Globalization and Gender: Employment Effects

Lourdes Benera Women and the Economy Workshop Cairo, Egypt 4-5 December 2005

A Historical Overview I. The 1970s: a great leap forward in the internationalization of production. Women become preferred workers in multi-national labor-intensive industries. II. The 1980s: globalization of developing countries economies (through trade and structural adjustment policies) and further feminization of the international labor force. III. The 1990s: globalization of care work and the feminization of international migration.

First, a word on the notion of gender A concept introduced in the 1980s to emphasize: The social construction of differences between men and women: what is considered male and female changes across countries and regions, and it is influenced by cultural, social and other factors (and it can change through time). The relational aspects of power relations and gender differences: the concept automatically implies something about both men and women, i.e., gender is not about women only. Joan Scott: gender is everywhere --or the centrality of gender to understand the economy and development.

I.

The 1970s

---The new internationalization of production: multinational investment and the transfer of production from high income to low wage countries affected labor intensive industries in areas such as South East Asia and in countries such as Ireland and Mexico (maquiladora industries) ---> first generation countries ---The search for low cost, globally competitive production resulted in a very significant increase in the employment of women who became the preferred workers: ---> contrast with Boserups notion of marginalization of women during the 1950s and 1960s (ISI period). ---Beginning the shift to X-promotion models of development.

1970s (ction.) ---The initial literature focusing on womens employment in multinational firms followed a women as victims approach, emphasizing its negative aspects: low wages, short term contracts, precarious working conditions, authoritarian and patriarchal forms of dealing with women workers, etc. ---EPZs spread across countries as a form of attracting multinational investment, reinforcing the notion that women were exploited under unregulated labor market conditions. The share of women in EPZ employment was very high circa 1980: 75% (Malaysia) 74% (Philippines) 77% (Rep. of Korea) 88% (Sri Lanka)

II. The 1980s: the process of accelerated globalization ---The growth of global markets was accompanied by the adoption of structural adjustment policies in the global South including: Financial deregulation & the new opening to foreign investment. Trade liberalization through global and regional trade liberalization schemes. The shift to export-led development models in all regions. The deepening and growth of domestic markets through deregulation, privatization and deep restructuring. Labor market informalization and the maquilaization of production: --->the shift of investment to second-tier countries (Central America, Indonesia, North Africa, Turkey, later in India and China, etc.)

 Womens employment in the informal economy: fluidity and job overlaps (El Alto). The global office and the transfers of clerical work to low wage countries (Barbados). The complexity of employment effects on women New studies illustrated that the initial analysis of womens employment in production for global markets was simplistic: Linda Lims argument (1982): X-oriented employment raised wages for women workers, with higher rates than in the case of local capital. The varieties of female employment: the service sector The effects of technological change and the processes of de-feminization of the labor force.

Money exchange foto

a) In EPZs: EPZs employment, selected countries (2000-03) Country Kenya Mauritius No. EPZs 6 whole island 2 16* 14+ 34 20 1 Total % Women 27,148 83,609 39,000 111,033 200,000 821,000 69,200 40,000 60 56 70 (77% in 1980) 72.72 (88% in 1980) 54 (75% in 1980) 74 (same %) 70 90

Korea, Rep. Sri Lanka Malaysia Philipinnes Guatemala Nicaragua ____ *includes ind. parks

Source: ILO

b) In maquiladora industries: --Mexico: 65-69% women (1970s); just over 50% (1990s) --Honduras: 76% (1993); 58.3% (2003) Reasons behind defeminization processes: The new technologies tend to employ men Women are less able to upgrade their skills due to their domestic responsibilities Unconventional work schedules tend to be less acceptable for women The availability of male labor ready to work for womens wages Policies and private industry efforts to hire men Investment in K intensive industries

To sum up: Can we generalize about the effects of globalization on women? --Generalizations must be approached with great caution since studies illustrate different outcomes. Examples: a. The S.E. Asian experience: high levels of female employment resulted in higher wages for women, even though lower than mens. Seguinos findings: the Asian economies that grew most rapidly had the widest wage gaps. Hence, there are gains for women but with significant wage gender gaps. b. The US-Mexico border experience: maquiladora wages have not improved overtime as employment expanded (Fussell 2000). Differences with the S.E. Asian case: unlimited labor supply and high levels of unemployt.

Beriks study (2000) of the effects if X-let growth on gender wage inequality in Taiwan provides another example of limited gains for women: economic restructuring and technological change since the 1980s shifted employment from wage to salaried workers, with loss of jobs for women, higher wages for men and lower for women. c. The experience of X-led industrialization in Turkey: a case of mixed results. Ozlers study (2001), based on a large plant-level data set on manufacuring, shows that trade liberalization led to the feminization of the labor force: Jobs created significantly higher for women than for men But the volatility of womens jobs also significantly higher.

d. The experience of Bangladesh: could international labor standards be beneficial for workers? Kabeer (3003) has argued that they could drive investment away, particularly in the case of women workers. III. The 1990s (and 2000s) ---The new impact of India in China in global production ---From globalization of production to that of care work and the increasing feminization of international migration: women often find jobs more easily than men. ---Herrera and Parrenas studies (Ecuador and the Philippines): the multiple dimensions of women leaving their children and families behind.

Reasons behind the feminization of migration: 1. The care crisis in the North has generated demand for womens labor in the service sector (domestic work, care of children and the elderly) 2. Womens increasing labor force participation in the South has generated an untapped labor supply unable to find jobs due to high levels of unemployment and underemployment. 3. Changes in the social construction of gender roles, particularly in paid work, have increased womens autonomy and decision making power. 4. Economic crisis, poverty and job scarcity facilitate the social acceptance of women as migrants.

5. Remittances have become an important source of family survival and an incentive for those who stay behind to take up the work left behind by women. 6. Women also migrate for more personal reasons such as the felt need to leave violent or oppressive relationships. Concluding remarks 1. Gender is a central category of analysis to understand the economy and to provide a basis for policy making. 2. Is there really a gender paradox in MENA? The complexity of economic and cultural factors as a way of understanding womens economic participation and political empowerment (MENA Development Report).

Suggested readings --Benera, Lourdes, Gender, Development and Globalization; Economics as if All People Mattered, Routledge 2003. --Berik, Gunseli, Mature Export-Led Growth and Gender Wage Inequality, Feminist Economics 6(3) November 2000: 1-26. --Fussel, M.E., Making labor flexible: the recomposition of maquiladora female labor force, ibid: 59-80. --Kabeer, Naila, The Power to Chose: Bangladesh Women and Labor Market Decisions in London and Dhaka, Verso 2000. --Ozler, Sule, Export led industrialization and gender differences in job creation and destruction, Department of Economics, University of California, Los Angeles, 2001. --Seguino, Stephanie, Accounting for gender in Asian economic growth: adding gender to the equation, Feminist Economics, 6(3), November 2000: 27-58.

THANK YOU!!