Whitaker Ideas Forum: Caroline Finn, Intra-household Economic Decision-making During a Period of Recession and Austerity in Ireland

The Fall 2017 Whitaker Ideas Forum series continues on 1 November with a seminar by Caroline Finn of the Gender and Public Policy research cluster on the topic of ‘Intra-household economic decision-making during a period of recession and austerity in Ireland’.

This seminar will examine how intra-household economic decision-making (a proxy for power relations) has played out within couples in the context of a period of recession and austerity in Ireland. Using qualitative data, this discussion will help illustrate the dynamic nature of power relations within couples. The narratives suggest that couples have a power trajectory running parallel with their relationship trajectory. Power relations were being negotiated and re-negotiated as couples traversed their relationship trajectory, with life-course transitions and life events permeating much of the economic decision-making processes within the couples interviewed.