Marzia Fontana is a feminist economist with over 20 years of research and teaching experience.
Her main research interests are inequalities, labour markets, international trade and unpaid work. She has spent the last few years teaching postgraduate students at the Gender Institute of LSE and SOAS, University of London, and advising international organizations and bilateral agencies including ILO, UN Women, UNCTAD, UNIDO, FAO, the European Parliament, DFAT and DFID. She was previously a Research Fellow and MA Gender and Development Convenor at IDS.
Marzia has contributed extensively to the field of gender equality and trade policies, and gender-aware macroeconomic modelling, and published a number of articles and book chapters on these topics. She is a member of the UK Women’s Budget Group and is on the editorial board of Feminist Economics. Her fieldwork experience is mostly in Asia (Vietnam, Laos PDR, Cambodia, India) and Fiji Islands.
Current projects include
Recent publications
Elson, D. and Fontana, M. (2019). ‘Conceptualising Gender Equitable Inclusive Growth’ in Elson, D. and A. Seth (Eds.). 2019. Gender Equality and Inclusive Growth: Economic Policies to Achieve Sustainable Development. New York: UN Women.
Stephenson, M.A. and Fontana, M. (2019) ‘The likely impact of Brexit on women: lessons from gender and trade research’ in Dustin, M., Ferreira, N. and S. Millns (Eds.) Gender and Queer Perspectives on Brexit, Palgrave Macmillan
UNIDO (forthcoming) Inclusive and Sustainable Industrialization: the Gender Dimension, Vienna: UNIDO
Fontana, M. and Elson, D. (2018). ‘When it comes to gender analysis, modern trade agreements are lacking’, Reshaping Trade Through Women’s Economic Empowerment Essay Series, Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI)
Fontana, M. (2016). ‘Gender equality in trade agreements: study for the FEMM committee’, Brussels: Policy Department Citizens’ Rights and Constitutional Affairs, European Parliament
UN Women. (2016), Towards gender equality in Vietnam: making growth work for women UN Women Vietnam Thematic Study, Hanoi. Lead author
Birchall, J. and M. Fontana. 2015. ‘The gender dimensions of expenditure and revenue policy and systems’, BRIDGE Policy Brief Brighton: IDS
Fontana, M. and D. Elson (2014) ‘The impact of public policies on water provision and early childhood education and care (ECEC): do they reduce and redistribute unpaid work?’ Gender and Development, 22.3: 459-474
Fontana, M. (2014), ‘Gender equitable public investment: how time-use surveys can help’, IDS Policy Briefing 82, Brighton: IDS
Fontana, M. (2014), ‘Gender in economy-wide modelling’ in Rai, S. and G. Waylen, New Frontiers in Feminist Political Economy, London: Routledge
