Gender and the Global Economy_NS

8/14/2019 Gender and the Global Economy_NS

1/19

GENDER AND THEGENDER AND THE

GLOBAL ECONOMYGLOBAL ECONOMY

Valentine M. Moghadam

Janine Fischer, Nicole Siebold


2/19

Agenda

I. Biography

II. The GlobalEconomy

III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

AGENDA

I. Biography

II. The Global Economy: Economic Restructuring and

Globalization

III. Restructuring, Womens Labor, and Gender Ideology

a. Proletarianization

b. Professionalizationc. The Informal Sector

d. The Income Gap

e. Unemployment

IV. Structural Adjustment and the Feminization of Poverty:

Making Gender Visible

V. Conclusion

11.08.09 2


3/19

Agenda

I.

Biography


III.

Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

Valentine M. Moghadam

Born 1952 in Teheran

Feminist scholar, activist, and

author focusing on develop-

ment and female employment in the Middle East

Professor of Sociology and Director of the Womens

Studies Program at Purdue University, Indiana

Worked for the United Nations as chief of gender

quality and development

11.08.09 3


4/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

II. The Global Economy:

Economic Restructuring and Globalization

Definitions

Gender: an asymmetrical social relationship

between women and men based on perceived sex

differences and on ideology

Global Economy: increasingly integrated and

interdependent system of capital-labor flows across

regions, between states and through transnationalcorporations and international financial institutions

11.08.09 4


5/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

Gained importance, due to advances in:

Information technologies Transportation technologies

Expanded forms of investments

The end of protectionist trade regimes

Two dimensions of global economy:

Economic restructuring: changes in the

organizations of production

Globalization: outward-oriented and transnational

nature of economic activity

11.08.09 5


6/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

Focus on developing countries:

from an exclusive concentration on export of rawmaterials and agricultural production to the

production of manufactured goods and growth of the

service sector.

Newly Industrialized Countries:

Industrialized, proletarianized and upper-middle-

income countries

Examples: South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong,

Singapore,

11.08.09 6


7/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

Structural Adjustment Policies:

Aim: balance budgets and increase competitiveness

Denationalization of state holdings

Privatizing of social services

Invitation of foreign investment Promoting of exports

11.08.09 7


8/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

III. Restructuring, Womens labor and Gender

Ideology

In the past: Favorization of white male workers

Exploitation of women and of members of

disadvantaged racial and ethnic groups

Today: Open economies

New trade regimes and

Competitive export industries

Feminization of labor

11.08.09 8


9/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

III. Restructuring, Womens labor and Gender

Ideology

Feminization of Labor

Five characteristics:

a. Proletarianizationb. Professionalization

c. The Informal Sector

d. The Income Gap

e. Unemployment

11.08.09 9


10/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

a. Proletarianization

Began in the 1970s

Period of capitalist development and economic

growth

Developing countries: women in labor-intensive and

low-wage industries In 1985: women earned 47% of mens earnings

In 1984: 98% of Bombays workers are women

11.08.09 10


11/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

b. Professionalization

Process of feminization continued also in the

public service sector

Womens share rose from 30% to 50%

Increasing participation of women in thelabor force and improvements in education

Today: various occupations and professions:

Law

Banking

Accounting

Computing

Architecture

..

11.08.09 11


12/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

c. The Informal Sector

Informal sector: outside purview of state and social

security

E.g.: unregistered and small-scale urban enterprises,

homework, self-employment, commercial and productive

activities

Many formal jobs have become informalized

increase in employers flexibility, labor costs, and production

costs

Danger: insecurity, low wages, absence of benefits

11.08.09 12


13/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

d. The Income Gap

Social relations of gender account for pervasive

income gap (IG) between men and women

On average, women earn 75 percent of mens

wages (UNDP 1995)

IG is detrimental to women, but lucrative to employers

IG is found mainly in the private sector, public sector

tends to reward women more equitably (e.g. Egypt)

11.08.09 13


14/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

e. Unemployment

Unemployment rates of women (URW) are very high

(class bias and gender bias)

Unemployed women are often new entrants to labor

force seeking but not finding jobs

E.g.: Egypt, Iran, Turkey, Chile: 30%, 10%)

URW also reflect job losses and technical

improvements

Note: high unemployment represents downside of

globalization and econ. restructuring

11.08.09 14


15/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

IV. Structural Adjustment and Feminization of

Poverty: Making Gender Visible

Standard texts do not integrate a gender dimension

into their analyses

Currently, researchers are theorizing the relationship

between gender and macroeconomic processes to

map out strategies for transformation

11.08.09 15


16/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion



Structural adjustment policies

heighten the risk and vulnerability of women and children in

households

causes women to bear most of responsibility of coping with

increased prices and shrinking incomes

increase economic activity on the part of women and children

Why do economic crises and structural adjustment hurt

women more than men?

Social relations of gender

Nature of market reforms

Internal reasons depending on peoples home

11.08.09 16


17/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion



Economy effects of gender, globalization, and restructuring

on women:

Lower consumption and fewer benefits

Constrained mobility of labor

Higher unemployment rates and labor force participation

Concentration of women in low-wage employment sectors, in

the informal sector, and flexible labor

11.08.09 17


18/19

Agenda

I. Biography


III.Restructuring,

WomensLabor,

andGender

Ideology

IV. MakingGender

Visible

V.Conclusion

Womens involvement in waged and non-waged labor

arrangements has been striking

Global accumulation as the driving force of the world-

system not only hinges on class and regional differences

=> gendered process

Various forms of deployment of womens labor reflect

asymmetrical gender relations and patriarchal ideologies

But involvement of women in global economy and national

labor forces has also served to interrogate and modifygender relations and ideologies

11.08.09 18


19/19

Thank you for your attention.

Documents

Gender and the Global Economy_NS