Women’s Work
An international public anthropology project on women's collective economic power
[ OCTOBER 2025 – OCTOBER 2026 ]
[ PORTFOLIO AVAILABLE 12/26 ]
Women's Work is a public anthropology project documenting how collective action enables women's economic independence and supports women-led responses to shared global challenges.
Research is led by Amanda Aronson and guided by a trauma-informed, non-extractive research ethic emphasizing consent, collective structures, and community benefit.
One Question.
Six Sites.
Across six field sites, Women's Work examines a single question: how do different forms of collective support — institutional and policy infrastructure, cooperatives, survivor-led enterprise, and trades and workforce programs — help women turn shared labor into lasting economic independence?
Kudumbashree
Kerala, India · Institutional & Policy Infrastructure A 30-year state program supporting millions of women through tiered, democratically elected neighborhood collectives.
Col·lectiu Punt 6
Barcelona, Spain · Cooperative
A feminist urban-planning cooperative redesigning cities around women's daily lives, safety, and care work.
Awamaki
Sacred Valley, Peru · Cooperative
A women-led nonprofit social enterprise partnering with Indigenous women's cooperatives through skills training, business development, and sustainable tourism—connecting artisans to fair global markets on their own terms.
Thistle Farms
Nashville, TN, USA · Survivor-Led Enterprise
A survivor-led organization built around community, offering women housing, healing, and meaningful employment after trafficking, prostitution, and exploitation.
Women in Aquaculture
Maine, USA · Trades & Workforce
Women building livelihoods in a traditionally male-dominated coastal industry — beginning with one pioneer's story.
Photo Credit: Moez Mustafa
West Virginia Women Work
West Virginia, USA · Trades & Workforce
A workforce program preparing women for careers in construction and the skilled trades, building economic independence in a male-dominated field.