Gender and development: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 18:00, 1 November 2023

Revision as of 05:54, 16 February 2024

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'''Criticism'''

Some of the common critiques of the WAD approach include concerns that the women-only development projects would struggle, or ultimately fail, due to their scale, and the marginalized status of these women. Furthermore, the WAD perspective suffers from a tendency to view women as a class, and pay little attention to the differences among women (such as feminist concept of [[intersectionality]]), including race and ethnicity, and prescribe development endeavors that may only serve to address the needs of a particular group. While an improvement on WID, WAD fails to fully consider the relationships between [[patriarchy]], modes of production, and the marginalization of women. It also presumes that the position of women around the world will improve when international conditions become more equitable. Additionally, WAD has been criticized for its singular preoccupation with the productive side of women's work, while it ignores the reproductive aspect of women's work and lives. Therefore, WID/WAD intervention strategies have tended to concentrate on the development of income-generating activities without taking into account the time burdens that such strategies place on women.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pepe|first=Roberts|date=April 1979|title=The Integration of Women into the Development Process: Some Conceptual Problem|url=https://opendocs.ids.ac.uk/opendocs/bitstream/handle/123456789/10815/IDSB_10_3_10.1111-j.1759-5436.1979.mp10003013.x.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y|journal=IDS Bulletin|volume=10|issue=3|pages=60–66|doi=10.1111/j.1759-5436.1979.mp10003013.x }}</ref> Value is placed on income-generating activities, and none is ascribed to social and cultural reproduction.<ref name="Rathgeber, Eva M 1990"/>

===Gender and development (GAD)===

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Gender mainstreaming mandated by the 1995 Beijing Platform for action integrates gender in all aspects of individuals lives in regards to policy development on gender equality.<ref name="WB2010">World Bank. An Evaluation of World Bank Support, 2002-08: Gender and Development. Washington, D.C.: World Bank, 2010. IEG Study Ser. Web.</ref> The World Bank's Gender Action Plan of 2007-10 is built upon the Bank's gender mainstreaming strategy for gender equality. The Gender Action Plan's objective was advance women's economic empowerment through their participation in land, labor, financial and product markets.<ref>World Bank. "Gender Equality as Smart Economics: A World Bank Group Gender Action Plan (Fiscal Years 2007-10)." IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc (2006): IDEAS Working Paper Series from RePEc, 2006. Web.</ref> In 2012, the [[World Development Report]] was the first report of the series examining Gender Equality and Development.<ref name="WB Gender"/> [[Florika Fink-Hooijer]], head of the [[European Commission]]'s [[Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations]] introduced cash-based aid as well as gender and age sensitive aid.<ref>Fink-Hooijer, Florika (2014-01-01). "7 The EU's Competence in the Field of Civil Protection (Article 196, Paragraph 1, a–c TFEU)". ''EU Management of Global Emergencies'': 137–145. [[Doi (identifier)|doi]]:10.1163/9789004268333_009.</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Boin|first=Arjen|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/854975218|title=The European Union as crisis manager : patterns and prospects|date=2013|others=Magnus Ekengren, Mark Rhinard|isbn=978-1-4619-3669-5|___location=Cambridge|oclc=854975218}}</ref>

An argument made on the functions behind institutional financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are that they support capitalist ideals through their means of economic growth of countries globally and their participation in the global economy and capitalist systems. The roles of banks as institutions and the creation of new workers’ economy reflect neoliberal developing ideals is also present in the criticisms on neoliberal developing institutions.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Pradella |first1=Lucia |last2=Marois |first2=Thomas |title=Polarizing Development: Alternatives to Neoliberalism and the Crisis |date=2014 |publisher=Pluto Press |isbn=978-0-7453-3470-7 }}{{page needed|date=May 2021}}</ref> Another critique made on the market and institutions is that it contributes to the creation of policies and aid with gender-related outcomes. An argument made on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is that it creates a neoliberal dominance that continues the construction and reconstruction of gender norms by homogenously category women rather than the gender disparities within its policies.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shields |first1=Stuart |last2=Wallin |first2=Sara |title=The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's Gender Action Plan and the Gendered Political Economy of Post-Communist Transition |journal=Globalizations |date=4 May 2015 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=383–399 |doi=10.1080/14747731.2015.1016307 |bibcode=2015Glob...12..383S |s2cid=54179275 |url=http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/85978/9/Shields%20%2526%20Wallin%20Globalisations%20Final%20Draft.pdf }}</ref>

=== Gender and outsourcing ===

One of the features of development encouraged in neoliberal approaches is outsourcing. Outsourcing is when companies from the western world moves some of their business to another country. The reasons these companies make the decision to move is often because of cheap labor costs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mullins |first1=Lauren Bock |last2=Saldivar |first2=Karina Moreno |title=Research associating gender and government privatization: Lessons from international literature |journal=Wagadu |date=22 December 2015 |volume=14 |pages=169–187 |id={{Gale|A490822009}} {{ProQuest|1786467988}} |ssrn=3194233 |url=http://sites.cortland.edu/wagadu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/02/Special-Issue-Volume-14-7.pdf }}</ref> Although outsourcing is about businesses it is directly related to gender because it has greatly affected women. The reason it is related to gender is that women are mainly the people that are being hired for these cheap labor jobs and why they are being hired.<ref name=Nyeck2015>{{cite journal |last1=Nyeck |first1=S. N. |last2=Benjamin |first2=Orly |title=Women, gender and government outsourcing in comparative perspectives |journal=Wagadu |date=22 December 2015 |volume=14 |pages=1–12 |id={{Gale|A490822003}} {{ProQuest|1786468088}} |url=http://sites.cortland.edu/wagadu/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/02/Special-Issue-Volume-14-1-1.pdf }}</ref>

One example of a popular place for factories to relocate is to China. In China the main people who work in these factories are women, these women move from their home towns to cities far away for the factory jobs. The reasons these women move is to be able to make a wage to take care of not only themselves but their families as well. Oftentimes these women are expected to get these jobs.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Houseman |first1=Susan |title=Outsourcing, offshoring and productivity measurement in United States manufacturing |journal=International Labour Review |date=March 2007 |volume=A146 |issue=1–2 |pages=61–80 |doi=10.1111/j.1564-913X.2007.tb00044.x |doi-broken-date=2024-02-16 |hdl=10.1111/j.1564-913X.2007.00005.x |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Another example of a country the garment industry outsources work to is Bangladesh, which has one of the lowest costs of labor compared to other third world countries (see the ILO data provided in figure 1).<ref>{{cite web |title=Wages and Working Hours in the Textiles, Clothing, Leather and Footwear Industries |url=https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_dialogue/@sector/documents/publication/wcms_300463.pdf |website=International Labour Organization |publisher=International Labour Office |access-date=November 15, 2019}}</ref> With low labor costs, there is also poor compliance with labor standards in the factories.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Berik |first1=G. |last2=Rodgers |first2=Y.V. |title=Options for Enforcing Labour Standards: Lessons From Bangladesh and Cambodia |journal=Journal of International Development |date=2008}}</ref> The factory workers in Bangladesh can experience several types of violations of their rights. These violations include: long working hours with no choice but to work overtime, deductions to wages, as well as dangerous and unsanitary working conditions.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Wages and Working Hours in the Textiles, CLothing, Leather, and Footwear Industries. |journal=International Labour Organization |date=2014 |pages=1–35}}</ref>

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While there are such cases in which women were able to lift themselves out of poverty, there are also cases in which women fell into a [[poverty trap]] as they were unable to repay their loans.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/11/01/500093608/you-asked-we-answer-can-tiny-loans-lift-women-out-of-poverty|title=You Asked, We Answer: Can Microloans Lift Women Out Of Poverty?|work=NPR.org|access-date=2018-03-01}}</ref> It is even said that microcredit is actually an "anti-developmental" approach.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bateman, Chang|first=Milford, Ha-Joon|date=2012|title=Microfinance and the Illusion of Development: From Hubris to Nemesis in Thirty Years|url=http://wer.worldeconomicsassociation.org/files/WER-Vol1-No1-Article2-Bateman-and-Chang-v2.pdf|journal=World Economic Review|volume=1|pages=13–36}}</ref> There is little evidence of significant development for these women within the 30 years that the microfinance has been around.<ref>{{cite book|title=Gender, development, and globalization: economics as if all people mattered|last=Benería|first=Lourdes|publisher=New York ; London : Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group|year=2016|isbn=9780415537483|pages=106}}</ref> In South Africa, unemployment is high due to the introduction of microfinance, more so than it was under apartheid.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Banerjee|first1=Abhijit|last2=Galiani|first2=Sebastian|last3=Levinsohn|first3=Jim|last4=McLaren|first4=Zoë|last5=Woolard|first5=Ingrid|title=Why Has Unemployment Risen in the New South Africa |journal=NBER Working Paper No. 13167 |date=June 2007 |doi=10.3386/w13167|doi-access=free}}</ref> Microcredit intensified poverty in Johannesburg, South Africa as poor communities, mostly women, who needed to repay debt were forced to work in the informal sector.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Cohen|first=Jennifer|date=July 2010|title=How the global economic crisis reaches marginalised workers: the case of street traders in Johannesburg, South Africa|journal=Gender and Development|volume=18|issue=2|pages=277–289|doi=10.1080/13552074.2010.491345|s2cid=154585808}}</ref>

Some arguments that microcredit is not effective insist that the structure of the economy, with large informal and agriculture sectors, do not provide a system in which borrowers can be successful. In Nigeria, where the informal economy is approximately 45–60% of economy, women working within it could not attain access to microcredit because of the high demand for loans triggered by high unemployment rates in the formal sector. This study found Nigerian woman are forced into “the hustle” and enhanced risk of the informal economy, which is unpredictable and contributes to women's inability to repay the loans.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Madichie|first1=Nnamdi O.|last2=Nkamnebe|first2=Anayo D.|date=2010-06-15|title=Micro‐creditMicro-credit for microenterprises?|journal=Gender in Management|volume=25|issue=4|pages=301–319|doi=10.1108/17542411011048173|issn=1754-2413}}</ref>&nbsp; Another example from a study conducted in Arampur, Bangladesh, found that microcredit programs within the agrarian community do not effectively help the borrower pay their loan because the terms of the loan are not compatible with farm work. If was found that MFIs force borrowers to repay before the harvesting season starts and in some cases endure the struggles of sharecropping work that is funded by the loan.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Paprocki|first=Kasia|date=August 2016|title='Selling Our Own Skin:' Social dispossession through microcredit in rural Bangladesh|journal=Geoforum|volume=74|pages=29–38|doi=10.1016/j.geoforum.2016.05.008|issn=0016-7185}}</ref>

Although there is debate on how effective microcredit is in alleviating poverty in general, there is an argument that microcredit enables women to participate and fulfill their capabilities in society.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Lott|first=Charlotte E.|date=2009-05-01|title=Why Women Matter: the Story of Microcredit |journal=Journal of Law and Commerce|volume=27|issue=2|doi=10.5195/jlc.2009.28|issn=2164-7984|doi-access=free}}</ref> For example, a study conducted in Malayasia showed that their version of microcredit, AIM, had a positive effect on Muslim women's empowerment in terms of allowing them to have more control over family planning and over decisions that were made in the home.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Al-Shami|first1=Sayed Samer Ali|last2=Razali|first2=Muhammad M.|last3=Majid|first3=Izaidin|last4=Rozelan|first4=Ahmed|last5=Rashid|first5=Nurulizwa|date=2016-07-02|title=The effect of microfinance on women's empowerment: Evidence from Malaysia|journal=Asian Journal of Women's Studies|volume=22|issue=3|pages=318–337|doi=10.1080/12259276.2016.1205378|s2cid=156110946|issn=1225-9276}}</ref>

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The [[global financial crisis]] and the following politics of austerity have opened up a wide range of gender and feminist debates on neoliberalism and the impact of the crisis on women. One view is that the crisis has affected women disproportionately and that there is a need for alternative economic structures in which investment in social reproduction needs to be given more weight.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://soundcloud.com/genderconfyork/elson-and-pearson-keynote |title=Keynote of Diane Elson and Ruth Pearson at the Gender, Neoliberalism and Financial Crisis Conference at the University of York |last1=Elson |first1=Diane |last2=Pearson |first2=Ruth |date=27 September 2013 |website=Soundcloud |access-date=27 November 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Gender Development and Globalization: Economics as if All People Mattered|last=Benería Lourdes, Günseli Berik and Maria S. Floro|year=2016|pages=112}}</ref> The [[International Labour Organization]] (ILO) assessed the impact of the global financial crisis on workers and concluded that while the crisis initially affected industries that were dominated by male workers (such as finance, construction and manufacturing) it then spread over to sectors in which female workers are predominantly active. Examples for these sectors are the service sector or wholesale-retail trade.<ref>{{cite journal |url= http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/magazines-and-journals/world-of-work-magazine/articles/WCMS_120081/lang--en/index.htm |title=Financial crisis: The gender dimension |last1=International Labour Organization |date=1 April 2009 |website=ILO |access-date=18 December 2013}}</ref>

There are different views among feminists on whether neoliberal economic policies have more positive or negative impacts on women. In the post-war era, feminist scholars such as Elizabeth Wilson<ref name="Wilson1977">{{cite book |author=Elizabeth Wilson |title= Women and the Welfare State |date= 28 April 1977 |url= https://www.amazon.com/Women-Welfare-State-Routledge-1977/dp/B00DHPQZPO |publisher=Routledge|isbn= 978-0-422-76060-7 }}</ref> criticized [[state capitalism]] and the [[welfare state]] as a tool to oppress women. Therefore, neoliberal economic policies featuring [[privatization]] and [[deregulation]], hence a reduction of the influence of the state and more individual freedom was argued to improve conditions for women. This anti-welfare state thinking arguably led to feminist support for neoliberal ideas embarking on a [[macroeconomic policy]] level deregulation and a reduced role of the state.

Therefore, some scholars in the field argue that [[feminism]], especially during its [[second-wave feminism|second wave]], has contributed key ideas to Neoliberalism that, according to these authors, creates new forms of inequality and exploitation.<ref name="Fraser2012">{{cite journal |last=Fraser |first=Nancy |year=2012 |title= Feminism, Capitalism, and the Cunning of History |url= http://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/72/50/55/PDF/FMSH-WP-2012-17_Fraser1.pdf |journal=Working Paper |publisher=Fondation Maison des sciences de l'homme |pages=14 |access-date=2 November 2013}}</ref>