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Gender and PoliticalEconomy
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Political Economy
Discipline whose object of enquiry is therelationship between the state, politics andpower, on the one hand, and economic
relations and the market, on the other Political economy examines the manner in
which power is implicated in economicrelationships
As such, any political economy needs to payattention to gender
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Gendered Political Economy
a gendered political economy examines the:
boundary between the public sphere of the state and the privatesphere of gender relations, the
public economy and the household economy, and the manner inwhich they influence each other
Position of women is structured by a double set of relations:
their relations to men
their position in the economic organization of society
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Gendered Political Economy
Intersection between economy, politics, and gender is
embodied in the sexual division of labor: paid/unpaid
tasks, differentials in pay, concentrations in occupations
and job levels within these occupations, and sexual
servicing as paid work of women
Access to positions of privilege has favored men
Womens place, womens work, and control of womens
sexuality
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Sexual Division of Labor
Two types of work:
Productive: work for exchange; satisfies
basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter
Reproductive: work for use and satisfaction of
immediate needs; production of people
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Sexual Division of Labor inAgricultural Production Systems Work not clearly distinguished: production
and reproduction carried out within the
household and productive labor common
enterprise among household members Extended household: kin and non-kin in one
unit
Division of labor in productive activities notsharply drawn
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Sexual Division of Labor inAgricultural Production Systems Reproductive work was womens work
Household work also productive work
because most of production was used or
consumed directly by household members
Unity of production and consumption
Labor of women and men geared to interests
of the group rather one individual
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Sexual Division of Labor inAgricultural Production Systems Mothering role not prominent, part of wide variety of
tasks
Network of support kin meant that productive and
reproductive tasks shared by both sexes Production based on satisfaction of immediate
needs of producers, subsistence from land
commonly-held
Exchange of complementary resources betweenhouseholds
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Evolution of agriculturalproduction systems and the
sexual division of labor From stable surplus arose social division oflabor
Men and women developed specialized
skills, production increased, economic baseexpanded, social classes of producers and
non-producers emerged
Social production no longer totally servedneeds of producers
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Evolution of agriculturalproduction systems and the
sexual division of labor With differential allocation of surplus,control/ownership of means of production(land) became important
From use-right to ownership of land, fromcollective ownership to individual/householdownership
Emergent state designated men as heads of
households, endorsing authority of men overwomen
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Merchant capitalism
Merchant capitalists buy not to satisfy immediate
needs but to sell, to acquire wealth
Merchant capital introduces money into the
economy, brings in foreign and luxury products,intensifies labor process
Reallocation of work between women and men in
household production and reproduction
More time devoted to productive work, need foradditional hands to contribute to production
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Capitalism
Merchant capital obliged to increase production toacquire more wealth, transformed tocommercial/productive capital or capitalism
Directly intervenes in the sphere of production andrestructures local economies away from self-provisioning by undermining domestic manufacturesand encouraging production of certain commodities
Work of women and men reallocated from
household needs to production for the market,women and men to specific commodities
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Capitalism
Introduced by colonizers and heralded:
a household system based on male prestige,
radical separation of home and workplace,
domestication of women
gender divisions in workplace such as sex
segregation in occupations, womens
marginalization from waged work, and wagedifferentiation
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Capitalism
Extraction of profit no longer from exchange ofgoods but from labor of producer/laborer
Based on three socioeconomic transformations:
separation of producers from means of productionand subsistence
formation of social class with a monopoly overmeans of production (bourgeoisie/capitalist class)
transformation of human labor power into acommodity (owned by working class/proletariat)
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Capitalism
Working class dispossessed of every means
of subsistence and obliged to sell labor to
capitalists
Labor a commodity, the value of which is thewage
Wage determined by the quantity of labor
needed to reproduce it (the subsistence ofthe worker and household)
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Capitalism
Surplus value: value above this necessary labor,
difference between the value produced by the
worker and the value of commodities needed to
ensure workers reproduction
Surplus value is the capitalists profit
Interest of capital: to increase its proportion of value
produced by labor
Interest of labor: increase its proportion of value itproduces
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Capitalism
Capital accumulation dependent on the
increase in the rate of surplus value
extraction:
by increasing time worked without increase inwages
by intensifying labor, making it more
productive Interest in keeping wages down
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Capitalism
Capital accumulation by introduction of machineryand division of the workforce into differentiatedgroups with different wages
Intensification of labor by fragmentation, making it
more efficient and allowing capital to divide workaccording to skills and corresponding wages
Gender a major consideration in the reorganizationof the production process and division of labor
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Effects of capitalism on thehousehold Household no longer had access to the
means of production, for subsistence reliedon labor for wages rather than own
production Work for wages distinct from work in
household Wages allowed purchase of goods and
services they once produced Production different from consumption
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Effects of capitalism on thehousehold Men as heads of households primary wage workers,
women secondary productive workers (had to workalso because wages of men inadequate)
Separation of home and workplace: capitalism
entailed technological advances and productionmore likely to take place outside the home
All women became primarily housekeepers keepingthem from similar participation in wage labor
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Effects of capitalism on thehousehold Among capitalist/propertied classes: family
household organized around male earner andwife/children as dependents
Among working class: dependence on productive
work of more than one member
women engaged in both productive andreproductive work
in paid work: type of work, value, position defined by
subordinate position and home responsibilities
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Womens position in theeconomy Defined by contradictions between capitalists and
workers, and between men and women
Relegation to household work (no value)
Secondary worker in productive sphere Intermittent participation in social production
Concentration in particular sectors of economy and
in levels of the work force
Low wages
Mediated position in capitalist class structure
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Relegation to household work
Provide work necessary to transform commoditiesbought by wages into items for consumption
All work at home unpaid (has value only when doneby hired help)
Provides material base for the reproduction of laborwithout which capital cannot appropriate surplus
Reproductive work serves interests of men andcapital
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Secondary work force
Because primary responsibility is in the home
Less likely to be absorbed into waged work,
are more likely to be released in recessions
Seek work in the informal sector
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Patterns of employment
Not continuous, dependent on life cycle
Seen as temporary, uncommitted workforce,
reinforcing secondary status
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Gender and work
Concentrated in occupations based on
stereotype of women: servicing and family-
oriented
Low-paid, low-skilled, with low-productivity,casual with few promotional possibilities, low-
level
Labor-intensive work in industry
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Lower wages
Labor a supplementary activity
Responsibility for home limits options,
relegated to low-skilled positions
Bearers of inferior status, men in higher
positions through exclusionary strategies
ensure women remain so
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Mediated position in capitalistclass structure As housewives, dependent on male wage, indirect
relation to capital
As workers, direct relation to capital
Directly responsible for reproduction of their own and
male labor
Mediated by the household system, ideology of the
family, male dominance, dependence on men,
reproductive work
Defined by their subordinate position to men
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Womens position in capitalistsociety In capitalism, differentiation of tasks and
differentiation in the status and power betweenwomen and men
Intersection of gender relations, class, and capitalist
accumulation process determines womens positionin capitalist society
Economic strategies of the state, stage of capitalistdevelopment, and countrys position in international
economy also determines womens position
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Capitalism in the Philippines
Proletarianization has yet to occur in aprofound way
For capital accumulation, capital must
revolutionize process of production andreleases labor in one sector for absorption inanother. But capital does not grow at asteady pace so labor not totally absorbed
(reserve army of labor, which depresseswages)
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Capitalism in the Philippines
Unlike in industrialized countries where capital is
more available, labor released not absorbed.
Dispossessed direct producers not always
employed as waged workers.
Magnitude of reserve army of labor high
Mass of impoverished people: peasants
smallholders, landless agricultural workers, workers
in pre-capitalist production
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Capitalism in the Philippines
Relation of capital to labor via profit extraction
that do not include wages: under-priced
goods and services and reproduction of
cheap labor power International and national political and
economic forces created uneven
development of the country and divisionsamong people
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Capitalism in the Philippines
Dominant forces at the global level structure our
economic development (IMF/WB, WTO, MNCs, G8)
Intensification of capitalist expansion and
accumulation of MNCs and their appropriation ofsurplus value (repatriate profits rather than reinvest
for local capital formation)
Labor-intensive operations carried out here,
preferential recruitment of women
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Capitalism in the Philippines
Large surplus population, wages at
subsistence levels, majority impoverished
Women in surplus population: housewives, in
subsistence agricultural work, informal sectorwork, casual/irregular work in formal sector
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Gender, class, and development
Perspective of poor oppressed women powerfulvantage point to examine effects of developmentprograms and strategies:
women constitute majority of the poor, socially and
economically disadvantagedwomens work, under-remunerated and undervalued,vital to the survival of all human beings
womens work in trade and services is widespread
(electronics, export production)
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Gender, class, and development
Gender and class determine womens experiences withprocesses of economic growth, commercialization, and marketexpansion
Post-colonial development processes are in the interests ofpowerful nations and classes, have vested interests in their
persistence Womens vulnerability reinforced by systems of male domination
that deny/limit access to economic resources and politicalparticipation, impose sexual divisions of labor that allocate themto the most onerous, labor-intensive, poorly-rewarded tasks
inside and outside the home, as well as longest hours of work
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Gender, class, and development
Gender-based subordination has limited womens
access to and control over productive resources
(land, credit, etc.), imposed sexual divisions of labor,
and curtailed mobility (varies across regions and
classes)
Impersonal forces in labor market have an impact
on womens access to resources, income,
employment, and sexual division of labor
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In the Third World
Patterns and processes in Third Worldcountries:
unfavorable structural location in international
economyvulnerability to the cycles and vagaries ofinternational trade
profound inequalities in resource ownershipand control over resources, access to incomeand employment
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In the Third World
deprivation of basic needs: adequate
nutrition, health, housing, water, energy,
sanitation, education
Partly the legacy of colonial systems ofsurplus transfer out of Third World and
reflects obstinacy of underlying structures
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Colonialism
Economic relations operate against interests ofdeveloping countries increasing vulnerability toexternal events and pressures
Economic and political structures of colonial rule
converted colonies into sources of cheap rawmaterials, food, labor, and markets for theirmanufactures. Drained resources and wealth,created export enclaves in agriculture, mining, etc.
and transformed self-provisioning communitiesthrough forced commercialization and introduction ofprivate property in land
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Colonialism
Colonial control suppressed manufacturing potentialin the colonies and destroyed traditional crafts andartisan production through imports of manufactures
Impoverishment, exacerbation of inequalities in
access to land, resources, and power, and thegrowth of powerful internal classes and groupswhose interest were linked to maintenance of anopen economy
Environmental degradation, demographic pressure,and land misuse
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Colonialism
Laid the basis for the particular position of
Third World countries in the world economy
Alienation of large segments of the
population from the land, or access underexploitative conditions, degradation of forests
and soils, resulting pressure on resources,
rapid growth of urban slums
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Colonialism
Growth of female poverty: women losttraditional use rights when private property inland was introduced, womens agricultural
labor unpaid, loss of work in traditionalmanufactures, women left behind by malemigration for work
Created and accentuated inequalities among
nations, and between classes and genderswithin nations
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Postcolonialism
Most Third World countries have retained many of
the dominant features of colonial era: persistence of
primary export enclaves, concentration on traditional
exports, and little growth in manufacturing sector
Prosperous commercial agriculture versus
marginalized semi-proletariat that can neither
subsist off its own landholding nor find adequate
employment
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Postcolonialism
Control over production, allocation, distribution in thehands of MNCs that subordinate national intereststo their own global profit and growth strategies
MNCs obtain generous terms for producing in free
trade zones, evade responsibility for environmentaland health hazards
Employment generation is slow since internationalcompetition dictates use of capital-intensive
production methods
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Postcolonialism
Few Third World governments have been
able to effectively counter internal pressures
from powerful groups or external pressures
from aid donors, multilateral institutions, orMNCs
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Effects on poor women
Womens access to land, labor, technology, creditand other agricultural production inputs haveworsened
Land reforms have reduced womens control over
land by ignoring their use-rights and giving landtitles to male heads of households Landless women predominate as seasonal, casual,
temporary laborers at lower wages than malecounterparts
Mechanization drastically reduces womensemployment and income
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Effects on poor women
Increased employment in certain export-orientedindustries but segregated into a narrow range ofoccupations, short-term with high turnover
Work in informal sector and sweatshops In comparison to absolute size of female workforce,
increase in industrial employment small Attempts to demand better wages, working
conditions, job security, advancement induce capital
flight
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Effects on poor women
Unpaid/poorly-paid family workers in home-based putting-out systems under exploitativeconditions of wages and work
In disproportionate numbers in petty trade,commerce, and services in the informalsector (low wages, uncertain employment,poor working conditions)
In informal sector: cannot accumulate theskills, networks, or capital to move out