At the intersections of emotional and biological labor: Understanding transnational commercial surrogacy as social reproduction

Abstract

Drawing on conceptual tools from philosophical bioethics, economics, and materialist feminism, we advocate viewing transnational commercial surrogacy as labor and consider what it means to compensate women for this work. We find two distinct but interrelated concerns emerge in our discussion of wages for surrogates: how to value and compensate for social reproduction, and how to establish a fair wage for surrogates. We explore limitations of minimum wage policy in addressing the undervaluation of biological and emotional labor in the transnational commercial surrogacy industry. We argue that subsidization is a superior method of addressing at least one cause of undervaluation.