A basic income increases systemic gender discrimination by causing a shift to privatization of caregiving, which reinforces domestic violence

3. The Increased Privatization of Care If a BI will lead, as some critics fear, to a serious shortage of labour supply in the caring professions, care might become increasingly (re)privatized. Given current cultural norms, it is likely that women will be expected to shoulder the burden of private care, especially if they will indeed gradually be more excluded from the market. The privatization of care and the confinement of more women to domesticity fare badly for gender justice for a number of reasons. Economically, women will lose skills and social capital, making their re‐entry in the market increasingly difficult – ultimately, many will have no substantive exit right from domesticity. Socially and culturally, the privatization of care may lead to the perpetuation of domestic violence and gender stereotypes. Psychologically, all blame for bad care will (continue to) go to women and this, in turn, will perpetuate the misrecognition of women. A general consequence of the privatization of care will be that the economic, social and psychological costs of individuals engaging in gender‐symmetrical lifestyles will become increasingly higher. It is important to emphasize that the costs of leading a particular lifestyle are economical but also psychological. Social expectations, together with oneʹs own internalized expectations, as well as even more elusive factors such as peopleʹs ability to respect women and whatever is associated with the “feminine,” carry the imprints of and perpetuate gender injustice. A discussion of BI’s effects on gender justice will benefit from feminist psychology theories that locate the origins of women’s misrecognition in the traditional social arrangements – in particular the feminisation of child care – and their valuation and representation, which structure our earliest human interaction, our moral emotions and our ability to value women and the feminine (Benjamin, 1988). Feminist theorists have shown how the feminisation of childrearing combined with the generally low status and social powerlessness of women is at the root of womenʹs misrecognition (Ruddick, 1989). Far from being a merely individual choice devoid of any social implication, womenʹs domesticity, particularly when work and family conflict structurally, is a significant symptom and future cause of gender injustice (Williams, 2000). If many women drop out of the labour market and care becomes more privatised, this will generate self‐perpetuating spirals of gender discrimination. A BI would eliminate the economic dependence that spouses with precarious careers would have on their working partner. Such dependence is one of the main incentives women currently have against centering their lives on marriage and (domestic) caregiving. If some women would continue to be expected to marry and center their lives around care‐giving, and this choice would be perceived as less risky than it is now, some parents would have incentive to invest more resources in furthering the careers of boys.