Asses the view that the introduction of capitalism in developing countries liberates women…

By taking different perspectives to approach the assessment that capitalism in developing countries liberates women, we can gain an insight of the arguments justifying the view and those opposing. This essay will proceed to demonstrate how the modernisation theory and marginalisation liberate women, and then add conflicting suggestions such as that of a Marxist Feminist.
Perhaps most significantly, modernisation theorists such as Walt Rostow blame internal cultural factors for women’s subordination in the developing world; it can be seen that in many cultures it is within the norms, values and customs of society to be patriarchal, causing status to be ascribed on a basis of gender. Van de Gaag argues that the birth of a boy is often celebrated, whereas the birth of a girl is commiserated. Modernisation theorists would argue that this is a matter of development towards capitalism and the final stage of Modernity –which Rostow argues UK and USA sit at – where women experience full liberation and equality. The view that capitalism may help ‘liberate women from the oppression they suffered in traditional society’ (item A) can be supplemented further by highlighting the lack of status that they have in developing countries.
In underdeveloped countries (Traditions Societies – Stage 1 – Rostow), females have less human rights than males, such as the last of healthcare and education (Boserup). They are often forced away from trying to gain these rights by extremists – an example of this would be the opposition that the ruling Taliban form against females that want an education in Pakistan; young girls frequently have acid thrown onto their faces for wanting this. In addition to this, women in traditional countries also lack the ‘right’ of contraception and choice; the socialised cultural values and norms mean that females are often ‘owned’ by their husband meaning they cannot chose when they will fall pregnant by using contraception.
Notably, the inclusion of gender in capitalist development policies may play a large role on the liberation of females in developing countries. Pearson notes that since the 1990s, major development agencies - such World Bank and International Monetary Fund have responded positively to the issues of women. Likewise, gender has been incorporated into the indices of multinational aid – the UK department for international development has considered women’s rights and status. Kilby studies ‘Micro Credit’ and suggests that of the 80 schemes he studied, there was a definite increase in mobility, respect, assertiveness and support.
However, there are opposing perspectives that we can view to assess the argument and give us an insight that capitalism has had not affect on liberation and in some case has had a negative effect. We may apply considerable thought to the view of Marxist-feminists such a Molyneux – she argues that many programmes and development agencies were keen to help and eliminate oppression through child marriage and lack of education, but did not provide change within the home. Elwood supports this by quoting: ‘women can fly to the moon but they still have to do the ironing when they get home again’. This can link synoptically to a feminist view on household oppression and gender inequality in the study of the ‘Family’ (Oakley) – perhaps this is a reflection of the parallel between the two societies? [**Took a risk here, not sure if it works**]
Often there is exploitation of women by Transnational Companies (TNCs) paying very low wages for long hours and a large amount of work required – This would be argued by an Exploitation Theorists (essentially a Marxist Feminist). Women tend to be paid lower rates of pay – 10 percent of the wage and 50 percent extra hours than men receive. Leonard argues that TNCs aim to exploit women rather than offer then fair wages, training and job security.
Furthermore, we can view Marginalisation theorists that argue the introduction of capitalism in developing societies has actually led to women being increasingly excluded from economic life, restricted to the home and being forced to be dependent upon men – forced into a ‘margin’; this can be seen as similar to the dependency theory. Sociologists such as Abbott and Wallace argue that colonialism has caused women to be seen as peculiar, unliberated and sexually exotic; this can often be seen as the traditional view of females before women’s rights (Equal Pay Act 1970/Sex Discrimination Act 1975) in the west. They say that ‘new forms of inequality have been formed’ encourages by religion. This can be supported by Item A where it states ‘may make women’s position even worse than before’.
In conclusion we can see that capitalism in some respects may help to liberate women but may just be at a lower stage of development than the modernised world (UK and USA) – Rostow. However, this can be opposed by Marxist Feminists and the Exploitation and Marginalisation Thesis’s who believe that capitalism may have made women’s position in developing societies worse. To conclude this and make a final judgement it is essential to look at contemporary subjects of the current position of women – for example women having acid thrown in their faces due to wanting an education.