Globalization

&

Women

Komal (4789)

Ruchi (4875)

Lavanya (4642)

WHAT IS GLOBALIZATION?

It is the process of creating languages, services, and products that apply not just to an individual neighbourhood or city or country, but to the whole world. While one interpretation of globalization has to do with equal exchange and sharing of goods and services between countries and cultures, the reality of a globalized world is much different. Globalization is a phenomenon that crosses and erases geographical and political borders and makes all countries start to look the same. As a result of globalization, local products, services, and cultures disappear into a global culture, a culture defined not by the global citizenry but rather the world's economic and political superpowers - mostly North America-owned corporations.

How does economic globalization work?

Economic globalization is fueled by international trade agreements signed between nations. The goal of these agreements is to get rid of barriers to trade by allowing companies to move their factories to countries with the lowest labour and environmental standards, countries where they can produce their products the cheapest and therefore sell them for the lowest price, earning them the highest profits.
What free trade means in real terms is that whichever country can produce the cheapest product, wins. Through the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), factories in Canada and the United States move to Mexico because they can produce cheaper goods
Globalization also encourages cut-backs to government services. Many political leaders have been persuaded that the best way for a country to reduce its spending is to limit the amount of money it spends on things like health care, education, electricity, water, and mail delivery. In Canada, between 1986 and 1993, Canada Post down-sized and closed 1300 rural post offices, laying off 3000 people, 83% of whom were women.2 When governments stop providing essential services, the door is open for private companies to step in. Government leaders in Alberta are currently considering privatization of health care. This means selling the 'business' of health care to private companies who in turn provide these services to citizens but this time for a profit. What proponents of economic globalization do not recognize is that cutting government services creates poverty. While companies may make money off citizens' very real needs, the money is certainly not equally distributed amongst all citizens. Instead, many poor citizens are put in yet more vulnerable situations forced to pay exorbitant prices for services they need for their basic survival.

|Advantages and Disadvantages of Globalization |
|Some Advantages |
|Some Disadvantages |
| |
|Increased free trade between nations |
|Increased liquidity of capital allowing investors in developed nations to invest in developing nations |
|Corporations have greater flexibility to operate across borders |
|Global mass media ties the world together |
|Increased flow of communications allows vital information to be shared between individuals and corporations |
|around the world |
|Greater ease and speed of transportation for goods and people |
|Reduction of cultural barriers increases the global village effect |
|Spread of democratic ideals to developed nations |
|Greater interdependence of nation-states |
|Reduction of likelihood of war between developed nations |
|Increases in environmental protection in developed nations |
|Increased flow of skilled and non-skilled jobs from developed to developing nations as corporations seek out |
|the cheapest labor |
|Increased likelihood of economic disruptions in one nation effecting all nations |
|Corporate influence of nation-states far exceeds that of civil society organizations and average individuals |
|Threat that control of world media by a handful of corporations will limit cultural expression |
|Greater chance of reactions for globalization being violent in an attempt to preserve cultural heritage |
|Greater risk of diseases being transported unintentionally between nations |
|Spread of a materialistic lifestyle and attitude that sees consumption as the path to prosperity |
|International bodies like the World Trade Organization infringe on national and individual sovereignty |
|Increase in the chances of civil war within developing countries and open war between developing countries as |
|they vie for resources |
|Decreases in environmental integrity as polluting corporations take advantage of weak regulatory rules in |
|developing countries |
| |

EXPLOITATION OF WOMEN

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION
Women and children are increasingly becoming commodities to be bought, sold and consumed by tourists, military personnel, organized crime rings, traffickers, pimps, and men seeking sexual entertainment or non-threatening marriage partners. Around the world today, women and children are increasingly vulnerable to sexual exploitation when they are refugees or migrants, and when they are suffering from the effects of poverty, racism, and caste systems. Women and children are compelled into sex industries by varying degrees of violence, ranging from prior victimization and lack of economic alternatives, to deception, debt bondage, and enslavement. The trafficking of women and girls has reached crisis proportions around the world, and is a human rights disaster.
Through financial and technological interdependence, the sex industry and the Internet industry have become partners in the globalization of sexual exploitation. In 2000, there were an estimated 280,000 sex industry sites on the Internet. Last year, the online “adult entertainment industry” as the sexual exploitation industry is called, made US$1.7 billion dollars, with several Web sites making over US$150 million each (Hughes 2000a).

The Internet is used in multiple ways to promote and engage in the sexual exploitation and trafficking of women. Pimps use the Internet to advertise prostitution tours to men from industrialized countries. The men then travel to poorer countries to meet and buy girls and women in prostitution (Hughes, 1996). Traffickers recruiting women from the Baltic States use the Web to post advertisements for unlikely jobs in Western Europe, such as waitress or nanny (Denmark Police 2000). Information on where and how to find girls and women in prostitution in cities all over the world is posted on commercial Web sites and non-commercial newsgroups (Hughes, 1999).

New technologies and high speed transmission on the Internet enables live video chat, which is used to transmit strip shows, live sex shows, and live Web cams (continuous transmission of live images). These new technologies enhance the capacity of pimps and buyers to sexually exploit women in several ways. The ability of men to buy private interactive sex shows so that they can masturbate in the privacy of their homes or offices, creates a form of online prostitution. Fast transnational transmission of live shows enables traffickers and pimps to exploit women and girls in their home countries where law and/or law enforcement is weak. Women and girls do not have to be trafficked across national borders to provide sexual gratification to buyers and money for pimps. In 1999, an American man living in Phnom Penh, Cambodia set up a pay-per-view Web site. The content was to be the rape and torture of Asian women for the sexual pleasure of Western men (Hughes 2000b). More recently, live sex shows are being made in Latvia for the consumption of men elsewhere. The women sign contracts in which they are required to work 10 hours per day, six days a week. The women are required to live in a house with three to five live broadcasting cameras in each room, including bathroom, and doing approximately 5 hours per day of “private shows” for online viewers. The women may not terminate their contracts before the end date, although the “producer” can terminate it at any time. If the women do not perform to the satisfaction of the “producer” they have to pay him damages. They must follow all posted rules or be fined. The “producer” has full rights to all images or videos that are made of them women to use them in the future in any way he chooses (Hughes 2001). Although a contract gives the appearance of legality, this is a highly exploitative situation in which the “producer” has power and control over the women. It is a typical pimp or brothel set up in which women have little control and are likely to face many “fines” which result in less money.

Trafficking and sexual exploitation of women and children through the Internet offer grave challenges to society, from law makers, to law enforcement, to NGOs. The policy decision that hinders actions to combat sexual exploitation on the Internet is that Western countries that benefit commercially from the Internet industry – the same ones that benefit from corporate globalization – have made the economic growth and development of the Internet a priority. Their laws, policies, and proposed international agreements do nothing to impede e-commerce and it’s partnership with the sex industry.

INEQUALITY OF WOMEN

Equal pay for women is an issue regarding pay inequality between men and women. It is often introduced into domestic politics in many first world countries as an economic problem that needs governmental intervention via regulation. Generally, in third world countries due to cultural and/or religious reasons the pay disparity is much higher.

Equal pay has been the law since 1963. But today, 45 years later, women are still paid less than men—even when we have similar education, skills and experience.While women's wages have risen in all states, in terms of inflation-adjusted dollars, since 1989, the typical full-time woman worker does not make as much as the typical man in any state. At the present rate of progress, it will take 50 years to close the wage gap nationwide.
In 2007, women were paid 77 cents for every dollar men received. That's $23 less to spend on groceries, housing, child care and other expenses for every $100 worth of work we do. Nationwide, working families lose $200 billion of income annually to the wage gap.
Over a lifetime of work, the 23 cents-on-the-dollar we're losing adds up. The average 25-year-old working woman will lose more than $523,000 to unequal pay during her working life .These figures are even worse for women of color.
CHILD MARRIAGE
Child marriage is defined as the practice of marrying a young child (generally defined as below the age of fifteen and normally a girl) to an adult. If a particular family owes a huge sum of money to another rich family and if they are unable to repay,then they get their daughter married to the son of that rich family irrespective of the girls liking. The man could be 15 years elder to her or maybe ill or anything. The girls opinion is never taken into account. In India parents still give more preference to a male child over a female child. Female infanticide and foeticide is a major problem in India and also in other parts of the world. If they are not able to find out the gender of the child before birth, at birth if it’s a girl she is killed on the spot. If the gender is known and if it is a girl then the foetus is aborted.
In India there are also other issues like DOWRY. Here the girls father is expected to pay a huge sum of money to make her wedding happen. The girl might be as educated as the groom but yet the father of the girl is expected to pay but not the boy.
Exploitation of women all around the world is a big issue.

Women and globalization

As the world becomes more and more integrated through new technologies that enable us to do more, in less time, in more parts of the world, one trend is clearly evident: Women are increasingly becoming an integral part of the global economy. While the impacts of women differ immensely from region to region, sector to sector, and culture to culture, there is widespread controversy about the process and impact of "globalization" -- the phenomenon that is largely viewed as responsible for these changes.
Proponents describe it as a process that generates positive opportunities for woman -- and people in general. Opponents, or anti-globalists as they are often called, worry that globalization acts somewhat like a widespread cancer that harms people, particularly women and the poorest of the poor, by shifting resources and opportunities to those who can most afford them.
Discussions of globalization has taken central stage for many organizations devoted to assisting and developing opportunities for women, causing some organizations to move beyond their traditional hands-on, grassroots effort to grapple with issues of public policy. Self Employed Women's Association, a membership organization of nearly 70,000 women in the informal economy in the developing world, for example, states
In terms of the effects of globalization on women, the same controversy exists. Opponents of globalization accuse the new free zones and MNC’s by gender discrimination and exploiting women and young girls. Pictures of women working on unsafe, unhealthy, and congested sweatshop are becoming synonymous with the flow of FDI in LDC’s. Also, deepening poverty among women and spread of prostitutions were frequently cited as a by product of globalization. On the other hand, proponents of globalization, explain that worldwide competition makes discrimination too expensive to sustain. Bhagwati cites studies on controversial export-processing zones that find conditions for women are typically much better inside the zones than outside. He further argues that the relevant comparison for studying the impact of globalization is local conditions in the absence of global market influences rather than the LDC’s standards.
On female child labor, Bhagwati points to research concluding that such labor is reduced as incomes rise with globalization. In Vietnam, for example, a study he cites found that as income increased, child labor declined, most notably among older girls.
It is, however, agreed upon among economists that women empowerment is conducive to development and promoting decent work is the only sustainable way out of poverty. Access to labor market and to decent employment is crucial in the process towards improving equality between men and women (ILO:2008, p1). The empirical evidence suggests that LDC’s with less gender inequality tend to have lower poverty rates. Gender inequality represents an untapped source for stimulating economic growth and promoting social development. This is particularly true in the LDC’s, where women are often systematically deprived from having equal access to social services and protection as well as to physical and social capital. They are often confined to work in the less productive sectors and in status groups that carry higher economic risk and a lesser likelihood of meeting the characteristics that define decent work. As a result of type of work where women can find employment, they often earn less than men. Hence, empowering women by improving their living conditions and enabling them to actively participate in the social and economic life of a country may well be the key for long-term sustainable development. (IPC, 2008).

The Middle East is no exception as the impact of globalization on women status and advancement in the society is not conclusive. The region ranks among the lowest in the world in terms of female labor force participation (FLFP), however, the unemployment picture for women seems to have improved a bit over the past ten years, (figure 1). The other regions of the world saw little or no change in female unemployment rates over the same period (1993 to 2003). In 2007, female labor rate participation in the Middle East reached 33.3%. But the number of unemployed women stood at 15.6% in comparison to 2.7% in East Asia and 6.7% in the developed countries for the same year. According to ILO report, "in the Middle East, the situation for women is difficult". For comparison, while there are 61 million women who are of working age and 67 million men, only 17 million women have job compared to 47 million men (ILO:2006, p11).
Attracting more women into the labor force requires as a first step equal access to education and equal opportunity in gaining the skills necessary to compete in the labor market. While data shows that more women are gaining access to education in the Arab countries, equality in education is still far from reality in some countries (ILO:2008, p.3). A key prerequisite to improve women participation in labor market in the Middle East "will depend not only on their motivation, but also on the ability of society to accept new economic roles for women and remove existing barriers to economic integration" Achieving gender equality is becoming central to advancing the human development process. Gender equality is not only a legitimate policy goal, but also desirable from an efficiency perspective. The role of gender equality and women's empowerment in reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth has been investigated by many researchers and development specialists. Increase in opportunities for women lead to improvement in human development outcomes, poverty reduction and potentially accelerated rates of economic growth. (World Bank: 2007). A number of empirical studies find that increases in women's education boost their wages and improve human development outcome such as child survival, health and schooling.[1] Morrison and others (2007) presents evidence on the impact of women's access to market and women's decision making power within household on poverty reduction and productivity at the individual and household level.

Institutional reforms have proved effective measures to promote gender equality, female empowerment, and achieving one of the most important Millennium Development Goals. Gender biases, embodied in institutions, and manifested in some market outcomes and economic processes, remain under-researched and sometimes reinforced by macroeconomic policies and development strategies (Kabeer 1995, Bakker 1998, Elson 1991).

International institutions, like the World Bank, pay great attention to gender issues. In fact, an Operational Policy on Gender Dimensions of Development was introduced in 1995 and the relevance and the results of this policy were evaluated and examined in 2005. In 2001 a study by the World Bank examined the conceptual and empirical links between gender public policy and development outcomes and demonstrated the value of applying a gender perspective to the design of development policies. To promote gender equality, the report proposes a 3-part strategy emphasizing institutional reforms, based on a foundation of equal rights for women and men; policies for sustained economic development; and active measures to redress persistent gender disparities.

International experience has proved that support for a stronger role for women in society contributes to economic growth, thus, the World Bank (2003) approached the gender inequality issue for MENA countries in terms of economic necessity. The study analyzed the potential for women's greater economic contribution to the region's development and identified the costs of low level of female participation in the labor force. It has also discussed the economic and social constraints on women’s entry into and attachment to the labor force and presented a framework for developing an agenda for changes. The study argued that gender equality in terms of access to opportunity and security is intimately tied to good governance. It suggested that a new agenda for change with respect to gender needs to be integrated into the new development model in order to ensure the region’s economic efficiency and social equity.

Different movements have been carried out for the upliftment of women. • The Namibian Women Movement
It is an umbrella body that unites all Catholic women and Catholic women organizations. It seeks to work for peace with justice for all by empowering the women at all levels of society. It was established in 5 May, 2000 during the First National Catholic Women's Assembly. The NWM is under the coordination of the Women's Desk, a department of the Namibian Catholic Bishops Conference.

Objectives: The NWM seeks:

To promote the integral development of women for effective participation in society and in decision-making processes.

To unite Catholic women and women's organizations for collaboration, communication and coordination of activities.

To collaborate with other churches and organizations for the upliftment of women in Namibia. • Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM)
It was formed on 20 April 1950in Kerala, south India, under the leadership of the scholars of the Islahi Movement in Kerala. Members of the organization call themselves Salafis. KNM is not the first organizational setup of the Islahi Movement in Kerala; that was Kerala Muslim Aikhya Sangham (Organization for Muslim Unity in Kerala). Kerala Jamiyyathul Ulema (KJU), a body also composed of scholars, was established in 1924, and is still actively functioning. KNM was formed as a common platform for the tens of hundreds of common Islahi (those who follow the ideology of Islahi Movement in Kerala ). K. M. Maulavi was the first president of KNM. There are 2 factions of KNM after the Mujahid split. One faction has TP Abdulla Koya Madani as president and AP Abdul Kadar Moulavi as general secretary. The other faction has Dr. EK.Ahmmedkutty as president and CP Ummer sullami as general secretary.

Objectives of KNM

The objectives of Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen are not different from the objectives of Islahi Movement in Kerala. The movement sees its primary objective to be conveying the message of Islam, which the KNM describes as being centered on monotheism. It also works against perceived social evils and all types of Bid'ah (innovation without reference to Sharia ).
Bodies affiliated to KNM manage ambulance units, pain and palliative care centers, orphanages, Zakat funds, and other charity wings. KNM is actively involved in many other social activities.
According to KNM, dowry system is un-Islamic, and it urges its members and well-wishers to keep away from it. A special wing of the KNM, BISMI, works against the dowry system. KNM promotes interfaith dialogues between different religions, through a related organization, called the Niche of Truth.

• Feminist Art Movement
It refers to the efforts and accomplishments of feminists internationally to make art that reflects women's lives and experiences, as well as to change the foundation for the production and reception of contemporary art. It also sought to bring more visibility to women within art history and art practice. Corresponding with general developments within feminism, the movement began in the late 1960s and flourished throughout the 1970s as an outgrowth of the so-called third wave of feminism.…………………….; its effects continue to the present. The strength of the feminist movement allow ed for the emergence and visibility of many new types of work by women, but also including a whole range of new practices by men.

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