Economic Restructuring and

Gender Subordination

By Helen I. Safa

Soc/Anth 3602Jennifer Guadarrama

Latin America & the Caribbean during 1950-1980• Economic Growth• Tertiary Sector grew and Primary Sector shrunk• Population growth • Urban growth (in large cities due to migration)• Declines in fertility, mortality, and infant mortality• Life expectancy increase• Education and employment increase for both sexes• Female labor forced increase• Female headed household increase• Increase demand for female workers

Economic Crisis of 1980’s

• Caused by rising prices of import, decline in quantity & price of export, and rise in interest rates on foreign debt

• Resulting in implement structural adjustment programs designed by International Monetary Fund and the World Bank

• Purpose was to cut government expenditures, improve the balance of trade, and reduce the foreign debt

Economic Crisis of 1980’s impact on Latin America and the Caribbean • Poverty, unemployment increase• Devaluation of the currency• Increase rates of inflation and cost of living• Elimination of government subsidies for basic food• Subsidized credit to farmers• Cuts in government expenditures (social services)• Decline in wages

Economic Crisis of 1980’s impact on Women in Latin America and the

Caribbean • Threaten the newly earned entitlements• Highlighted the importance of women in the labor force• Increased demand for women in the labor force

(maquiladora/export-led industries) CHEAP LABOR• Increase in female headed households (breadwinners)

Does wage labor merely exploit women as a source of cheap labor and add to the burden of their domestic chores?

Or does it give women greater autonomy and raise their consciousness regarding gender subordination?

Safa attempts to answer these questions by:

• Examining the factors affecting the impact of paid labor on women’s status in three countries of the Hispanic Caribbean:

CubaPuerto RicoDominican Republic

4 Fundamental factors that condition the impact of paid wage labor on women’s status:

1.State Policy2.Access to resources 3.The household economy4.Gender Ideology

State PolicyCountry:

Cuba Promotes gender equality: 1. Greater educational opportunities2. Support Services for women 3. Puestos preferentes4. The Family code

Puerto Rico

Dominican Republic

The state’s principal role in export manufacturing is to create a favorable climate for foreign investment through investment incentives and control of wages & labor

State PolicyCountry:

Puerto Rico Labor Control-Co-optation of labor

Labor Control: Results in weak labor movements

Structural adjustment measures- (affects men and women) Result in higher levels of unemployment, and low wages

Increase demand for women

Women have to compensate for the men being unemployed

Dominican Republic

Labor Control- repression, prohibition of unions

Access to resources

• State policy determines the resources women get:• It can influence wages, working conditions, provide

social services, redistribute income (transfer payments), redistribution mechanism (rent control, agrarian reform)

• All sectors of the economy have been nationalized (Cuba)

• Capitalist societies: the states is often at the mercy of the private sector in defending workers’ rights (P.R. & D.R)

Access to resources Country:

Cuba • Equal pay for equal work• Paid maternity benefits• Paid vacation• Birth control/abortions

• No equal access to income-producing resources with men

• Feminized professions• Occupational

Segregation• Wage differences• Men breadwinner myth

Puerto Rico

• Dependent on transfer payments (social security, food stamps, etc.)

• Less dependent on men more dependent on state

Dominican Republic

• Little help from government• Exploited workers (long working

hours, high production quotas, dismissal, blacklisted, bad wages/working conditions etc.)

Household EconomyCountry: Married Women

Cuba

Puerto Rico

Dominican Republic

• More authority in the family is based on their economic contributions to the household

• Married women share household decisions• In D.R. Women still consider men the head of the household• Negotiating (Cuba & P.R.)• Greater autonomy • Increase in egalitarian relationships

Household EconomyCountry: Single Women (head of household)

Cuba Housing shortage = large households = High household incomeTeenage pregnancy = Marital instability

Economic support = Authority patterns

Men are still not contributing to the household

Divorce Form of economic restructuring

Puerto Rico

Network of kin and neighbors help in child rendering

Dominican Republic

Households with young children = Marital instability Fear of challenging male dominance

Gender Ideology • Traditional gender ideology (reproductive/productive

roles) • Casa/Calle• Socioeconomic differences• Cultural differences• Patriarchal laws prevail over women's rights• Responsibility of reproduction lies in the household not

on State

Conclusion• Women are more visible in the public sphere but

subordination still exist• Occupational segregation • Wage differences• Maintenance of casa/calle• Paid employment is critical in family survival• Marital instability• Female-headed household increase• Women see themselves as housewife with economic

responsibilities • Gender consciousness is growing

Does wage labor merely exploit women as a source of cheap labor and add to the burden of their domestic chores?

Or does it give women greater autonomy and raise their consciousness regarding gender subordination?