Globalization, liberalization, and issues of gender equality have brought both positive and negative results to women in developing countries. The past two decades have witnessed a tremendous impact on the lives of women in developing countries due to globalization. By definition, globalization is the complex political, cultural, economic, and geographic procedures in which the mobility of ideas, capital, discourses, people, and organizations has adapted a global form (Bachus and Foerster, 2005).
When critically analyzed, globalization and liberalization have been found to advance the world’s social-economic ills, especially in developing countries. The two concepts directly impact gender equality, or lack of it, in developing countries.
These poor countries are encouraged to unlock their economies to global trade with a fake promise that they will prosper and develop faster by embracing free trade. Instead of prospering, they are coerced to open up their boundaries to multinationals and foreign investors through the signing of various trade agreements like the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The foreign investors take full advantage of the readily available cheap labor found in budding countries. A huge proportion of the cheap labor consists mainly of women who are poorly educated and deprived economically. To reduce labor costs, the foreign investors intentionally hire the women thus condemning them to perpetual poverty and misery (Murray, 2005).
Women are considered to be docile workers, ready to obey the demands of production at any cost. In most cases, they are preferred over their male counterparts by multinationals. This is because of their socialization and cultural upbringing. Cultural influences continued to control the stratification of employment in developing countries, with roles such as garment assembly being thrown to women by the investors.
The advantage of this is that it has brought a soaring demand for employment chances for women in the developing world. This has brought an immediate change in the social structure of the societies involved. It has brought a sense of independence to women. However, in the same vein, poverty has been feminized by these multinationals in that, they pay the women so little to make a positive transformation of their lives (Bachus and Foerster, 2005).
Scholars and economists have agreed that globalization and liberalization of developing countries have created both winners and losers. Women in these countries have been the major casualties. This is because the processes failed to pay attention to the gender-differentiated influences of changes occasioned by international trade policies and agreements. Globalization and liberalization may have opened up new trade and job opportunities for women in developing countries.
Nevertheless, poor women from these countries lack the necessary skills, resources, and technology to take advantage of such incentives. Those that are recruited to the openings brought forth by globalization are underpaid because they lack the necessary knowledge. Women in developing countries are further made vulnerable by the fluctuations of basic commodities that often accompany the liberalized trade (McGill, 2004).
Owing to issues of gender, the voices of women in developing countries are never heard when it comes to the creation of trade agreements and policies or in their negotiations. Due to culture, issues of drawing up trade agreements and policies are left to men. This again has disadvantaged the women when it comes to globalization and liberalization. The majority of women in the developing world are not given the slightest chance to express their feelings or issues affecting them as countries pursue the globalization agenda (McGill, 2004).
Globalization and liberalization have caused gender inequality to increase in developing nations, especially in Africa. This is because more prestigious and well-paying vacancies go out to men while women are accommodated in the periphery of these multinationals. They perform more difficult and labor-intensive duties but they are paid the least. This widens the gap between women and men in the social stratification system (Baliamoune-Lutz, 2007).
Significant gender disparities and differences have been noted when it comes to participation in drafting the various treaties governing globalization in developing countries. For example, women have been left out in the decision-making processes thus are negatively affected by the globalization and liberalization processes more than men (Engaging in globalization, 1999).
In conclusion, it can be said that globalization has continued to affect the social life of women in developing countries. Though it has given women some sense of financial independence, it continues to affect them negatively due to the influence of structural adjustment programs and policies. Some of these policies have advanced gender inequalities (Ganguly-Scrase, 2003)
Works cited
Bachus, N., and Foerster, A. The Effects of Globalization on Women in Developing Nations. 2005. Pace University. Web.
Baliamoune-Lutz, M. “Globalization and Gender Inequality: Is Africa Different.” Journal of African Economies, Vol. 16, No. 2, pp. 301-348 (2007). Web.
Engaging in globalization: Implications for Gender Relations. 1999. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Web.
Ganguly-Scrase, R. “Paradoxes of Globalization, Liberalization, and Gender Equality.” Gender and Society, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 544-566 (2003). Web.
McGill, J. Trade Liberalization: Pain or Gain. 2004. Asian Development Bank. Web.
Murray, J. “The Double Edge of Globalization: The advancement and Marginalization of Women in Asian and African Economies.” Journal of International studies. 2005. Web.