Economic Globalization and Poverty
Over the recent past, the world has increasingly become a global village. The interconnectedness of countries and regions triggered by advances in telecommunication and transport systems has opened up the globe for trade and human interactions. This paper argues that globalization and neoliberalism have only worsened the pervasive gender inequality that has existed in many societies.
According to Jaggar (n. d.), globalization refers to any systems of transcontinental trade and travel (527). Globalization comes with new systems of regulating how trade and travel occur. As far as trade is concerned, globalization is regulated by the World Trade Organization (Jaggar, n. d., 527.). This means that as far as global trade is concerned, the rules set by WHO supersedes the national laws of any of the signatory nations.
While globalization has many benefits, it is driven by already existing gender norms that disadvantage women. According to the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, “Global economic and trade policies are not “gender neutral” (Burn, n. d., 530). Instead, many trade policies discriminate against women or do not factor in the fact that this group of persons is already in a disadvantaged position, which means that it needs some level of empowerment before it can compete on a level playing field with the men.
At the same time, the benefits of globalization are not distributed evenly across nations. Some rich northern governments have extensive systems of subsidizing farmers to enable the latter sell their products at cheaper prices in the global markets (Burn, n. d, 530). However, there are countries where farmers do not get subsidies. For example, Burn (n. d.) argues that some southern countries do not subsidize their farmers subjecting the latter to life of poverty (530). In many countries, women comprise a bigger proportion of farmworkers. As such, when farmers are not subsidized in order for their products to compete fairly in the global markets, those who suffer the most are women.
Although globalization has had positive effects on women, it has negative implications for this group too. One of the positive effects associated with globalization is the creation of jobs. According to Burn (n. d.), “Whether paid employment benefits a woman depends on whether she has control over the money she makes, whether her wages are sufficient to escape poverty, whether she is still responsible for the majority of household and care labor, and the work conditions” (p. 531). Many of the jobs that can be attributed to globalization do not have a great impact on elevating the welfare of women. Most of these opportunities of work are poorly paid, do not come with job security, and are in the domestic and care sectors (Burn, n. d, p. 531). These sectors have poor wages and terms of work, further disadvantaging women.
At the same time, globalization means that the economies of different countries are deeply interconnected. This means that economic collapse or recession impacting one country is likely to trigger a host of problems in other nations (Burn, n. d., p. 531). Women are disproportionately affected by economic recessions. For example, the World Bank reports that women in 33 developing countries, most of whom located in sub-Saharan Africa, are more gullible to the effects of global economic crises. (Burn, n. d., p. 531). During times of economic recessions, the affected nations are forced to reduce their budgetary allocations to social services in order to manage to pay back the loans they owe to international debtors. Women are the biggest beneficiaries of social services.
At the same time, globalization has paved the way for an increase in sex tourism, which has disproportionately affected girls and women. As a result of globalization, thousands of tourists move from one country to another for sex holidays (Burn, n. d, p. 539). A significant proportion of sex tourists are men. On the other hand, the biggest victims of sex tourism are women and girls. These groups suffer negative outcomes at the hands of their male clients in terms of physical and emotional injuries as well as increased risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections. More importantly, many women and girls are forced by poverty and single motherhood into engaging in prostitution. In many economies, jobs that are created by globalization are tailored for men increasing the impetus for the growth in rates of prostitution.
The other benefit of globalization is allowing victims of various civil and economic problems to move from one country to another. A significant proportion of refugees are women. Globalization is also evident in the way news pertaining to women is produced. This is the subject of study by Kate Smith in her article titled “Stories told by, for, and about women refugees: Engendering resistance.” In this article, Smith argues that the narration of the plight and experience of female asylum seekers in the United Kingdom are largely made by men (Smith 462). Women refugees suffer numerous physical and emotional outcomes. For example, some victims interviewed by Smith talks about being raped and physically abused by the UK police (464). Unlike their male counterparts, women refugees are easily taken advantage of by entities they encounter, which may include the lawyers, hosts, and law enforcement agencies.
On the other hand, neo-liberalism promotes the free flow of capital and traded goods (Jaggar, n. d., p 527). At the same time, neo-liberalism opposes the provision of social welfare by countries. According to Jaggar (n. d.), neo-liberalism pressurizes governments to abandon various social welfare projects that pertain to issues such as education, unemployment, disability, healthcare, and housing (p. 528). As already established, most of the beneficiaries of these social welfare projects are women. Additionally, neo-liberalism opposes the action of governments being involved in the regulation of trade when it comes to issues such as environmental protection, working conditions, and wages (Jaggar, n. d., 527). This means that neoliberalism is opposed to the enactment of pieces of legislation that seek to protect workers. However, nongovernmental organizations and trade unions play a crucial role in pressurizing corporates to honor their promises to their workers and customers by creating standards guiding their conduct (Burn, n. d., p. 535). Leaving corporations to operate without external pressure from governments and NGOs encourages these entities to engage in malpractices that endanger the welfare of the society. For example, activism has worked to improve the welfare of workers in Nike’s Supply chain. According to a study by several NGOs conducted in the 1990s, 80-90% of workers in Nike’s Supply Chain were women (Burn, n. d., 535). The work of activists resulted in this company changing its corporate culture and developing a code of conduct aimed at addressing the maternal and gender discrimination, minimum wage, freedom of association (Burn, n. d, p. 535). The measures taken by these NGOs were contradictory to the principles of neoliberalism. Besides, neoliberalism favors capitalism, which is a system in which the law of demand and supply controls the economy, and decides who becomes rich or poor. In a capitalist society, women occupy the lower class (Smith, n. d., p. 5). This is because women hardly have control over crucial factors of production, such as capital and land in many societies. At the same time, capitalism encourages the scramble for the limited resources which disadvantages women and them against each other.
To sum up, this paper has demonstrated globalization and neoliberalism has further disadvantaged women by exposing them to world economic crisis and sex tourism, among other problems. Besides, neoliberalism encourages the eradication of systems that exist to cater for the needs of the minorities, including women, in places of work and societies in general. Going forward, women should educate themselves about the current systems of social classification and arrangement, and global and regional trade is disadvantaging them further.
References
Burn, S. M. (n. d.). women and globalization.” Supplement 33. PDF File
Hughes, N. (n. d.). Why I can’t write about class. PDF File.
Jaggar, A. (n. d.). “What is neo-liberal globalization? Supplement 33. PDF File.
Smith, K. (n. d.). Stories told by, for, and about women refugees: Endangering resistance. Center for Applied Childhood Studies. PDF File.