Impact of Globalisation on the status of women.
Impact of Globalisation on the status of women.
Q) Critically analyse the impact of Globalisation on the status of women.
Structure:
- Introduction: What is globalisation ( 20-30 words)
- Impact- positive (60 words) Structure them in different areas
- Impact- negative ( 60 words)
- Conclusion- your opinion- either advisory or caution or how to safeguard from negatives etc ( 20 words) ie way forward
Content:
Description:
Globalisation is a process of increasing interdependence, interconnectedness and integration of economies and societies to such an extent that an event in one part of the globe affects people in other parts of world.
In 2000, the Beijing+5 Document, while reviewing progress made since the 1995 UN Conference on Women, notes that globalisation presents opportunities to some women but leads to marginalisation of many others and thus advocates mainstreaming in order to achieve gender equality. Globalisation affects different groups of women in different places in different ways.
According to a United Nations Development Fund for Women’s report, over the past two decades the process of globalisation has contributed to widening inequality within and among countries, coupled with economic and social collapse in parts of Sub- Saharan Africa and countries in transition like in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and financial crises in Asia and Latin America.
Impacts
Changing role in work
Positive
- It has affected both the quantity and the quality of work available to the majority of women in India
- Globalization has undermined the traditional role of women in homemaking, farming, livestock, animal husbandry, handicrafts, handlooms etc and resulted in a relatively better environment for women
- Women have more jobs, become more active in avenues generally reserved for men, have played a more prominent role in society and not just restricted to the household
- Augmentation of women’s movements through exposures at the international level will help bring about major changes in the economic, social and political lives of women.
- Positive approach to economic and cultural migration will facilitate women to be exposed to better prospects at the international level.
- Prospects of higher and quality education have become feasible for those women who can afford them, economically and socially
Negative
- Globalization has increased the number of low paid, part time and exploitative jobs for women.
- Increased prices due to open economy demand more cope up with changes from women
- Following the World Trade Organisation regulations the states have brought about a change in national policies so as to allow the free entry of foreign corporations, to give more incentives to big businesses rather than to small firms, and to lift import controls on agricultural This has resulted in further marginalisation of rural and indigenous women.
- Globalisation has also increased women’s unpaid work as social services are privatised
- As producers also women have to suffer exploitation in terms of low wages, poor working environment, instability of employment, and denial of right to representation
Changing role in Family, Marriage, Caste
Positive
- Globalisation has posed a major challenge to the institution of patriarchy in India.
- As women take up jobs and achieve social mobility, they have also begun to stand up for their rights. As nuclear families have become more common, it has become easier for women to assertively claim their rights and ask for equality in an environment not stuck in ancient mores
- Marrying within the same caste has become less important, and women have in many cases reserved the right to marry whoever they choose irrespective of caste
Negative
- With increasing nuclear families, the older women’s life has become pitiable, sometimes spending their later days in old age homes and The feminization of population has further aggravated this problem.
- Similarly, male migration from rural areas to urban centres has put the women under triple burden of home making, farming and job in rural sector.
Social status
Positive
- Attitudinal changes towards women’s role in the family due to good education, benefits of family planning and health care, child care, good job opportunities will surely help in the development of more confident and healthy women
- With changing attitude towards women, especially in the urban areas, women enjoy more egalitarian set of gender relationship
- Reduction in gender inequalities will have positive effect on women’s empowerment in the socio-economic context
Negative
- At the same time, migration of women for economic reasons has led to increased exploitation including sexual exploitation and
Women’s rights.
Positive
- Aspects of globalisation have provided women with increasing opportunities to work in solidarity at regional, national and international levels to demand their rights
Negative
- It has led to increasing violations of women’s economic, political, and cultural rights in large measure due to the withering away of the welfare state, the feminisation of poverty, the expansion of religious fundamentalism, and new forms of militarism and conflict
- It has been noted by many international women’s organisations, for example, that the new trade agreements contravene the spirit and often the letter of international conventions on human rights, labour rights, and women’s rights
Reduced State’s role
- Another related issue is of the state’s retreat from social responsibility and its impact on women’s health and livelihood
- As consumers, women are increasingly facing a consumer culture which reduces them to commodities and as producers, women are exposed to work exploitation and occupational hazards.
- Owing to their many roles, as would-be mothers, as mothers responsible for the health of their children and families, as working women at home and outside they are major consumers of healthcare products. In recent years a serious issue has come to light where many products related to women’s health, found to be dangerous and banned or restricted in the developed countries, were marketed in the developing countries
- Thus no doubt there are some redeeming features of the economic reform process like reduced role of the state in forestry
Conclusion
But in the long run it is imperative to manage and mitigate the negative consequences of liberalisation and mechanisation by enhancing women’s skills and innovations as well as developing insurance cover so as to minimise the risks they endure. This calls for direct interventions so as not to marginalise a very important section of society in the race for economic development and empowerment.
Way forward
- Merely enacting legislation will not What is required is its proper implementation.
- This calls for networking among women and other groups affected by globalisation and undertaking joint campaigns on common The women’s movement has to fight for change at all levels.
- Women have to work for self-empowerment through engagement in action at multiple Various international agencies are also working in this direction.