Development & Gender

What do you do with your day? How does this compare with people elsewhere in the world?

Breakdown of a typical African woman’s day

Gender Division of Labour in a ‘typical’ LEDC

In the Developing world women do not always see the same benefits from the processes of development Lower life expectancy Lower wages Fewer education opportunities Poorer health Less access to health care Higher probability of infanticide/abortion

G.E.M. rank for 70 countries Gender empowerment measure (GEM) rank. A composite index measuring gender inequality in three basic dimensions of empowerment—economic participation and decision-making, political participation and decision-making and power over economic resources.

G.D.I. Rank for 144 countries Gender-related development index (GDI) rank. A composite index measuring average achievement in the three basic dimensions captured in the human development index—a long and healthy life, knowledge and a decent standard of living—adjusted to account for inequalities between men and women.

Marxist Feminists believe that women in the developing world suffer a Dual Burden of paid employment and domestic labour. Industrialisation does not relieve women of this burden (as it does men their burden of agricultural lablour). Instead women are often forced to work long hours, in poor conditions, for low wages in the ‘sweatshops’ of TNC’s etc as well as continuing to perform their ‘traditional’ domestic responsibilities. Swasti Mitter (1995) argues that the growth of employment opportunities concentrated in or around ICT in the rapidly globalising world economy has benefited women. Outsourcing of ICT & ‘back office’ jobs, together with the rise in hi-tec manufacturing/assembly, has provided a significant growth in demand many of the skills women have to offer. The growth of Call-centre jobs in India together with, Semi-conductor & computer assembly in South Korea are good examples of women moving out of traditional sectors such as textiles as we see in Cambodia & Thailand. Radical Feminists argue that development of LEDC’s is just another example of how the power of the patriarchy sees women exploited to the advantage of men. They state that women may well see employment through industrialisation, but this is due to the fact that they are more efficient, cheaper and more easily manipulated/coerced. Any improvements that women do experience are dismissed as purely the result of the increased benefit that such improvements have for patriarchy. Socialist Feminists would argue that development offers an opportunity for women to experience equality. Industrialisation and education can empower women to act along side their male colleagues in seizing hold of the means of production from the capitalists in Socialist Revolution. Just as Harris suggests, industrialisation is a ‘necessary evil’ required on the road to socialist triumph.Mies (1986) argues that both traditional Marxism and capitalism undervalue the work and role that women play in brining about both economic and social development Sociological perspectives on women & development Has been criticised for failing to explain the exploitation of men seen by development/industrialisation