Why Might We Consider Globalization to be Gendered - Term Paper Example

Globalisation and Gender Why might we consider globalization to be generated? The globalization has brought some positive impacts and some negative impacts on the world market economy. As with all types of changes, this massive economic revolution has impacted the marginalized people as well, particularly women. It is hard to say whether the impact has been positive or negative because there is lot of gap and difference between the status in the middle and upper and lower middle and low classes of women. Globalization has widened this gap to the extent that they look un-breachable. Whichever way you look at this transformation it is obvious that globalization is gendered. And it is good that it is; the onset of globalization has kick-started a movement of liberalization of women, which due to the heightened global interconnectivity may prove more successful than it ever was in any of the past sicio-economic and cultural revolutions. Why might we consider globalization to be gendered? Globalization is a big word today and one that has changed the way we look at and understand things around us. What is actually globalization? What do we understand by this word? Globalization is simply the predisposition of the economy through business, knowledge through technology and thought through philosophy to spread globally. Globalization can also mean the process by which this happens. This term is almost synonymous with intertwining of markets and economies without any consideration for physical border or legal restraints. One of the best examples that jump into my mind is the McDonalds. What better example of globalization? Waters1 (1995) describes globalization as ‘a social process in which the constraints of geography on social and cultural arrangements recede and in which people become increasingly aware that they are receding’. Ideally it is believed that globalization is the means to create a global positive impact upon the poor and the poverty in general by opening the doors to availability of a host of opportunities and resources which would have, otherwise not been available nationally. The downside is that globalization seems to profit the rich more and the poor less, thus widening the gap further. It is true that globalization actually means the broadening of global linkages, while also impacting upon the social and cultural dimensions of the global society, hence propagating a one-world-citizenship which has one economy, one culture and one social order. Ecumenically globalization’s definition would be complete with the above classifications. But there are many inroads in the understanding of the term. This is the process with which the poor countries can think of modernization and global competition, enhanced living standards, and work opportunities; on the other hand this very same process is the one which can destroy economies by sudden influx of foreign capital, can destroy marginalized workers livelihood and destabilize national banks. Hence, globalization literally is like a coin – with two very separate sides. When we think of globalization impact on gender, we need to understand first of all what is defined by ‘gender’. What is gender? Gender is basically the terms that is most commonly used for ‘women’. It is mostly used as social term than biological one. Gender as a term is closed to the definition of anything that refers to women in a social connotation. Now let us think about globalization vis-à-vis gender. How has globalization impacted gender? Is globalization gendered? Should it be, in the first place? Should it not be? This essay is trying to look into a few aspects of globalization which impact women and thereby deduce whether globalization is gendered or not. Gender inequality in particular can create very confusing effects which however are able to highlight the fact the there is a strong connection between poverty and gender. UNDP (1999) has statistics with which you cannot argue. Inspite of the common belief, poverty has actually grown by leaps and bound in the last 10-20 years; the globalization actually exacerbating it. Jacobson2 (1992) puts it aptly, ‘Two out three women is the world presently suffer from the most debilitating disease known to humanity. Common symptoms of this fast-spreading ailment include chronic anemia, malnutrition, and sever fatigue. …..The disease is poverty.’ Poverty is tightly associated with unemployment which spiral out of control through lack of basic amenities and services, hunger and death. Women become inadvertently the worst sufferers because they not only have to care about themselves but most of the times their children too. Here one should be able to observe the inter-play between the global social activities and the local ones. It is imperative to understand that globalization is chanelised through the basic political and economical fiber of the nations at large individually first and then collectively. The doggedness of the local cultural and societal pull should not be ignored in the face of globalization. It is significant to record here that there is very little doubt that gender inequity is prevalent throughout the world. Actually, according to the 1997 UNDP report not one country in the world it there which has women treated on par with men; not even one. A pretty painful truth. Globalization brings with it exclusion, underpayment and unemployment. As per the age-old sexual role division globalization has enforced the compartmentalization of male-female functions in society, at home and at the work place. While in sporadic places women have benefited form the globalization movement, in most developing countries women have taken a step back. In China3 for example, women will be two times more anxious to have an abortion after a boy child than a girl child. In India, female mortality between 0-10 will be three times more like to die than boys. It is due to these type of gender inequalities that women all over the world are negatively impacted by globalization. Not all the changes however are negative. There is an explosion of work opportunities for women due to market globalization4, and particularly for the widespread of the IT-based industries. While generally women are still exploited through stereotype role-specific jobs, they are also gaining economic independence for which globalization is a big plus. As a result of this economic independence, they are able to communicate better globally and organize themselves better for propagating their rights and advancing their demands as an equal global citizen. The global communication has also advanced issue identification and support mobilization globally. The plus points will also include inclusion of women in not-so-traditional jobs whereby their economic self-sufficiency as well as self-esteem has been promoted; it also brought about a positive reinforcement as an entity within the household. As a result of this aspect, women achieved a certain bargain platform in decision-making as well. On the other hand the gap has widened for those who do not have the means to access this communication channel. The minus points show high dependency on the market fluctuation. The opening of the market through globalization has opened the doors to middle economies which in turn has brought prosperity means to the middle class income women. The gap in lower segment has not shown any improvement, rather it suffers from neglect due to the sudden availability of global low-cost labour which costs dearly the semi-skilled and unskilled labourers. Outsourcing to places where labour costs are low has brought employment to many marginalized workers, though the same boon has proved a bane when it comes to wages. The wages has stagnated or reduced to the choice available to the multi-billion corporates to choose from among the millions of unemployed low-cost labour forces of the developing and under-developing countries. The reduction is wages and the open market has obviously impacted worst the women who get the least preference in employment opportunities. Where the women are predominantly employed, it is seen that exploitation in terms of low wages, long working hours and health risks are rampant5. Since these jobs are mostly in informal sectors there are no means for these women to organize or ask for legal protection against exploitation. The reproductive aspect of women brought on by the globalization also projects a mixed bag. Those who can have access are enjoying the freedom of choice for abortion, while those who do not take a step back into the cultural taboos which ironically have become more pronounced with the advent of globalization. This is mainly because the health issues have decreased in importance locally with the lower allotment of funds and attention. Due to poverty women tend to neglect their health, particularly gynecological ones due to cultural and social taboos. There is an increase in pornography and women trafficking due to easier global access, particularly to poor women in the developing countries. Early marriage, genital mutilation, prostitution, rape, and exposure to AIDS are some of the major threats to which women are exposed post globalization. It is also possible to detect girl fetuses and abort them with the help of modern technology brought on by globalization. Hence, modern technology hence has been a boon for the affluent women while it added to exploitation and death to the poor factions. Education is another aspect where globalization has played a neat role in the lives of women. As discussed above, it brought a wealth of opportunity for those who can afford it and totally closed the door on the marginalized women. This is proved by the fact that more than as much as two thirds of the of the total illiterate adults in the world are from Africa, Asia and Middle East. There are countries where 84% have never seen a school. This is not all, in Middle East most text books depict women only cooking , cleaning or working in the house. These are hard statistics. The fact is that women often go in search of employment or work on their agricultural land, leaving the elder daughter ‘in-charge’ of the house6. These girls age beyond their years through the force of taking up responsibilities beyond their age. On the other hand globalization has brought to those who can afford it, opportunity to study wherever they want in the world. Let us glance into the economic, political and legal aspects that globalization has thrown up vis-à-vis women. In Asia, Africa and many Middle East countries women’s work is perceived as no-value work, even when they spent about 80 percent of their time producing food for their families. Women also spend more time working when they are employed for lesser wages. The shift to market economy has minimized the involvement of Government involvement in Europe creating harsh economic disparities. The standard projection of man being the breadwinner and he head of the family has brought added job insecurities on the employment aspect, even though the women-run households are on the rise. Whenever there is a breakdown in the society, whether it is political or economic the rehabilitation of the economic condition of man is given preference above that of the woman. In the face of the tremendous global changes women have found themselves at the short end of the stick throughout. Religious aspects too target women first both in terms of sexual repression as well as economic subjugation. When we look at the policy level, we find that the gender aspect has been totally neglected here as well both at national and international levels. Decision making powers are yet to be shared with women, leave alone passed on to them as a choice. There are many aspects and dimensions at policy level that need to be introduced to promote alternatives to profit in favor of gender equity. International bodies such as United Nations are indeed making great efforts in this direction, but there is a long way to go. Conclusion The integration of the global economies most definitely impact women. There is no question from the facts discussed above that globalization is gendered. However, globalization is not gendered because of a new development; rather because it carried in its development the genes of the past societal and cultural fibers that the world is made of. Women have always been marginalized when a societal, economical or political change has occurred. It is but expected that when a massive revolution as globalization sweeps the world, women, and more precisely economically marginalized women, would be the first victims. There are a great deal of plus points as well for women; but these women form higher societal strata. In this arena women have improved their lot by leaps and bounds. There is a mushroom of women organizations cropping up all over the world whose one point agenda is upliftment of women. This has been possible due to globalization. There has been an explosion of non-conformist women jobs available thanks to globalization. There has been a sudden increase in self-assertion by women with regard to their bodies, which impacted positively on their reproductive lives; this again has been possible only due to globalization. The economic independence, the freedom of choice in reproductive matters, as well as raising instances of women-lead households the world over has proved that globalization has brought about some good changes. On the other hand, the marginalized women have moved a few steps backwards. The Governments have as the direct result of globalization removed their protective umbrella on health and minimum employment matters. The employment opportunities available have reduced due to the reduction in wages and preference for male workers; and in areas where women onlhy are needed they are hopelessly exploited. Globalization has also brought about a donor fatigue which has stopped many Non-Governmental-Organization (NGO) involvements in developmental work. This in turn reduced awareness, access to health services and employment as well. At the same time the role of women has been extended to both household chores and providing for the family as well as create wealth. On matters of reproduction the marginalized women have stepped into the dark ages. They do not have choice of choosing how many children they can have, or when. They do not have the choice to accept and nurture their children because of the societal pressure for male offsprings. They do not have access to reproductive health measures or check ups resulting in high mortality rates due to repeated pregnancies and child birth. Poltically the marginalized woman exists only on paper. There are in most developing countries self-governance bodies which have a bottom-up approach. However, only one out of ten women who are nominated in seats of power really have the power. They usually are the public façade behind which the male members promote their political careers. Globalization is hence highly gendered. It impacts gender in each and every aspect of a woman’s life; health, economy, decision-making, education and politics. Each one of these aspects has been touched by globalization. One cannot say really whether its impact is negative or positive since it has influenced different strata differently. While promoting the cause and identity in one, it totally crushed the same aspects in the other. Once can safely say that it has brought change; positive for middle and upper classes and negative for lower middle and lower classes. Globalization has however put into motion the movement of liberating women from subjugation from male domination. This is a positive impact by all standards. It will take some time to percolate the movement to the mariginalized classes, but the good news is that globalization has indeed started the ball rolling. It looks like in the next two-three decades the women’s role in the society would be a more enlightened one, and she will be recognized as the global citizen she is, and given her due rights – on par with the other half, the man. References 1. Malcolm Waters: Globalization (New York, Routledge, 1995) 2. Jacobson JL Gender Bias: Roadblock to Sustainable Development. [Worldwatch Paper, #110] Washington, DC: Worldwatch Institute, 1992 3. Westley B. Evidence mounts for sex selective abortion in Asia. Asia-Pacific Pop Policy 1995 4. Jeffrey James: Globalization, Information Technology and Development (New York, St. Martins Press, 1999) 5. Ray Kiely and Phil Marfleet: Globalisation and the Third World (New York, Routledge, 1998) 6. Hochschild, A.R. 2000. ‘Global care chains and emotional surplus value.’ In W. Hutton and A. Giddens (eds), Global Capitalism. New York: New Press, pp. 130–4 Read More