About Elaine

Dr. Elaine Agyemang Tontoh is maternal feminist theorist and  a development economist. She recently  completed her PhD at the New School for Social Research in New York City with a specialization in Development Economics.  Elaine’s research develops an integrated theory of motherhood within capitalist societies using the capability approach and social reproduction theory, to address the problems of capability suppression and economic oppression within motherhood. The theoretical research brings a combined new and innovative perspective to addressing the socio-economic struggles of mothers in capitalist societies and culminates in a feminist “consensus” that elucidates a more effective path of development for mothers. Elaine’s work advances an original thesis on the ” triple day ” which lays emphasis on the ability or inability of mothers to engage in self-reproducing  or self-realizing activities in addition to  reproducing their children at home and participating in waged work.

Elaine’s research on the Triple Day Thesis has won two awards:

October 2021 AHE (Association for Heterodox Economics) Conference Prize for Best Early Career Research Paper: A Marxist-Feminist-Capability Theory of Motherhood (https://www.hetecon.net/)

May 2021 Edith Henry Johnson Memorial Award Recipient in Economics, Civil Affairs, and Education for Dissertation, “The Triple Day Thesis: Three Theoretical Essays On The Capability Perspective And Economics of Motherhood”, The New School for Social Research

Elaine believes her path-breaking theoretical work once operationalized, will make a positive impact on women’s lives  for the next decade of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Elaine, is originally from Ghana (West Africa) where she obtained her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Philosophy degrees in Economics.

 

 

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