Resources

For the latest installment of the Critical Conversations series, we spoke with Thokozile Madonko, feminist economist and public educator, whose work on care economies, public services, and gender-responsive budgeting, particularly in the Southern African context, offers powerful insights for climate justice. In this conversation, Thokozile challenged dominant economic models that sideline care work, whether paid or unpaid, and called for an anti-capitalist, feminist approach to the just transition. She connected the dots between austerity, inequality, and climate, showing that care is not peripheral to climate policy, but its very foundation. At a time when fiscal austerity is resurging and care systems are under strain worldwide, Thokozile’s reflections illuminate how feminist economics can guide us toward a more just, democratic, and grounded future, one that serves both people and planet.