PSW S 12053 ( C ) WOMEN : - Empowerment & Development

Prepared By Mr.Suresh C R
STUDY NOTES …… FACULTY , Dept Of Social Work
SSUS RC THURAVOOR

WOMEN & GLOBALIZATION

Economic globalization is a process tending towards neoliberal economic
policy reforms (such as deregulation and privatization) and increases in capital,
goods, services, and workforce movement. Economic theory on globalization’s
impacts on growth and wellbeing does seldom make distinctions between genders.
It is frequently assumed that women will pay the cost of market liberalization by
an unquestionable loss of jobs, or of high-income jobs. However, trade theory
suggests that a growing international trade should benefit women, especially in
developing countries.

In order to determine the impacts of the globalization process on women’s

quality of life, equality, and status it is first necessary to define what is understood
under such terms and which variables are involved in their measurement.There
seems to be some consensus in identifying the set of variables that define women’s
quality of life: economic, political, and social. There are two schools of thought in
analyzing the effects of globalization on women. One school, basically optimistic
but with some reserves, argues that participation in global trade and in financial
markets will improve the situation of all citizens, including women. The other has
got a more critical perspective andargues that economic globalization will further
increase existing inequalities and will lead to new ones.

Both sides of the discussion on the effects of globalization on women are

valid, but there is a the need to go beyond the sterile debate on whether
globalization is good or bad, and reach a more constructive and wider-scope debate
on how to achieve the best possible outcomes of globalization for
women.Globalization must be analyzed from a multidimensional perspective and it
is only by means of this process and by analyzing the real experiences of actors in
adapting to globalization that we can understand the true outreach of globalization.
According to this alternative perspective and in trying to develop a constructive
debate on the impact of globalization on women a set of practices have to be
detected, analyzed, and promoted in order to minimize the negative impacts of
globalization on women and reinforce the positive ones. They include, among
others: cultural change; sustained and mutually agreed action programs among
business schools, companies, and other interest groups such as the public sector;
and removing the glass ceiling in MNCs, including codes of conduct as a part of
their corporate social responsibility.

POSITIVE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON WOMEN

Globalization has increased the exports of different countries and wages in

export sectors are much higher than other sectors and in many cases women get
higher wages than men in formal industrial sectors. So globalization has increase
average wages of women, also the bigger portion of wages goes to women. With
globalization, women’s employment opportunities have increase, and now they are
also contributing in family expenses which support the creation of new resources
and raise the level of income of family. Along with increase in family income, with
the help of globalization, social choices of women has increased. Women do lot of
family work without any wages, at the same time that all women’s work all over
the world is not valued or undervalued the paid work has increased women’s social
choices and life choices, in addition to giving them self-confidence and increasing
their morale. More and more countries participate in international economy
through exports, creates new employment opportunities. Many countries,
especially low income countries, have increased its participation in international
trade

If the agricultural work is done with traditional methods, this trend has very
serious gender implications. In small farms where crops are grown in traditional
way, the demand for women’s work is very high, but their wages are low. The
increase of profitability of cash crops in the international markets increases the
independence of women. Because of globalization, there are structural changes in
agricultural production. Many countries started manufacturing of agricultural
products to increase their export values and it is especially for women, who got
benefitted from this because these activities are a good source of high wages than
working in their family farms. Women health conditions are also improved by
working in companies rather than farms. By working in family farms, women paid
nothing or very low wages but women get higher wages while working in
companies especially in export industries.

NEGATIVE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON WOMEN

Women work two full time jobs. As they moved to work places but their
household responsibilities have not been decreased. For household responsibilities
they paid nothing. Women double responsibilities – long working hours at work
place along with attending household chores like cooking, baby care hinders their
performance and came in the way of success. Although some women enjoy the
freedom of delaying marriage, they soon realize that this form of independence
might actually be a burden because finding a husband later in life is not as easy as
in their youth. Moreover women are exploited by paying lower wages than men.
This is not a single problem, women are facing at work place, due to sexual
harassment at work place, many women resist to work. The position of urban
women is better than women living in rural areas. Due to illiteracy and
unawareness rural area women are more exploited than urban area women.

No doubt globalization has paved many ways for women to improve. Globalization
has promoted equality between the sexes, something that Indian women have been
struggling with their entire life but still it has many negative consequences. The
rising trend of globalization has not lifted everybody. Gender differences in
endowments, time use patterns, access to productive inputs and agency have muted
positive impacts for some and added to inequalities between men and women.
Gender differences in education have limited women’s access to new employment
opportunities. In agriculture, besides having a positive impact on productivity,
education improves farmer’s capacity to adopt new methods of improving results.
But because of lower education levels, female producers experience more
constraints in accessing international markets than males.
 Gender responsibilities can prevent women from seizing new opportunities in
the commercial sector, if no other household member can take on their duties. That
is particularly true when new opportunities arise in formal sector, where longer
working hours and fixed schedules are prevailing. Women’s weaker property rights
and limited access to productive inputs also constrain their capacity to benefit from
trade openness. Gender norms for mobility and women role in economic sphere
can disproportionately affect women’s access to technology. At home, men often
control television remotes, radios, and mobile phones. At work, men think that a
computer is something; women cannot learn to operate. If decreased government
revenues are compensated through decreased social services, women are more
directly affected than men. Many new jobs in growth sectors have low wages,
insecure tenure and limited training or promotional prospects. These conditions
may be exacerbated by the relaxation of labor standards as a means to attract
investment. Some gender obstacles hinders the effect of women’s paid work,
sometimes businessmen cut down the women wages, women sometimes have to
give all her wages or part of it to her family , which increase gender inequalities

WOMEN & LIBERALIZATION

Liberalization is a broad term that usually refers to fewer government

regulations and restrictions, mainly on economic activities. ... a change from
excessive government intervention to minimal intervention.

Conventional wisdom would suggest that gender discrimination should

have declined in India, thanks to economic liberalization in the early 1990s.
Increased market competition forces firms to eliminate inefficient discriminatory
practices, including gender discrimination. The room for hiring their own “types"
is less when firms face intense competition. Market competition works in favour of
women, as women are more competitive, and offer cheaper and more flexible
labour vis-à-vis men.

The share of females in manufacturing employment has barely increased over

the last two decades. Female activity is largely concentrated in the unorganized
sector. The concentration of female entrepreneurs in low-wage industries has
grown over time. Despite many competitive reforms that India has undertaken, this
pattern of gender-based segmentation has been accentuated over the years.
Women entrepreneurs are more dominant in industries that pay lower average
wages. Within the manufacturing sector, female ownership shares are highest and
typically exceed 50% in industries related to chemicals and chemical products,
tobacco products, and paper and paper products. At the opposite end, female
ownership shares are 2% or less in industries related to computers, motor vehicles,
fabricated metal products, and machinery and equipment.
However, India’s economic liberalization and increased market competition has
not eliminated gender segmentation. Indeed, India’s gender balance in
entrepreneurship and jobs remains among the lowest in the world. Globalization
and trade policy have made a limited contribution towards India’s convergence in
gender segmentation. However, improved physical and human infrastructure, and
domestic pro-competitive reforms have reduced gender segmentation.

Gender will play a bigger and more strategic role in India’s future growth. This
growth will come in many forms: increased female labour force participation,
improvements in productivity, elimination of gender discrimination in access to
bank loans, and increased voice and political representation. Simply put,
empowering half of the potential workforce has significant economic benefits
beyond promoting gender equality.

WOMEN& PRIVATIZATION

Privatisation refers to any means by which services, infrastructure

and functions traditionally or ideally performed by government are wholly or
partially owned, provided, managed or delivered by private actors / privately
employed workers. It includes public-private partnerships, corporatisation of
public services, outsourcing of public service employment and euphemisms like
‘’asset recycling”. This factsheet focuses on the privatisation of services that are
essential in the advancement of women’s human rights, primarily: healthcare,
education, water and sanitation, energy, emergency services, public administration,
criminal justice and transport.
 Privatization is not gender-neutral. It threatens advances toward women’s
equality in the labour market and in the home.

The privatization ofpublic services has tremendous implications for

women who account for the majority of public sector employees whose jobs are
being privatized, especially in the health and social service sectors. Governments
are keen to privatize almost any public service, claiming greater efficiency will be
achieved through the private market. Rarely, however, do Canadian governments
consider the gender implications of this policy direction. Yet there is alarming
evidence that privatization is eliminating and eroding good jobs for women in the
public sector as well as a range of public services designed to support women's
participation in the labour

Nowhere is this more evident these days, than in the case of subcontracting
health services Privatization not only undermines good paid employment for
women, it can also make women's life at home more difficult by intensifying, if not
responsible. We need more gendered analyses of the implications of privatization
to identify the consequences of this privatization on gender equality. This is
particularly important with the privatization ofhealth and social services since the
nature of work in these sectors is most similar to the unpaid, domestic reproductive
labour by women in the home. We also need analysis that explores the racial
implications ofprivatizing public services. We need to know how women of colour
are being affected by this process. Are there differences based on race, and, if so,
what are they? What are the patterns of subordination, exploitation and exclusion
that can be revealed through a gendered and racialized analysis of the process of
privatization? But first, what do we mean by privatization? And how is it affecting
women workers

Privatization is one of the most critical and politically sensitive

government activities. It has led to fundamental shifts in the relationship between
the private and public sectors of the jurisdictions of many countries. The role and
scope of privatization have increased dramatically in the last ten years both in the
form of contracting out of public services and in the outright purchase of
government enterprises by the private sector on the national and international
levels. The overwhelming concern over the increasing globalization of
privatization activities tends to focus narrowly on economic factors for success at
the expense of social justice for those most affected.

Privatization activities are expanding relatively unchecked into traditionally

public sector domains on national and international levels. There is concern that
privatization negatively impacts the most vulnerable segments of the workforce,
especially women workers.

Indian Laws relating to Women and Children

Constitutional Provisions and Privileges
(i) Equality before law for women (Article 14)
(ii) The State not to discriminate against any citizen on grounds only of religion,
race, caste, sex, place of birth or any of them (Article 15 (i))
(iii) The State to make any special provision in favour of women and children
(Article 15 (3))
(iv) Equality of opportunity for all citizens in matters relating to employment or
appointment to any office under the State (Article 16)
(v) The State to direct its policy towards securing for men and women equally the
right to an adequate means of livelihood (Article 39(a)); and equal pay for equal
work for both men and women (Article 39(d))
(vi) To promote justice, on a basis of equal opportunity and to provide free legal
aid by suitable legislation or scheme or in any other way to ensure that
opportunities for securing justice are not denied to any citizen by reason of
economic or other disabilities (Article 39 a)
(vii) The State to make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work
and for maternity relief (Article 42)
(viii) The State to promote with special care the educational and economic interests
of the weaker sections of the people and to protect them from social injustice and
all forms of exploitation (Article 46)
(ix) The State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people
(Article 47)
(x) To promote harmony and the spirit of common brotherhood amongst all the
people of India and to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women
(Article 51(A) (e))
(xi) Not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women
belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number
of seats to be filled by direct election in every Panchayat to be reserved for women
and such seats to be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a Panchayat
(Article 243 D(3))
(xii) Not less than one- third of the total number of offices of Chairpersons in the
Panchayats at each level to be reserved for women (Article 243 D (4))
(ix) Not less than one-third (including the number of seats reserved for women
belonging to the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number
of seats to be filled by direct election in every Municipality to be reserved for
women and such seats to be allotted by rotation to different constituencies in a
Municipality (Article 243 T (3))
(x) Reservation of offices of Chairpersons in Municipalities for the Scheduled
Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and women in such manner as the legislature of a
State may by law provide (Article 243 T (4))

Laws relating to women

 Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act, 1987

 Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1983
 Dowry Prohibition Act, 1961
 Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956
 Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986
 National Commission for Women Act, 1990
 Prohibition of Sexual Harassment of Women at the Workplace Bill, 2010
 Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
Laws relating to working women

 Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1976

 Employees State Insurance Act, 1948
 Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
 Factories (Amendment) Act, 1948
 Maternity Benefit Act, 1961 (Amended in 1995)
 Plantation Labour Act, 1951

Laws relating to marriage & divorce

 Anand Marriage Act, 1909

 Arya Marriage Validation Act, 1937
 Births, Deaths & Marriages Registration Act, 1886
 Bangalore Marriages Validating Act, 1936
 Converts’ Marriage Dissolution Act, 1866
 Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939
 Family Courts Act, 1984
 Foreign Marriage Act, 1969
 Hindu Marriage Act, 1955
 Hindu Marriages (Validation of Proceedings) Act, 1960
 Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872
 Indian Divorce Act, 1869
 Indian Divorce Amendment Bill, 2001
 Indian Matrimonial Causes (War Marriages) Act, 1948
 Marriage Laws (Amendment) Act, 2001
 Marriages Validation Act, 1892
 Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986
 Parsi Marriage & Divorce Act, 1936
 Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
 Special Marriages Act, 1954

Laws relating to maintenance

The Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973:

 Order for maintenance of wives, children and parents under section 125
 Procedure to be followed under section 125
 Alteration in allowance under section 125
  Enforcement of the order of maintenance

Laws relating to abortion

 Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971

 Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation & Prevention of Misuse) Act,
1994
 Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation & Prevention of Misuse)
Amendment Act, 2001
 Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation & Prevention of Misuse)
Amendment Act, 2002

Laws relating to property, succession, inheritance, guardianship & adoption

 Guardians & Wards Act, 1890

 Hindu Adoptions & Maintenance Act, 1956
 Hindu Inheritance (Removal of Disabilities) Act, 1928
 Hindu Minority & Guardianship Act, 1956
 Hindu Succession Act, 1956
 Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005
 Indian Succession Act, 1925
 Indian Succession (Amendment) Act, 2002
 Married Women’s Property Act, 1874
 Married Women’s Property (Extension) Act, 1959

Laws relating to children

 Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986

 Child Marriage Restraint Act, 1929
 Children Act, 1960
 Children (Pledging of Labour) Act, 1933
 Commissions for the Protection of Child Rights Act, 2005
 Infant Milk Substitutes Act, 1992
 Infant Milk Substitutes Act, 2003
 Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles & Infant Foods (Regulation of
Production, Supply & Distribution) Act, 1992
 Infant Milk Substitutes, Feeding Bottles & Infant Foods (Regulation of
Production, Supply & Distribution) Amendment Act, 2003
 Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Act, 2000
  Juvenile Justice (Care & Protection of Children) Amendment Act, 2006
 Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006
 Reformatory Schools Act, 1897
 Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act, 1956

Offences against women and children in the Indian Penal Code

The Indian Penal Code, 1860

 Abandoning of child under 12 years of age

 Adultery
 Assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty
 Buying minor for purpose of prostitution
 Causing death of quick unborn child by act amounting to culpable homicide
 Causing miscarriage or miscarriage without the woman’s consent
 Cohabitation caused by a man deceitfully inducing a belief of lawful
marriage
 Concealment of birth by secret disposal of dead body
 Concealment of former marriage
 Death caused by act done with intent to cause miscarriage
 Dowry death
 Enticing, detaining or taking away with criminal intent a married woman
 Fraudulent marriage ceremony without lawful marriage
 Husband or relative of a husband of a woman subjecting her to cruelty
 Importation of girl from foreign country
 Intercourse by man with his wife during separation
 Intercourse by a member of management or staff of a hospital with any
woman in that hospital
 Intercourse by public servant with a woman in his custody
 Intercourse by superintendent of jail, remand home, etc
 Kidnapping, abducting or inducing woman to compel her marriage
 Marriage ceremony fraudulently gone through without lawful marriage
 Marrying again during lifetime of spouse (Also see here)
 Preventing a child from being born alive or causing its death after birth
 Procreation of minor girl
 Rape (Also see here)
 Selling minor for purpose of prostitution
 Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman