The question of whether capitalism is good for women is one that both feminists and nonfeminists have debated for a long time. But each upsurge of interest in the question is embedded in a particular context. So, what are the conditions of the present moment that encourage an exercise like this?

For one thing, capitalism is in crisis. Not necessarily an economic crisis in the sense of a full-blown recession. But we have seen more than a decade of stimulus that includes a multitrillion-dollar bailout by central banks, years of quantitative easing, and a new normal of government-engineered low interest rates to keep investors from collectively hurtling themselves off a cliff.

Despite these inducements, wages and economic growth remain stagnant. Companies seem more interested in rolling the dice on the stock market than brick-and-mortar investment. Meanwhile, neoliberal capitalism — the norms, ideas, and policies that undergird the status quo of the past four decades — is experiencing a deep crisis of legitimacy. There is a widespread loss of trust in government, a waning faith in capitalism, and a resurgence of populism on both the Left and the Right.