Deficit: How Feminist Economics Can Change Our World

by Emma Holten

288 pages, Paperback

Expected publication July 14, 2026

About the author

Emma Holten (born 1991) is a Danish-Swedish feminist debater, online humans rights activist and editor of the Danish magazine Friktion. Holten graduated from the University of Copenhagen with a master's degree in literary science.

Holten became famous in Denmark in 2014 when she took a stand against revenge porn. In 2011 Holten had naked pictures stolen from her and distributed over the internet without her consent. The harassment led her to becoming an activist for the right to privacy on the internet and a prominent voice in the Danish feminist debate. Holten contacted Danish photographer Cecilie Bødker to have new naked pictures taken of her, but this time with her consent. The project titled "Consent" was published in the Danish online magazine Friktion.

Since then, Holten has done projects focusing on gender-based violence, cyber bullying, revenge porn, and feminism. Among her projects are the 1800.plus project - 16 days of activism against gender-based violence, the Tedx Talk "Learning from revenge porn: Online rights are human rights", the video "Striving for Utopia" by The Why Foundation[6] and several lectures on feminism, revenge porn and online rights.

Holten is the editor of the magazine Friktion and a teacher at Krogerup Højskole in Humlebæk, Denmark.

In July 2016 the German TV-station RTL did a story on Holten which featured the stolen naked pictures without Holten's consent. This led to a lawsuit and an apology and compensation was given from RTL to Holten.

Reviews

[Erin Kerley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Deficit to be a compelling and timely contribution to the conversation around economics, gender and the value of care work. Holten begins with a powerful provocation — an article that claimed women are a “net deficit” to society — and uses that as a launching pad to explore how prevailing economic models have consistently undervalued unpaid care, domestic work and part-time labour.

Holten’s writing is accessible; she doesn’t bury the reader in excessively dense economic jargon; instead she uses historical context (tracing back to Enlightenment thinkers) to show how we arrived at our current valuation systems. The book provides a sharp critique of how so much of economic policy overlooks care work, and how that omission has real-world consequences. It’s a strong reminder that what gets counted gets valued — and what doesn’t get counted often doesn’t get prioritised. Holten’s voice is also refreshingly human and empathetic; rather than just laying out condemnation, she invites us to rethink what we count as value and how we might build systems that better recognise all forms of contribution.

At times the historical survey is ambitious and rich, but for readers already well-versed in feminist economics or economic history, parts may feel repetitive or familiar. The book does well as an introduction or invitation, but perhaps less so as a fully advanced treatise. Because the scope is broad, there is sometimes a sense of trying to cover very many thinkers, models and eras in one volume; this means some ideas are treated rather than explored in full depth.

Overall, this is a strong and worthwhile read because it hits the mark in challenging conventional assumptions about economic value and care, is engagingly written, and prompts important reflection. However, it stops short of being comprehensive in the sense of offering a full blueprint for change.

If you are interested in economics, social policy, feminism or the politics of value, I would absolutely recommend this book. It would also be a useful read for anyone curious about how the invisible work around us is systematically undervalued — and what it might look like if we tried to change that.

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good! 4.5 ⭐️