SOSC 200Y Gender and Society Lecture 20: Patriarchy Capitalism and the State

L20: Marxist Feminist When capitalism meets patriarchy… –Gender inequality is rooted in class oppression under capitalism –Women provide ‘free’ private household labour and service  extract more work from wage labour –Women provide the reserve labour that capitalists can call on when needed. –E.g. Female employment before and after war

L20: Hong Kong’s case 60’s: growth of manufacturing (home) industry –Rising need for flexible human resources –Integration of women into the labour market 70’s: growth of export-oriented (modern large scale) industries –Labour-intensive factory work, low-cost labour –Factory girls/ working daughters in HK From mid-80’s: de-industrialization –Relocation of manufacturing production to low-cost countries –Declining need of related labour and factory workers

L20: De-industrialization in HK Overall 1987: 918,600 workers  1994: 558,300 workers (-39%) Women workers 1987: 430,376  1995: 164,248 (-61%) The ratio of female to male wages 1987: ($268: $198) 74.1%  1995: ($289: $184) 63.8%

L20: Changes in Employment Status of Manufacturing workers by gender

L20: Reserve labour Involve mainly in home industry Take home jobs – piecemeal basis Join the low-paid unskilled workforce in labour intensive industries Switched to lower-ranking, part-time service jobs Outworkers/ contracted-out workers

L20: From late 90’s: Women and Poverty Low income –Cleansing workers: $3,600/ month ($12-15/ hour) Contracted-out workers –E.g. work in public toilets (<$3,500 VS $5,300-$5,900) Lack of legal protection –Wage reduction, Holidays, MPF, Insurance Women poverty –70% of the total poor population in world are female –HK: CSSA (1996  2000) Increase in the number of successful applicants (M:55% vs F:72%)

L20: Rules under Patriarchy Capitalism Clear division between public and private sphere of lives –Public Issues (employment)  Market Rules –Private Issues (family)  Morality Women’s position in relation to men and to capital Resource differences

L20: Role of the state Economic laissez-faire Social nonintervention policy… Protector?! (through legislations) Taking care of the disability and the dependence in society Through social security programs, taxation and welfare policies.

L20: Suggested Readings ( library reserve –2 hrs ): Chiu, Stephen and Ching-kwan Lee (1997) Withering away of the Hong Kong Dream?: Women Workers under Industrial Restructuring, Occasional Paper, Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Chinese University