Women’s Experiences in Direct Action in Global Arena Essay

Recognition of women through direct action in the international arena is central to women’s empowerment to enhance the success of the international development agenda. International agencies need to understand and appreciate the vital role that women play in the international development process and incorporate them into the priorities of global organizations and agencies of the United Nations. The organizations and agencies in the global arena must facilitate cooperation on women empowerment, gender issues touching on education, political, social, economic, and political impacts (Steans, p. 78).

Gender inequality has been addressed through global efforts largely by emphasizing education as a way of attaining women’s empowerment. Education has provided women with an avenue of venturing into the public sphere and has established them on the same level as men. Global insistence in encouraging women’s education provides the necessary foundation of their empowerment and gives them unlimited opportunities for equal employment and independence economically. Women and education and employment are key elements of empowerment. They are sources of empowerment, meaning that educated and employed women have more sources and opportunities they can utilize to become empowered, unlike women who are not educated or employed. Feminist organizations and other networks have utilized and have been preoccupied in many years analyzing, anticipating, and reporting on the impact of globalization on the lives of women. The main issue taken into consideration by these groups is the economic and social outcomes of the global free trade agenda on women. Women have been involved in meetings jointly with other movements in campaigns against gender, social, economic, and political influences resulting from globalization (Kelly et al., p. 10).

It is important to note that women focus more on economic structures and policies that affect their lives and livelihoods. Economic analyses of international development by feminists tend to criticize international economic and structural programs that women view as discriminatory. Primarily, women’s groups tend to focus on economic structures and policies which they identify as core to the subordinate and deteriorating conditions of women and other unprivileged members of society. In the global arena, women and Non-Governmental Organizations also dwell on and respond to local and international experiences on sexual imbalances, discrimination, human rights, and issues of development. The economics in the global arena predictably has negative social influences and therefore has been high on the feminists’ agenda for many years. However, feminists’ analyses of trends in security, international relations, and defense policies have been restrictive. In general terms, global issues of governance and international geopolitical trends of development are included in feminists’ analyses of globalization (Steans, p. 78).

There have been intensive feminists analyses of globalization, political structures, power changes of states in the global arena, issues of governance, and formal representation of women in politics. Women’s movements have also taken strong stands in areas where women seek human rights redress to be involved in decision making, specifically in areas such as peacebuilding. It is, therefore, necessary for women to be equitably represented in global decision-making structures, and have a voice in policies formulated that impact society. The formation of global bodies of governance and incorporation of women into them has resulted in women’s empowerment. Good governance is directly related to women’s concern with fulfilling basic requirements and work development (Steans, p. 47).

Women experience gross violations of their human rights globally due to the use of violence by states, particularly those with capitalist systems to maintain class interests. These violations have been long recognized in the international arena. Globalization has a significant impact on the lives of women, and therefore, political analyses by countries must incorporate the way international security and defense are prepared to act and of how to respond to decisions by states to apply military force to defend economic or political interests. The direct action in the global arena of incorporating women in the military, defense, and security development enhances social transformation. This is because part of the feminist’s main agenda for change is social transformation. Women’s involvement in security, defense, and military matters put them in a position of driving issues, such as, of state’s use of force by affecting democracy, transparency, and accountability in security decision-making. Women will also be able to work to redefine notions of security from a feminist perspective and to turn back the application of force by states (Steans, p. 63).

Women can play a valuable role in the international development process. The efforts of women’s movements and activism enabled the principle of sexual equality to be adopted in the United Nations charter. This has enhanced women’s advancement in form of the promotion of civil and political rights of women internationally. The Commission on the Status of Women was formed as a result of women’s activism. It has since embarked on programs that have stimulated the United Nation’s specialized agencies and other organs within the UN to act in favor of women, including giving technical assistance that benefits women, especially in developing countries. There exists accumulating evidence that women have been disproportionately affected by poverty, while glaring gender inequalities manifest, for instance, constraints in land ownership and access to credit. This perpetuated the low regard of women in many countries. The involvement of women in the international development agenda led to the origin of programs that focused on the needs of women in development, particularly in agriculture (Roy et al., p. 11).

References

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3. Kelly, Bayes, Hawkesworth, Young. Gender Globalization and Democratization. Boston: Rowman and Littlefield, 2001.
4. Roy, Tiedell, Blomquist. Economic Development and Women in the World Community. New York: Greenwood Publishing.
5. Sharpe, McMahon. The Persons Case. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007
6. Steans, J. Gender and International Relations. Cambridge: Polity, 2006.
7. Young, Lisa. Feminists and Party Politics. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2000.