Introduction
The raging debate among African intellectuals regarding
the implications of the globalisation phenomenon has tended to centre
around two major positions, with the point of dispute being (in)
appropriateness of the globalisation agenda. Hence globalisation
represents an agenda that has both its advocates and critics (Hamelink,
1999, Hendricks, 1999). A lot has been said, done and published on
globalisation and the feminisation of poverty. But with most economical
and social issues, the gender aspects of globalisation have largely been
kept at the margins (Pape, 2000). Consequently the meanings of
globalisation depends on the eyes of the beholder (Genge, 2002)
South Africa has been undergoing a process of
fundamental economic transformation as a result of policies promoting
global integration within the global economy. Women are bearing the brunt
of the cost of this transformation. They are caught in a cycle of
vulnerability which starts with their retrenchment from full-time
employment. This form of globalised economic logic of neo-liberalism is
costing working class women precious ground won over many years.
Globalisation is manifested today through three main
neo-liberal policy measures: privatisation, deregulation and trade and
financial liberalisation. These forms of neo-liberal reforms have been
evidenced by the overall withdrawal of the government from its roles of
sovereign decision making, providing essential public services, developing
and implementing policies aimed at promoting equity, and ensuring adequate
public protection for economically, socially, and politically vulnerable
populations (Guttal, 2000). These trends are accompanied by an increase in
the role and power of the private sector, and a surrender of most economic
transaction to the market in the belief that free and unfettered markets
will somehow lead to the most efficient allocation of resources and
eventually result in economic equality.
The current trends of globalisation, economic reforms,
the World Bank's policy to privatise public services, and the global cut
in social spending are only a few of the determining factors which
decreases women's participation in the workforce and increases their
poverty. Women are the most vulnerable in the workforce and retrenchment
continue to affect them more and long before their male counterparts are
affected.
The globalisalisation/gender interface and the
feminisation of poverty
The legacy of globalisation is so profound that the
stark reality in South Africa reflects the continued marginalisation of
women in public life. Capitalism has always been a vicious circle with a
small minority in the world controlling the resources and the majority
living in poverty and destitution. However globalisation is a systematic
process whereby the standard of living of poor people is made even worse.
The majority of casualties of globalisation are women. This is a worldwide
phenomenon driven by business interest, as opposed to a policy-led process
where ordinary people can give input, hold governments accountable and
collectively shape their future (Fairshare, 2001).
The greatest challenge of tracing and fully
understanding the ways in which globalisation affects women is the absence
of sex-disaggregated indicators and data in key sectors such as
agricultural production and employment, services, and the informal sector.
While independent researchers and institutions such as UNIFEM are
gathering information and showing how women are affected by current
globalised economic trends, many of the indicators and methods used to
monitor these trends are in and of themselves not gender sensitive (Mehta,
2001).
The impact of economic globalisation on women needs to
be assessed in light of women's multiple roles as productive and
reproductive labour in their families as well as their contribution
towards overall community cohesion and welfare, and maintaining the social
fabric. On the same length, increases in the prices of food, fuel and
essential services such as water and electricity place extra burdens on
females in low-income households. Women are usually responsible for
managing domestic food and water consumption including ensuring the
overall health and welfare of their families. Because of this deep-rooted
difference in gender roles and socio-cultural expectations, the impact of
globalisation is felt differently by females and males. While economic
class, race and culture are also extremely important factors in
determining the nature and extent of impacts, by and large, the very same
policies and trends are likely to have quite different implications for
both sexes (Kehler, 2000).
The burden of impoverishment and marginalisation that
results from the global integration process affects men and women
differently (Mehta, 2001). To understand this aspect of globalisation one
must see it from the basic premise that women are situated differentially
in the capitalist reproduction process. In South Africa the most
disturbing feature of globalisation is that women and men experience
poverty differently and different aspects of poverty such as deprivation,
powerlessness and vulnerability have gender dimensions (Phalane & Lebakeng
2001).
Among them the rise of female participation in low
return, urban informal sector activities is evidence of the feminisation
of poverty. Consideration of poverty often neglect differentials between
men and women in terms of their access to income, resources and services
(BRIDGE, 2001). In addition the greater insecurity and lower earning
capacity in the informal sector is another reason for the feminisation of
poverty. Women are employed in less skilled occupations and predominate in
the informal sectors and service sector as domestic workers. Their levels
of formal education and training are lower and if categorised as
professionals, they are predominantly found in the "feminized professions"
e.g., teaching and nursing (Finnemore & Cunningham, 1995,).
Globalisation has not affected all countries or regions
in the same way, and the country's internal preparedness is critical in
how it can take advantage of or be completely overrun by globalisation.
Because of differing levels modernisation, industrialisation and
technological capacity, regions and even areas within South Africa have
felt the impact of globalisation quite differently.
Research indicates that structural adjustment and
promoted policies of the World Bank and IMF affects women much more deeply
than men. The critical one being under investment in women. Many parents
were reluctant to invest their resources in their daughters with the
understanding that sooner rather than later they would be married off to
other families (Phalane & Lebakeng, 2000). On the other side when basic
education becomes privatised, or if families cannot afford the rising cost
of education, it is more often girls who drop out of school than boys
because of the belief that boys need formal education more than girls to
prepare them for their future social roles. This has further implications
for the type of employment that women are able to find when they move into
the wage labour market.
It is against this background that we delineate the
changed labour market context under globalisation and situate women into
it. With lower levels of education, women will tend to be concentrated in
the lower rungs of the labour market and in jobs that require less formal
training or education. The replacement of manual labour with machine and
new technology usually displaces more women than men since women have a
large education gap to cross compared with men in the same class in order
to learn how to use new technologies (Guttal, 2000)
When combined with current economic changes this means
that women's class, race and gender-based access to resources and
opportunities perpetuate inequality and poverty and at the same time
decrease women's socio-economic status. This further explains why rural
women are the poorest of the poor in South African context, doubly
oppressed by national and international injustices and by family systems (Phalane,
2001). Their lack of access to resources and basic services includes
unequal rights in family structures as well as unequal access to family
resources such as land and livestock. It is not a cliché but literal to
say that African rural women are not only poorer in society as whole but
also in their own families. Their level and kind of poverty and inequality
is experienced differently and more intensely than that of men and
socio-economic changes impact differently on them (Kehler, 2001).
Globalisation and the masculine workplace: Double
standards and a matter of semantics
Globalisation trends and related policies are often
thought to be gender-neutral, that is have similar impact on men and
women. However a closer look at the way they affect people reveals
significant gender differentiated impacts (Lebakeng & Phalane, 2001).
Globalisation is an unfortunate phenomenon because the affirmation of
differences in identities opens up endless vistas for the creation of true
solidarity between otherwise diverse communities. As currently patterned,
it has also ushered in a non-conducive environment as it encourages
inequality and reciprocity. Moreover it is unfortunate because it breeds a
great deal of resistance and disdain.
Sandrasagra (2000) noted that the opportunities created
by the process of globalisation have opened clear clear avenues for
development, but in some cases its benefits have not been equitably
distributed, thereby impeding efforts to promote the advancement of women,
particularly those living in poverty. Globalisation is market integration
- how men, women, rich, poor benefits depends on their relative position
in the market (Kiff & kandirikirira, 2002). Competition is a key factor
resulting in winners and losers, where those with resources and technology
dictate the rules of the game. The poor and women start from disadvantaged
position because they lack resources and technology, so they are the most
likely losers. The majority of the poor in South Africa are women.
In 1998 alone a staggering 194 000 jobs were lost in
formal non-agricultural employment in South Africa, as compared to the
anticipated job growth of 246 000 that was projected for 1998. Organising
production in terms of workplace restructuring is all too common in South
Africa and the rest of the world. More pressure is put on companies and
workers to become internationally competitive. Even the finance minister
in South Africa, Trevor Manuel concedes that globalisation has brought
increased uncertainty and the world appears to be inadequately prepared to
deal with the risk and equitably share the opportunities.
These crises have dented the confidence in the
integration of global markets and have pointed to some of the shortcomings
in the international and institutional environment. The gains of
globalisation have not been equitably distributed and the gap between rich
and poor is widening.
One of these shortcomings is gender stereotyping.
Workplace settings are a reflection of values and priorities of those in
power. Men, in their egocentric preoccupation of harbouring traditional
thoughts about women, choose to recognise, accept and cultivate the
talents and skills of female workers in a manner inconsistent with how
they treat most of their male workers. Certain activities or jobs are
labelled as men's. This globalised situation indicates that the cards will
always be stacked against women without connections in the workplace
(Purvis, 1995). In most instances gender stereotyping disadvantages women
economically and socially, blocking them from a range of opportunities
including access to more skilled and high paying forms of employment. To
the extent that gender stereotyping is not regulated in terms of hiring
practice, educational access and general social interaction, the quality
of life of most women is reduced.
In reality the employment experience of women under
globalisation is uneven and contradictory, often reflecting the
polarisation as stressed in the Beijing Conference of 1995, as the "feminisation
of poverty" rather that of "work". When we further unpacpack these
process, we find the women represent 40% of the global workforce, yet they
hold less than 3% of top executive jobs. In a study issued to mark
International Women's day, the United Nations Labour Agency pointed out
that women account for one percent of trade union leaders although 40% of
trade union members are women (ILO, 1998).
In South Africa women still find themselves victims of
social and economic oppression. Wherever women are working they usually
earn less than men, sometimes less than men who are doing exactly the same
work (Horgan, 2001). The uneven impact of globalisation in the workplace
has gender-based effects. In some instances women earn as little as half
their male counterparts ' wages. Even in jobs where it seems women have
total equality - such as media - controversy erupts from time to time as
it emerges that women are being paid considerably less than their their
male co-workers.
The majority of women workers are in the service
sector, many in jobs that used to be relatively well paid, high status
men's jobs but which have been de-skilled and demoted in the job hierachy.
As much as globalisation has brought new opportunities to young women, it
has also made a vast number of 35 year olds redundant because they are
either in declining industries or have outdated skills.
Gendering Globalisation: Some Implications for
Development
The phenomenon globalisation is a hard one to pin down.
The term has come to refer to a series of interlocking trends which means
different things to different people, and stirs powerful emotions. Whereas
some see it as a beneficial process providing opportunities for world
economic development and making a significant contribution to improving
people's lives, other see it as a dangerous force that increases
inequality between nations and genders, disempowers the weak and increases
poverty (Kiff & Kandirikirira, 2002)
Globalisation can have positive as well as negative
consequences. The challenge is to shape policies and processes so that
they promote improved living standards and increased gender equality.
Further monitoring and policy research on the impacts of globalisation are
necessary because globalisation is leading to increased inequalities
between men and women. Despite new initiatives and commitments the sad
reality is that the situation of the world's women is progressively
deteriorating due to globalisation.
The link between gender equality and development means
that marginalisation of women must be stopped along with the continued
feminisation of poverty. The advancement of women would not be achieved by
passing legislation. Legislation existing on paper is only one side of the
story, since rights must be put into practice. As a consequences social
development on the national scale must be strengthened and a climate
conducive to development must be created.
Problems of inclusion stem from the fact that women are
very differently positioned in relation to the markets in different parts
of the world. In certain places where are socially excluded from leaving
their homes, the challenge is to find ways for women to participate. This
does not advocate for the feminisation of the workplace or globalisation,
it does not have to masculine either. Instead globalised equity policies
should include an all inclusive gender management system and centralised
management system.
If we work only on consequences and do not start to
challenge the dynamics of globalisation including exclusion and
exploitation that create social injustice, we therefore risk colluding
with an unjust quo as we apply projects as sticking plasters that ignore
the true nature of the problem. It is possible to take action to contract
the dynamics of inequality and injustice caused by globalisation, thereby
challenge those with power and demand accountability. From a gender
perspective, to be effective women have to be more policy literate with
regard to the phenomenon of globalisation.
Governments have to re-examine their roles and
responsibilities in the context of globalisation and its impacts on women
if they are to make a positive contribution to world development. Women
should be able to decide where they stand vis-à-vis globalisation and
understand the impact it has in South Africa and on their work. Bridging
the gender gap should be the benchmark for deciding to make globalisation
work for women. This would require a grounded analysis of the real
opportunities the process provides for women. It should involve a thorough
analysis of the impact of international trade on women and the poor and
embarking on programmes and processes that make international trade work
for them.
On a continental level, seeking alternatives to
globalisation would involve an indepth understand of the power relations
between developed and poor economies and an analysis of the alternatives
that have already evolved in response to it. To an extent whether it is
seeking alternatives to globalisation or by tring to make it work for
women and the poor, countering the negative impact of globalisation can
only be effective if it is grounded in a thorough analysis of the current
form of globalisation (Kiff & Kandikirira, 2002). It's origination,
evolution and the thinking behind it must be understood.
Conclusion
For the majority of women in South Africa existing
socio-economic rights, as guranteed by the constitution remain
inaccessible which result with the perpetuation and increase as well as
the feminisation of poverty. This situation is abominable for women in
rural areas as constitutional guarantees of equality and
non-discrimination remain merely theoretical rights that lack
implementation in light of globalisation.
Even though recent government policies appear to have
opened the doors of work to women, there are quite a substantial number of
constraints, which still cast a shadow on the opportunities hitherto
created. The greatest underlying factor, though seldom openly
admitted, is that the fulfilment of women’s strategic needs to rescue them
from the doldrums of poverty is seen as a threat, a destabilising agent to
social order. Yet what ought to be recognised is the fact that the
full measure of impacts of globalisation on women, and the development of
progressive policy measures to counter these measures will not receive the
attention it deserves until this dominant knowledge and attitudinal base
is challenged and reconstructed.
The only effectiveness of the translation from the
theory of equality and non-discrimination into practice of empowerment and
socio-economic upliftment of women and the poor will be one of the main
criteria determining success or failure to counter the negative impact of
the globalisation process.
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