will be essential reading for activists, policymakers and students of feminist political economy everywhere.</p>
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