Gender and Globalization

1. S.U.N.Y. Global Workforce Project Gender and Globalization Gender, Power and Globalization Dr. Carl Davila The College at Brockport

2. Gender Violence Worldwide One in every three women in the world has experienced sexual, physical, emotional or other abuse in her lifetime. Source: Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) Some numbers: Around the world, 10-69% of women stated that they had been physically assaulted by an intimate partner at some point in their lives. Source: World Health Organization (WHO) UNICEF reports that between a quarter and one half of women around the world have suffered violence at the hands of an intimate partner. Source: The Intolerable Status Quo: Violence Against Women and Girls, The Progress of Nations,UNICEF, 1997

3. Gender Violence Worldwide Some numbers: 22% of all women in the U.S. have experienced some form of assault by an intimate partner. Each year, 4.5 million physical assaults are committed against women by intimate partners. Source: Extent, Nature, and Consequences of Intimate Partner Violence,U.S. Department of Justice 2000. Research on domestic violence in Europe indicates that every day, one woman in five is a victim of domestic abuse. Q: How has this affected someone in your family or someone you know?

4. Gender, Power and Globalization Benería (Chapter 3): Markets are gendered … The marketplace is a social construct. … and therefore gendered, like culture itself … and thus patriarchal … a kind of gender system Two aspects: global and local

5. A Global Gender System Connell: the “world gender order”: The mechanisms of economic globalization are all masculine They are largely created, defined and dominated by men And they operate in a stereotypically masculine fashion:

6. A Global Gender System Aggression and competition for individual gain Connell: the “world gender order”: A “zero-sum” mentality Accumulation of wealth, regardless of the human or environmental cost Violence as a legitimate means of achieving goals Characteristic of colonialism, capitalism and the neo-liberal approach to globalization

7. A Global Gender System The (global) take-away: Globalization is every bit as patriarchal as the individual societies that have created it. It operates in a stereotypically masculine fashion that emphasizes economic and political gain… at the expense of other, possibly less exploitative values.

8. Gender, Power and Globalization Gender violence has local economic dimensions: Poverty and disruption of traditional gender systems put strains on domestic relationships In strongly patriarchal societies … men’s work is a matter of identity, pride and self-esteem economic changes can challenge traditional views when women’s labor is needed to support the family

9. Gender, Power and Globalization Gender violence has local economic dimensions: A case in point — Morocco Median age: 25 unemployment ages 15-30 = 40% Generations-long economic crisis from globalized economic changes So: women moving out of the home and into the workplace, displacing men Network of women’s crisis centers sees increase in victims of domestic violence http://static.howstuffworks.com/gif/willow/geography-of-morocco0.gif

10. Gender, Power and Globalization Substance abuse can aggravate the situation When men — and women — use alcohol to cope Alcohol is strongly associated with domestic violence Not just in the developing world!

11. Gender, Power and Globalization • The take-away at the local level: Economic globalization is gendered: • It operates in an aggressive, masculine mode … • That in turn transforms local economies … • Which turns gender systems around by bringing women into the labor force … • And one result: increasing domestic violence as both men and women struggle to find new identities within the new economic order.