The Perils of Metrics

"The main measure of economic activity, GDP, counts housework when it is paid, but excludes it when it is done free of charge. This is an arbitrary distinction, and leads to perverse outcomes. ... The usual defence is that measuring unpaid work is hard."

The perverse outcomes are in many ways visited upon women, who do most of the world's unpaid work; the hard work would have to be done by men, who make up most of the economics profession.

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21694529-feminist-economics-deserves-recognition-distinct-branch-discipline