Not WEIRD at all! Towards More Pluralistic Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods

Sustainability discourses are dominated by Western, educated, industrialized, rich and democratic (WEIRD) perspectives. Critics call for remedies to patriarchy, capitalism, colonialism; work that is inclusive of women, non-market influences, epistemologies the global South. Focusing on women's work, this paper interrogates epistemic practical injustices geography gender. The empirical domain a middle-income economy, offering insight from space between WEIRD subsistence extremes. 15 case studies Malay female micro-entrepreneurs draw interview, observational secondary data, tracing effects market formalization actors. Despite subordinate social status, women provide reliable income streams their families. However, livelihoods threatened rapidly formalizing markets. Market crowds out small diverse in favor large multinational. To address problem, pro-social systems view required, based pluralistic conceptions economies Drawing Gibson-Graham's perspective we derive 12 propositions supporting sustainable livelihoods. Sustainable support quality life wellbeing, embedded less damaging more (vs patriarchal, colonial capitalistic) provisioning systems, turn reflexively conscious power dynamics hegemony. In line with paradoxes tensions sustainability thinking pluralism: Conscious acceptance all economic approaches, formal informal, state non-state, local, capitalist planned; an emphasis physical, emotional well-being, self-determination, diversity, health, happiness many rather than wealth few.