NEWS
GLOBALISATION BRINGS MIXED EFFECTS TO WOMEN

U.N. Says Globalization Brings Mixed Effects to Women (Rising prosperity tempered by greater vulnerability)
By Will Kramer -Washington File Staff Writer, USIS

United Nations -- Economic globalization has brought unprecedented numbers of women into the workplace, where they tend to earn less and be treated worse than men, a United Nations report says. The just-released "World Survey on the Role of Women in Development: Globalization, Gender and Work 1999" discusses the opportunities and hardships women face as they enter the global economy. In the 1990s, 70 percent of the women between the ages of 20 and 54 are engaged in paid employment in developed countries in North America and Europe.  By 2010, the figure is expected to rise to more than 80 percent. In developing countries, the portion of working women in the 20-54 age bracket is currently 60 percent.  By 2010, the percentage will grow to 65, the report said.

Light industrial sectors, such as those that produce textiles and electronics, often located in export processing zones, have been magnets for female workers, the report said. For example, in 1978, Bangladesh had four garment factories; by 1995, it had 2,400, employing 1.2 million people, 90 percent of them women under the age of 25.

The Dominican Republic, Indonesia, Mauritius, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, and Tunisia have undergone similar surges in export manufacturing, accompanied by female employment.

The report notes that women are the major participants in the "informal" sector, ranging from financial consultants for corporations to vendors hawking trinkets on street corners.

Has globalization improved or worsened the quality of life for women?  The U.N. report does not provide a clear answer.  It says women have been empowered by economic opportunities, but face job insecurity and loss of livelihood in economic downturns.

For women with access to education, credit, and equal opportunity laws, the informal sector, with its less regulated hours and workplace, can be a route to entrepreneurship and affluence.  For others less fortunate, particularly in developing countries, the informal sector tends to offer lower wages, little job security, and few benefits and opportunities for training and full-time employment.

Dr. Dorota Gierycz, chief of the U.N. Gender Analysis Section, hopes the report will stimulate debate in different cultures on female participation in the global economy.  In some societies, becoming wage earners has allowed wives and daughters more autonomy and a more equitable allocation of resources within the household.  In others, the report found men control women's earnings, which they use for their own businesses or the education and training of a favored son or nephew.

In countries like Brunei, Japan, and Singapore, affluent and educated women are increasingly able to pursue careers.  In Indonesia, women are encouraged to flee rural poverty to take jobs as nannies for children abroad.

Despite higher incomes, some domestic workers are subject to abuse and are often in precarious legal positions as foreigners.  The report says that the export of women as domestic laborers is a conscious part of Indonesia's and other developing countries' economic plans to boost their foreign exchange reserves through remittances from females working abroad.

While some women are able to leave their countries to search for work, stricter immigration laws throughout the world have prevented others from doing so.  In some instances, multinational companies and foreign capital, which face few constraints in today's global economy, are bringing the world of work to women.

In the Dominican Republic, Sri Lanka, and other developing countries, women are flocking to special export processing zones that are flourishing from foreign investment.  The women's dexterity as well as initial "docility" make them the labor force of choice for light manufacturing.

The report notes, however, that female workers gain independence and confidence as a result of earning income.  The violation of international safety standards and repression of labor rights in some factories are contributing to women's participation in labor unions.  Women are playing active roles in organizing workers to fight abuses in sweatshops in the Philippines and Malaysia, the report said.

To attract investment, governments sometimes cut social welfare spending and lower tax burdens for investors, disproportionately affecting poor women working outside the home, the report notes.

Women are earning less than men, yet are expected to do most of the work at home and take care of the children.  This discrimination gives women less pay as well as less time to earn money.  Because of this, they often rely on government services and programs more heavily than other groups and thus are directly affected by government spending cuts to these programs.

"Governments will have an important role in reconciling these conflicting demands," said Dr. Gierycz.  "They must ask themselves: Does attracting foreign capital indeed bring so many jobs that in the long run it will pay off?  Or does it mean that large groups in society become impoverished and there is not lasting investment and generation of jobs?"

The report calls for policies adapted to the needs of women in the informal sector.  It advocates equal opportunities and elimination of wage differentials based on gender.  Businesses must be encouraged to view women not as cost-cutting cheap labor, but as human capital worthy of training. Allowing women access to basic workers' rights is also suggested as a way women can consolidate the benefits they receive from paid labor.

Ultimately, however, it will be up to women to make their growing economic power felt, Dr. Gierycz said.  "Since we are contributing, we should get things in return and we should have the same voice as others in all issues."  

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.)

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