We are delighted to have this book in a series that aims to bring original sociological thinking to bear on contemporary gender relations, divisions and issues of concern to feminists. It is our aim for the series that it will challenge received wisdom, offer new insights and expand the scope of sociology both theoretically and substantively, and we are convinced that this book by Vicki Dabrowski does all of those things.

This preface is being written after three months of ‘lockdown’ as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The gendered impacts of lockdown are adding to the long-term effects of austerity, as outlined in this book, and rendering the lives of many women even more challenging. While so far more men have died of COVID-19 in the UK, women may suffer more from the long-term effects, as these will be added to the already higher levels of morbidity in older women. Evidence is also emerging about the higher levels of childcare, domestic work and home schooling undertaken by women during lockdown, and of course for women who are single parents this extra labour will be completely their responsibility. It is also the case that more women have been furloughed and are concerned that their jobs may disappear, and that women are disproportionately represented in the sectors of the labour market most likely to shrink. In this book, Dabrowski writes about the symbolic connections between austerity and the post-war period of ‘thrifty housewives’ and this symbolism has been rolled out frequently over the last few months. While not always explicit, the image — like a picture from a 1950s Ladybird book of a mother in the kitchen, teaching her small daughter to bake a cake — is in the background of many discussions about managing lockdown. Traditional assumptions about the so-called nuclear family have been at the fore and the likelihood of women losing their jobs and/or having increased caring responsibilities looms large, while at the same time the state withdraws the extra, albeit limited, support put in place during the crisis. All of these factors will have a far greater impact on those women who are already dealing with the austerity policies which have been in place since the economic crash of 2007–8.