News & Opinion

The 2020 Porchlight Big Ideas & New Perspectives Book of the Year

Dylan Schleicher

January 14, 2021

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As we make plans to rebuild our economy when we get this pandemic under control, we can think of no better way to start than to focus on and invest in all of our people and communities. Focusing on women, and The Double X Economy, might just be the best way to do that.

One thing we know for certain as we begin a new year is that we are in desperate need of some big ideas and new persperctives. Going back to "normal" and returning to "business as usual" is a recipe for the disaster of the year we just lived through. But the books of 2020 offer some guidance for how to reconsider, reconcile, and overcome.

The runners up is the Big Ideas & New Perspectives category are: 

And the 2020 Porchlight Big Ideas & New Perspectives Book of the Year is The Double X Economy: The Epic Potential of Women's Empowerment by Linda Scott, Farrar, Straus and Giroux imageyt29q.png

There are a lot of things to consider when considering the best “Big Ideas” and “New Perspectives” of the year, especially in a year like 2020, but with over two million women leaving the workforce since the pandemic hit, and when “the percent of American women working is the lowest since 1988,” (Heather Long, Washington Post) The Double X Economy: The Epic Potential of Women’s Empowerment by Linda Scott seems like a good choice. The fact that it can be considered a big idea or new perspective to empower women economically feels shameful, but the unvarnished truth is that: 

Despite accounting for half the species, half the national income, and half the food supply, women are nevertheless treated as bit players by economists and policy makers [and] The opportunity cost of excluding the Double X Economy is always steep.

American capitalism has reached into every corner of the globe to pursue economic growth, but we have yet to look inside ourselves, inside our own hearts, and to our own disadvantaged communities and historically marginalized populations to pursue not only economic growth, but economic justice and true prosperity for all. Linda Scott shows us how we can. As she writes:

Never in history have we had such a vivid blueprint for eliminating suffering, achieving justice, and ensuring peace. Never before has it been possible to troubleshoot one problem and solve so many others. What we would achieve is worth every effort we can make, every new tool we can invent, and any funds we have to invest. Now is the time for women and men to come together and set the Double X Economy free.

As we make plans to rebuild our economy when we get this pandemic under control, I can think of no better way to start than to focus on and invest in all of our people and communities. Focusing on women, and The Double X Economy, might just be the best way to do that. 

About Dylan Schleicher

Dylan Schleicher has been a part of Porchlight since 2003. After beginning in shipping and receiving, he moved through customer service (with some accounting on the side) before entering into his current, highly elliptical orbit of duties overseeing the marketing and editorial aspects of the company. Outside of work, you’ll find him volunteering or playing basketball at his kids’ school, catching the weekly summer concert at the Washington Park Bandshell, or strolling through one of the many other parks or green spaces around his home in Milwaukee (most likely his own gardens). He lives with his wife and two children in the Washington Heights neighborhood on Milwaukee's West Side.

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