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SOSC 102 U

Final Review

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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Feminist discourses on development

• Women in Development

• Women and Development

• Gender and Development Global South Feminist Perspectives

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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

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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)

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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

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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

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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)

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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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

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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)

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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?

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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

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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

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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

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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”

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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….

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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

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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

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Destination of inter-provincial marriage migration

Original provinces

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Transnational immigrant

labor

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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

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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

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Foreign domestic helpers

• Physical Labor

• Emotional Labor

• Private home becomes a contested domain…. “boundary work”

EmployersWorkers