Upload
margaretmargaret-horn
View
214
Download
0
Tags:
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
1
SOSC 102 U
Final Review
2
Outline
• How gender issues in Asian societies are embedded in the macro economic development (globalization)
• Theoretical approaches: the Global South Perspective
• Empirical cases: what are the major gender issues in the Asian-Pacific region
• --women workers in the four tigers• --women workers in mainland China• --women workers from Southeast Asia
3
Globalization
Under Globalization, global economy is an increasingly interdependent system of production, distribution, exchange and consumption
The Asian four tigers were incorporated into the global assembly line from the 1960s
• The global assembly line: extremely fluid commodity chains, as production organization among the links of the chains is centrally coordinated
4
Example: global assembly line for athletic shoes
Distribution
North America, Europe, etc.
Shoe Box (U. S.)
Boxed Shoes (Indonesia)
Tissue Paper (Indonesia)
Shoes (Indonesia)
Rainforest Trees (Indonesia)
Tanned Leather (S. Korea)
Polyurethane Air Sac (U. S.)
Ethylene Vinyl Acetate Foam (S. Korea)
Synthetic Rubber (Taiwan)
Cowhide (U. S.)Petroleum (Saudi Arabia)
Benzene (Taiwan)
Coal (Taiwan)Philip McMichael (2000: XXXV)
5
Globalization
• EPZs (Export Processing Zones):– Specialized industrial export estates with
minimal customs controls; – Usually exempt from labor regulations and
domestic taxes– Serve firms seeking lower wages and
governments seeking capital investment– The cheap labor was mostly contributed by
women from developing countries
6
High labor participation of women in the Asian-pacific after the 1960s
Agrarian society
Export-oriented industrialization
1960s-1980s: Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore
1980s and after: Southeast Asia and mainland China
Female-led Economic transitions
7
The debate
• Liberalization thesis • Exploitation thesis
Agrarian society
Export-oriented industrialization
Economic transformation of a developing country
EPZs: attract investment of transnational corporations (TNCs)
The TNCs set up factory in these places and recruit many women workers to save labor expenses
Women are subject to patriarchal control in agrarian societies
TNCs often provide higher wages and better employment opportunities than jobs in locally owned firms or unpaid domestic work
8
Development theories: conventional vs. gender perspectives
• Conventional perspective:
• Gender perspectives
• Economic expansion• Industrial productivity• National income
• Indicators: GNP and GDP
• Human development (basic human needs)
• Sustainable development
• Equal opportunities for men and women
• Indicators: HDI, GEM, GDI
9
HDI and Real GDP Per Capita in Six Asian States (1997)
State HDI rank
HDI value
GDP index
GDP rank
Real GDP per capital rank minus HDI rank
Japan 4 0.924 0.92 9 5
Singapore 22 0.888 0.94 4 -18
Hong Kong 24 0.880 0.92 8 -16
South Korea 30 0.852 0.82 33 3
Taiwan 23 0.874 - 21 -2
China 98 0.701 0.57 104 6
Based on Chow Ngai-ling and Deanna M. Lyter, 2002: 27.
10
Feminist discourses on development
• Women in Development
• Women and Development
• Gender and Development Global South Feminist Perspectives
11
Women in Development
Traditional society
(male-dominated)
Urbanization
Industrialization
Modernization (gender equality)
Why does gender inequality exist today? Modernization has not trickled down to benefit women
12
Women and Development
Production for use Production for exchange
Production for use
Production for exchange
Feudalist society
Capitalist society
Circa the 16th century
Unpaid domestic work: reproduction
“Wage labor”—more and more people had to find paid jobs to support the household economy: production
Men’s placeWomen’s place
Private domain Public domainThose who control the public domain are powerful and resourceful—capitalists (mostly men)
13
Gender and Development
Production for use
Production for exchangeCapitalist society
Unpaid domestic work: reproduction
“Wage labor”—more and more people had to find paid jobs to support the household economy: production
Men’s placeWomen’s place
Private domain Public domain
Both men and women contributed in the production in the labor market and the reproduction of the household
e. g. in the 1960s and 70s, many Hong Kong women contributed to economic growth by making plastic flowers at home
Emphasize women as agents of social change
14
Global South Feminist Perspective
• “Global South perspectives: propose to revisit the Western and white liberal feminist discourses on non-western women issues
• East Asia is a constituent part of the Global South
15
Agendas of global south feminist perspectives
• 1. environmental concern: sustainable development
• 2. social transformation: eliminate gender subordination and all forms of oppression
• 3. equal opportunities for women on career achievement
• 4. empowerment of women: incorporate women’s views on political, economic and military policies
• (lecture note 9)
16
Gender and development of the four tigers
• Labor process of Taiwanese women workers in TNCs
• Relatively low female labor participation in South Korea
• Economic restructuring and women labor participation in Hong Kong
17
Labor process of women workers in a TNC in Taiwan
Recruitment of entry-level jobs for high school graduates: tacit agreement for female workers—”marriage ban”
Labor process: the absolute classification between men’s “stronger” vs. women’s “weaker” body—this concept determines different job assignments for male and female workers
Lower-level positions: filled by internal succession and promotion. The average educational level of male workers was slightly above high school graduate and that of female workers was around high school—women sacrificed their education to work to support family and/or allow their brothers to have more education
Higher-level positions: few women are in the rank. 1) a result of “homosocial reproduction”; 2) the “superwomen” label
18
Relatively low female labor participation in South Korean
manufactures
• Concentration of industrial centers in South Korea in a few cities
• South Korean women were not encouraged to move from countryside to industrial cities
19
Unemployed women in Hong Kong’s economic restructuring
• Unemployment of women of middle-aged, married and unskilled—”hidden injuries” in Hong Kong’s economic restructuring
• High unemployment rate of women between 50-64 years of age in Hong Kong– esp. compare with women of the same cohort in
Taiwan and S’pore where governments tried to maintain the viability of the manufacturing industry
• Why don’t they work in service sector?
20
Family strategy to economic restructuring
• A traditional household: husband-centric decision making process
• A flexible household: negotiations between the couple
• The wife receive few support from the family to work in service sector
From 1985-1996, Hong Kong’s labor force in the manufacturing sector decreased by two-thirds
• The wife would have more chances to continued working in service sector
21
Gender and Development in China
• Prereform China (1949-1978)
• Reform China (from 1978)
Obscure the gender differences between men and women—masculinization of women
Feminine demeanors are emphasized again
Teresa Teng [鄧麗君 ] (1953-1995)
22
Gender and development in China: state-owned firms
• Pre-reform era • Reform era
• State-owned firms were regarded as favorite jobs, in terms of salaries, housing provision and job security
• Private enterprises appeal to workers who want to get higher pay
– From 1958-60, the number of women in state-owned firms tripled
Was gender equality achieved then?
23
Gender equality in prereform China
• The proportion of women in state-owned firms was lower than in collective firms
?
• In state-owned firms, women were in the disadvantageous position in job assignments, promotions, and housing provisions
24
State-owned firms in reform China
• State-owned firms still favored male workers (recruitment, job assignments, promotion, and housing provision)
• In factory-wide level, men’s wages were higher than women’s wages
• In external labor market, male workers also had better opportunities to compete for jobs in better-paid private enterprises
25
State-owned firms in reform China
• Were women workers in state-owned firms less productive?
Entry-level jobs (low skills): payment for per item produced is lower
Skilled jobs: payment for per item produced is higher
More male workers
Most female workers
Sample of job hierarchy and disparity of wage settings in piece-rate system
26
Women workers and xiagang
• More than 60% xiagang workers were women
• Alternative employment opportunities for xiagang/earlier retired women workers…
• Women workers were encouraged to retire at earlier age (45 years of age)—”internal retirement”
27
State-owned Enterprises Private
Sectors
a. Re-employment trainingLaid-off or earlier retired workers
c. Work in the EPZs?
b. To run a self-employed business
After xiagang….
28
Inter-provincial labor migration in China
• Factories in China’s coastal EPZs recruit workers from hinterland provinces
• E. g. Chen Li and Wu Shengmei in “Giant Awake”
• Young, single women are preferred
• Most of these women hold rural status in the household registration system. They have to return home once their working contracts expire
29
Inter-provincial marriage migration in China
• Women from countryside in hinterland China Men in coastal rural districts
• Many Taiwanese men also try to find their wives from hinterland China– Commercial match maker agent for cross-Straits
marriages (Taiwan example)
• Cross-border “polygyny” in South China: long-term committed relationship between Hong Kong men and the “second wives” from hinterland China
30
Destination of inter-provincial marriage migration
Original provinces
31
Transnational immigrant
labor
32
Two major kinds of foreign migrant workers
• Foreign factory workers
• Foreign domestic helpers
• Hire to conduct the “3 D jobs”: dirty, demeaning and dangerous
• Be treated differently from local workers
• “Contradictory class mobility”
• “Market substitutes” of home demands
• Household chores—regarded as women’s work
• Master-servant relationship between women of different ethnic backgrounds
33
Impoverishment Decision to work overseas
Enquiry: friends, family, acquaintances, job-placement agencies
Medical check-up, training and orientation
Pre-departure: search for an employer
Fees levied by agents (may result in debts)
Departure: leave sending country
Arrive in host country
Employment: work, get paid, pay the debts, remit money back home
Repatriation: end of contract, get an extension, look for another contract, or go home
Migration Cycle of a migrant women worker
34
Foreign domestic helpers
• Physical Labor
• Emotional Labor
• Private home becomes a contested domain…. “boundary work”
EmployersWorkers