Austerity dominated the policy agenda in the past decade. Although it temporarily ended owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, a return to harsh cutbacks in the future cannot be ruled out. In this incisive analysis, Diane Perrons shows that, while austerity policies have devastating effects on many people's lives, their gendered dynamics are particularly conspicuous: budget cuts have been overwhelmingly aimed at services that support women. She shows how the gender aspects of this economic and social catastrophe intersected with a range of other factors - running from social class, race, and ethnicity, to citizenship status, dis(ability) and geographical location. This made the experience of austerity very different for different groups - and highly unjust. Not only that, but it undermined responses to COVID-19. She finishes by critiquing the justifications for austerity policies and asking whether there are compelling alternatives that can inform how we reinvigorate our economy and society after the pandemic and help us avoid a return to austerity. This compelling book will be essential reading for activists, policymakers and students of feminist political economy everywhere.