SOLIDARITY ECONOMY FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF WOMEN HOMEBASED WORKERS IN

SOUTHEAST ASIA: THE ALTERNATIVE TO

THE “ECONOMICS OF EMPIRE”?

HOMENET SEABy: Josephine C. Parilla/Poonsap Tulaphan

SOLIDARITY ECONOMY

....is a quilt, a woven patchwork of many diverse

economies that are centered on life-values

instead of profit-values

SOLIDARITY ECONOMICS

...is the process of identifying, connecting, strengthening and creating grassroots, life-centered alternatives to capitalist globalization, or the Economics of Empire (Ethan Miller, 2008)

OVERLAPPING CRISES AS CONTEXT Economics of Empire (neoliberal globalization)

has failed miserably in addressing the goals of people-

centered development

Now, there is a convergence of crises...

global financial crisis employment crisis food crisis environmental crisis

Informalization and the Crisis in Employment

Informal work

156 million or 63.7 percent of total employment in ASEAN in 2006 (ILO, 2007:3)

_________________________________ Laos - 80 %

Cambodia – 85% Philippines & Vietnam– 77 percent% Thailand – 67.8 % Indonesia – 63.8 % Singapore – 8.8 %

The current global financial crisis was expected

to lead to an increase of ....

24-52 million people unemployed in 2009,

10 to 22 million of whom would be WOMEN.

(ILO, 2009)

Informality and Poverty

500 million working poor as of 2007

many are found in the informal economy

expected to rise to 1.4 billion or 45 percent of all

total employed in 2009

higher proportion in the developing

countries (already 58.7 percent in 2004)

US$1 a day working poor US$2 a day working poor

Millions Share in totalemployment (%)

Millions Share in totalemployment (%)

1996 2006 1996 2006 1996 2006 1996 2006

ASEAN 36.7 28.5 16.9 10.8 140.1 148.7 64.5 56.5

East Asia 145.0 95.0 20.3 12.1 442.9 347.2 61.9 44.2

SouthAsia

250.8 196.9 51.9 33.0 427.1 500.2 88.4 83.7

Of the more than 262 million workers in ASEAN,

148 million or 56.5 percent - at least 5 out of 10 --

living in poverty subsisting at less than the two dollars a day no enough income to get themselves out of poverty____________________________________________

Cambodia and Laos - 80 % of workers

Indonesia - 70 %

Philippines - 60 % (ILO, 2007:4, 18)

The ILO predicted that due to the current global crisis,200 million workers in developing

countries, would be pushed to extreme poverty (living on $1.25 a day) in 2009.

In Southeast Asia and the Pacific, more than half survive on less than USD2 a day, and

one-fourth, on less than USD 1.25 a day. (ILO, 2010)

Food and Environmental Crises

According to the FAO,

(since 2005) : food prices - have risen by 75 %

(2007) : more than 40 million people - undernourished

due to higher food prices

In the Philippines...

rice queues and shortages

one out of six families have been reported hungry

food crisis - aggravated by unfair trade practices and the deterioration of the environment

In insular Southeast Asia,

influx of cheap and often smuggled vegetable items from abroad

imported chicken parts and pork dumped at unbelievably low prices

chemical-based agriculture and animal husbandry

climate change due to global warming tsunamis in Indonesia and Thailand, typhoons in the

Philippines, flooding in Laos, etc.

Why this Crisis has a Woman's Face

WOMEN particularly involved in informal employment

(averaging 65 percent of all women in non-agricultural employment in Asia )

engaged in agricultural work

Two-thirds of the working poor in Asia are women. (ILO, 2006:25-26)

Poverty Risk

Average Earnings

Segmentation by Sex

Low

High

Employers

Predominantly Men

Informal Wage

Workers: “Regular”

Men and Women

Inf ormal Wage Workers: Casual

Industrial Outworkers/Homeworkers

Predominantly Women

High

Low

Unpaid Family Workers

Own Account Operators

DIFFERENT SEGMENTS,DIFFERENT CONSEQUENCES

Solidarity Economy: Whys and Wherefores

emerged in Latin America but grew elsewhere in the

Global South Global movement for solidarity economy converged

with the World Social Forum movement for 2 reasons: 1) desire to synthesize the experiences, values, and visions

of progressive social movements while at the same time respecting their diversity

2) search for a plurality of answers to neoliberal globalization through participatory learning and reflection on our organizing and goals (Allard and Matthaei,2008:4).

Solidarity Economy Practices : Connections

Concrete connections of support and interrelation between different sectors of the solidarity economy consumers ~ producers currency networks ~ goods – manufacturing sectors

Collective power and organization with which to implement “non-reformist” reform that reduce the power of the Market and State in our lives (“Cooperative Economic Development Acts”)

Networks of “Community Trade Organizations” alternative to WTO (Miller 2008)

But what exactly is “solidarity economy”?

ECONOMY

The many differentways in which wehuman beingscollectively generatelivelihoods in relation toeach other and to therest of the Earth.

SOLIDARITY

The process of takingactive responsibility forour relationships inways that fosterdiversity, autonomy,cooperation,communication, andshared power (direct democracy).

= SOLIDARITY ECONOMY Interconnected and diverse ways of generating

our livelihoods that encourage and embody practices of solidarity

An “economy of economies” that resists the colonizing power of the individualistic, competitive, and exploitative Economy of Empire

Miller, “Solidarity Economics”

Mapping solidarity economy initiatives

1) creation : “ecological creation”, “cultural creations”2) production : producer cooperatives, self-employment3) exchange : gifts, community currencies4) consumption : consumer and housing cooperatives,5) surplus allocation :

1) financing 2) recycling 3) savings/storage and compost

6) waste disposal

PHASES OF ECONOMIC LIFE :

Five distinguishing principles of solidarity economy

the objective is to serve its members or the community, instead of simply striving for financial profit;

The economic enterprise is autonomous of the State; in its statute and code of conduct, a democratic

decision-making process is established that implies the necessary participation of users and workers;

it gives priority to people and work over capital in the distribution of revenue and surplus;

its activities are based on principles of participation, empowerment, and individual and collective responsibility. (Quinones, 2008)

Reflections and Conclusions

workers have to create jobs through self-employment, social enterprises, and cooperatives

most vulnerable groups (women, urban and rural poor, the

differently abled, survivors of AIDS and trafficking) need to be assisted and empowered economically by providing access to resources and services

microfinance needs to be supplemented by capacity building, awareness-raising, social protection, participatory mechanisms, and extensive networking

sustainable agriculture and disaster risk reduction initiatives need to be nurtured

responses to overlapping crises need to be gender-responsive

Informal Workers Push for Fair Trade and Solidarity Economy

In the face of all these challenges, informal workers through Homenet Southeast Asia, and other networks...

have been involved in macro and micro – levels issued position papers joined advocacy campaigns on trade-related issues active in various forms of fair trade advocacy in

collaboration with trade unions, business groups, and civil society organizations

their own conception of FAIR TRADE

ensuring workers’ rights to just remuneration, job security, social protection, and safe working conditions;

promoting gender equity through recognition of women’s

work, greater equality in the division of labor, and

stronger participation of women in decision-making.

their own conception of FAIR TRADE

changes in macro-economic policies (tariff reform, stopping smuggling and dumping of cheap foreign products) to give an even chance to local producers to have their rightful share of the domestic market;

enhancing sustainability of production by making use of

locally available resources, catering to basic community

needs, and safeguarding the environment;

Informal workers suggested... strong gender perspective - infused in information,

education, and communication materials and campaigns

value chain as well as gender analysis be employed in researches on various industries

interests not only of industry survival but also those of workers be emphasized

“tangkilikan” and other mutual support movements

In the WTO meetings in Hongkong, Homenet Southeast Asia supported the positions of alliances of developing countries to get better terms and concessions from the developed market economies :

Agreement on Agriculture (AoA) Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights Agreement

(TRIPS)

Solidarity Economy Initiatives in Southeast Asia

Thai Perspective and Practice : Homenet Thailand

“ strengthening and networking of HBWs at various levels and collaboration with other networks” in order “to empower and increase the bargaining power of HBWs and other informal workers in Thailand”

Fair Trade in the Cambodian Context : Artisans Association of Cambodia

“people working together in a way that will directly help those who are more vulnerable and disadvantaged”

Principles : Production and Marketing

Solidarity Economy Initiatives in Southeast Asia

Village Banks in Lao PDR : Homenet laos

empowering whole communities, especially the working poor, the women first of all

village banks

PATAMABA Integrated Microfinance in the Philippines

lending and collection scheme system based on regular monthly visits to every chapter

campaign for Damayan PATAMABA Region VI : fund of Php 1.4 million (Oct 2008)

Cooperatives for Sustainable Development, Disaster Management and Women's Empowerment : Philippine and Indonesian Experiences

Ilaw ng Tahanan Multi-Purpose Cooperative (Tarlac) convergence of traditional values (bayanihan) with notions

of food security, sustainable development, and women’s empowerment

efforts were concentrated in food production and processing

The Setara Women’s Cooperative (Central Java)

recovery from disaster (earthquake) cooperation of the lending bank, government and Homenet

Indonesia Research and mapping activities for disaster risk reduction

S O L I D A R I T Y E C O N O M Y

... is a new, exciting, inclusive, and democratic alternative

that can serve as the fulcrum of social development as a

discipline, profession, and social practice. It deserves more

curricular attention and field implementation if social ,

development as a field is to renew committed service to

social transformation based on economic, social, gender,

environmental, and intergenerational justice.

Thank you very much!