Compassionate Economics with Riane Eisler, Ph.D.

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What if we brought a more nurturing attitude to our nation's economic policy? What if we placed the same value on child care and health care as we do on prisons and warfare? Riane Eisler, renowned author of The Chalice and the Blade (HarperSanFrancisco 1988), draws on her visionary work on family, feminine leadership, and patriarchy to create solutions to the economic woes facing our nation and our world. She explains that the problem is an ongoing gender bias that exists under the radar, even into the twenty-first century. Even with a woman knocking on the door of the Presidency, our society - and our government - still views women, and the nurturing qualities of the feminine, as inferior. The result is a politics of scarcity, and a growing population of families living in poverty. Ms. Eisler explains, "As long as we don't make the invisible visible, we will continue to see this economic double standard at work, and policy makers will continue to tell us that we always have money for prisons or for weapons and wars. But these same policy makers will tell us somehow that there isn't enough money for health care, child care, paid parental leave. It makes no sense. This country is going to pay very, very dearly in economic terms for not investing in our human capital, not to speak of all the suffering that we're causing. But we've got to make that visible. Then we can change it." (hosted by Michael Toms)

Bio

Riane Eisler, Ph.D. holds degrees in sociology and law from the UCLA. She is a founding member of the General Evolution Research Group, and a commissioner of the World Commission on Global Consciousness and Spirituality, along with the Dalai Lama and other spiritual leaders. She is also co-founder of the Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence, and president of the Center for Partnership Studies.

Her books include:

• The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future (HarperSanFrancisco 1988)
• Sacred Pleasure: Sex, Myth, and the Politics of the Body--New Paths to Power and Love (HarperSanFrancisco 1995)
• The Real Wealth of Nations: Creating a Caring Economics (Berrett-Koehler 2007)

To learn more about the work of Riane Eisler go to rianeeisler.com or to partnershipway.org.

Topics Explored in This Dialogue

• What is the relevance of "caring economics" to your daily life
• Why having stable, loving families pays economic dividends for nations
• Why domestic abuse is an economic issue
• Why a feminine CEO generates more dividends for stockholders than a masculine CEO
• How women in Nordic nations get social security credits for child care