‘We demand wages for housework’

In the 1970s, an international campaign demanded that governments recognise the value of unpaid work done in the home, primarily by women.

Founded in Italy by Mariarosa Dalla Costa, Selma James, Silvia Federici and Brigitte Galtier, the ‘Wages for Housework’ movement argued that the entire capitalist system was based on free domestic labour.

Witness History spoke to one of the founders, Mariarosa Dalla Costa about the campaign.

Witness History: The stories of our times told by the people who were there.