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Globalisation & Women Movement in India

Presented on 17-10-07 at Workshop organised by INSAF at Nagpur

Prof. Vibhuti Patel, Director, PGSR(Head), Department of Economics

SNDT Women’s University, Smt. Nathibai Road, Churchgate,

Mumbai-400020

Phone-26770227®, (O)22052970 Email-vibhuti.np@gmail.com

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Globation-A Historical Context

Marked feature of neo liberal policy is enlightened self- interest activated through market forces.

Challenges before the people’s Movement

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The Asian Scenario South Asian (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri

Lanka, Nepal), South East Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia) countries, Indochina (Laos, Kampuchea and Vietnam) and China is flooded with Sweatshops, ghetto labour markets and stigmatised migrant workers.

ASEAN countries have recently discussed establishment of Special Economic Zones that would ensure flexibalisation of the labour force to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).

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New Forms of Plunder

Primitive accumulation in its classical form included plunder, slavery and colonialism, while primitive accumulation in the contemporary period includes sweat- shops, labour concentration camps and criminalisation of the working class.

In 1998, the world economy had 1.2 billion poor i.e. population with an income of less than 1 dollar per capita per day.

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Stabilisation Policies and SAP

As a result of Structural Adjustment Programme, sacked/ retrenched formal sector workers and employees are forced to work in the informal sector. Victims of Voluntary Retirement Scheme have downward economic mobility.

Rationalisation, mechanisation and automation have had labour reducing implications.

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Social Tensions

Massive Urban unemployment and rural underemployment and disguised unemployment have resulted into social tensions in terms of ethnic and religious chauvinism in several Asian countries.

Incidents of economic crimes have risen drastically.

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Ethnic & Communal Tensions

Co-existence of high wage islands in the sea of pauperised working class has enhanced human misery and social conflict in the context of massive reduction in the welfare budgets of the nation states in South Asia and South East Asia.

With rising ethnic and communal tension jeopardising economic activities, visible and invisible activities of underground extra-legal economy is displaying a tendency to expand.

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Dual Economy Model

INDIVIDUALS WITH SIMILAR LEVELS OF EDUCATION & SKILLS get differential wages due to casualisation of the workforce. Introduction of contract system in public sector has institutionalised neo-liberal dual economy model.

Racist Wage Policies

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Job & Wage DiscriminationImmigrants face job discrimination in

pre-entry phase & wage discrimination in post entry phase. They remain the first to be fired and the last to be hired.

Dualistic Models in the Asian region, promotes differentiation based on language, caste, religion, ethnic background and exclusion from informal network for upward economic mobility.

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External SectorMajority of the toiling poor rot in the external

sector in which real wages change at disparate rates.

Institutions like extended family, caste and village nexus play an important role in providing safety nets to migrant workers.

GHETTO LABOUR MARKETS Burgeoning GHETTO LABOUR MARKETS are

perpetuating the law of jungle in the industrial scenario. As a result a situation arises where legal apartheid faced by micro-entrepreneurs at the foot of the economy.

Workers in casual sector are predominantly young and single men and women, while workers in regular sector are older and married.

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Plight of the Poor

Segmentation begins in the rural areas where the asset-less poor in the margin of economy migrate to the cities.

Dual economy thrives on discrimination based on gender relations, caste, religion, mother tongue, parent’s education, family occupation, migration status and age.

1. Income differs widely between these segments.2. Mobility between them is limited

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Globalisation has enhanced patriarchal control over women’s sexuality, fertility and labour by superimposing commercial values on the conventional values throughout the world.

Feminist economists can play a crucial role in motivating the nation-states and the global decision-making bodies to be pro-active in furthering women’s entitlements in the households, economy and governance.

Women’s groups are making global effort to change macro-policies, programmes of the nation-state and actions at the local level by the government and non-government bodies.

In response to imposition of structural adjustment programmes and stabilization policies at the behest of International Monitory fund & World Bank, women’s movements across the national boundaries have been debating various strategies and tactics of transforming the Neo-liberal Development Paradigm.

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Rapid pace of globalisation has brought massive uncertainties in women’s lives. Multi-faced tragedies due to •marketisation of poor economies and commercialisation of human relations, •commodification of women’s bodies especially in sexual trafficking, advertisements and beauty-contests promoted by the Trans-national corporations (TNCs) and Multi-national Corporations (MNCs), •starvation deaths in the rural areas, •havoc played by onslaught of new reproductive technologies, of both pro and anti-natalist varieties, racist population control policies, sex selective abortions of female foetuses,•violating dignity and bodily integrity of women, armed conflicts, •increasing economic disparity, the feminisation of poverty, •disasters in the name of mega development projects resulting into massive displacement of peoples, stressful life leading to increasing violence against women, - the pandemic of HIV and AIDS, •persistent racism, casteism, sexism, chauvinism and extremism

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Fundamentalism has a connotation of a religious dogma that

aggressively furthers/ promotes, rather imposes traditionalist beliefs and practices, including patriarchal gender roles.

is oppressive because it asserts that women should be confined to care of home and children and must always submit to male rules and regulations.

insists that patriarchal control over women’s sexuality, fertility and labour are God given and should not be contested.

reinforces its ideology by using vehicles such as family and kinship networks, media, state apparatus, criminal justice system and cultural constructs.

a response to modernisation, socio-economic changes, demographic shifts and multiculturalism.

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Communalism: Then & Now Two centuries back, communalism had a

connotation of identity, based on community. In the post-colonial discourse, communalism is

understood as an antagonistic collective mobilisation on the basis of religion leading to the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan and recurrence of communal conflicts/riots and carnages.

Communal forces have strengthened their hold on important spheres of the state and civil society that include subversion of constitution and judiciary and communalisation of culture, media, religion and lifestyle.

Women are the major casualties in the bargain.

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Communal politics has always played the major role in determining rights and limits of women.

From the beginning of the constitutional debates, the question of personal laws that govern important areas of man-woman relationship viz. marriage, divorce, custody of children, guardianship rights, maintenance, alimony and property has remained controversial.

On the one hand, the constitution of India guaranteed equality to all its citizens irrespective of caste, class, religion and sex, while one the other, in the name of respecting all religions it formulated discriminatory family laws for women from different religions.

The majority communalists are demanding Uniform Civil Code from a Hindu perspective. The Hindu communalists' concern for Shah Bano's plight and its criminal indifference and abetment of Sati as in the Roop Kanwar case should be seen from this perspective to Hinduise the democratic norms of the Uniform Civil Code.

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Identity Politics & Women

This also creates genuine fear in the minds of minority communities that takes a perverse form in increasing rigidification and restrictions on women who are demanding gender-justice in the personal arena.

Globalisation of sectarian organisations-

PAN Hindu & PAN Muslim Identities

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Women, the last colony

Kumbh Mela & desertion of womenNRTs and Selective Elimination of

GirlsCommunal Riots & desertion of

women by family membersMarginalised communities

marginalising their own women further

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•World Social Forum and Regional Social Fora have provided democratic platforms for reflections on a just, sustainable & caring Global Economy.

•These deliberations have convinced us that Another World is Possible and globalisation also bears the promise and possibilities of furthering women’s rights and well-being.

•Gender sensitive strategic thinking can address practical and strategic gender needs of women. For example, more women in more areas of economic activities can be gainfully and justly employed. Information technology can enable women throughout the globe to share strategies, successes and stress-free and safe life.

•We should not forget that there is North in the South and there is South in the North. So we must strive for global solidarity and sisterhood of all women who are oppressed and exploited, degraded and dehumanised by the patriarchal class structure.

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Southern Women’s Perspectives

Feminists wedded to safeguard the entitlements of women have been trying to convince the international financial, economic and commercial institutions, namely, World Bank, International Monitory Fund, World Trade Organisation and Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development

to withdraw existing conditionalities and rules of economic globalisation, and

to stop covertly and overtly, promoting the interests of patriarchal class system, all over the globe, defending the interests of TNCs and MNCs and imposing unrestrained commodification, thereby resulting into concentration and centralization of economic, financial and political power in the hands of the few.

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Women and Employment

Some Areas of Concern

• Non enforcement of Laws and Schemes(MBA,

ERA,Crèche, EGS

• Violation of basic Human Rights in Informal

Sector(irregular,no social protection, ragpickers)

• No skills training

• Abuse in Special Economic Zones (FTZs, EPZs)

• Night work

• Sexual harassment

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Recommendations for Employment

Policy for Women’s Employment

• Proper Implementation of Laws, Schemes

• Law Reform(Maternity Benefit Act, Family

Leave,Sexual Harassment at Workplace)

• Legal Protection for Informal Sector- Umbrella

Legislation-Occupational Health & Safety

• Capacity Building and Training

• Social Audits of laws, rights

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Employment Guarantee Scheme and Maternity Benefits

The Employment Guarantee Scheme needs to be expanded and improved for urban workers. The focus of such employment schemes can be on building infrastructure, slum development and housing.

The National Renewal Fund should be extended to cover the unorganized sector and a substantial part should go into the retraining of workers.

Maternity Benefit for ALL working Mothers irrespective of the number of employees. Creches should be provided for children of all workers and not merely women workers irrespective of the number of employees. There could be a common fund for each industry.

Social Audit of Workers rights

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Recommendations for strengthening the SHGs :

Groups formed by experienced and trained NGOs or WDCs

should be given bank credit and loans.

Nurturing grants be released at regular intervals after review

and grading.

Pension-linked insurance scheme

Banks to release loans after examining sustainability for 5 years

subsidy be replaced by revolving fund

MIS be expanded to collect data on training and capacity

building.

state level agency to be appointed to train NGOs

initiatives and training to bankers for improving programme

delivery mechanism

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Property and Land Rights

• Need for a global campaign

• gender bias in property laws. Need for gender-just

family laws in matters such as marriage, divorce,

custody and guardianship of child, maintenance,

women’s right to stay in the parental or

matrimonial home

As per the UN

“Women constitute ½ of world’s population,

do 2/3 of world’s work, in return get 1/10 of world’s

income and 1/100 of world’s wealth.

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Social Audit of Budgets

•The Budget is an important tool in the hands of state for affirmative action for improvement of gender relations through reduction of gender gap in the development process. It can help to reduce economic inequalities, between men and women as well as between the rich and the poor.

•Pro-poor budgeting, bottom-up budgeting, child budgeting

• Green budgeting, local and global implications of pro-poor and pro-women budgeting

•Alternative macro scenarios emerging out of alternative budgets and inter-linkages between gender-sensitive budgeting and women’s empowerment.

•SC & Tribal Component plan must be judiciously executed.

•Women’s Component Plan to assure at least 30% of funds/benefits from all development sectors flow to women.

•Capacity building workshops for women in governance

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Recommendations

• Testamentary powers that deny the daughters rights

should be restricted

• Allow daughters full right of residence in parental dwelling

houses

• Women must be given ‘the right to residence’

• putting private household property in the joint names of

partners, with precautions against misappropriation by the

male partner

• 10% of all houses in the housing schemes(in both, public &

private sector) must be reserved for Women Headed

Households.

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Budgeting, Auditing and Planning

• budgetary policies to consider gender, class, caste dynamics operating in the economy and civil society.

• need to highlight participatory approaches to pro-poor budgeting, green budgeting, local and global implications of pro-poor and pro-women budgeting,

• Women’s Component Plan to assure at least 30% of funds/benefits from all

• Tax benefits be extended to women who are only earners in household.

• mandated approach of convergence of services at all levels of governance, through inter-sectoral committees of all Ministries/Departments at the Centre ,States with specific responsibility to Councils and Municipalities

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Affirmative Action

• Every ministry at the Centre and State levels to have a

women’s division

• Women and Child Development Department must be

separated

• Training and capacity building workshops for decision-

makers in the government structures, village councils,

parliamentarians and audio-visual media for planning,

budgeting, implementing and monitoring.

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•Strengthening of Public Distribution System (PDS)- Food

Security

•visibility of women in statistics and indicators-gender

disaggregated data

•Recognition of women’s work in the Systems of National

Accounts

•Access to critical resources ( fuel, fodder, water, health-

care, nutritious diet)

•Poor and WOMEN ARE ECONOMIC AGENTS

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Alternatives to Economic Globalisation (G) There have been two responses to G from the social movements:

a.            Humanise G by building in gender awareness. Think and act globally as well as locally. Promote multilateral trade and diplomatic relations to establish distributive justice and world peace. Revitalising economy through South-south Networking

b        Build local alternatives and quit WTO. E.g. Social movements rooted only in the local soil.

We must work with both tendencies, as the ultimate goals of both are the same- social transformation for a just, fair and caring society. Women’s rights organisations and social action groups were the most vociferous during the recently held Asia Social Forum against Trans National Corporation and Multinational Corporation driven G.

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Important issues for Global and local levelAdvocacy to Empower Women:

a.Strengthening of Food Security and Right to Food Top down and bottom up initiatives to stop malnutrition and starvation deaths created by stabilisation programmes resulting into withdrawal of state from food security commitments.

b. Public Health issues must be highlighted thro’ a national network, People’s Health Assembly. The Nation States should follow the UN mandate of 5 % of the GDP for budgetary allocation on the public health.

C.No to dumping of unsafe contraceptives for coloured and poor women.

d.Ban sex-selective abortions of female foetuses in South Asia and China.

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f. State Support for Women’s Education not only at the primary school level but also at the secondary and high school level. Forum for Child Care has demanded that one room of the school should be converted into crèche so that girls who have to look after their younger siblings can also join the schools. More budgetary allocation and actual funding for girls’ education.

g. Free Legal Aid and People’s Court: Justice and Peace Commission, a network of community organisations working in Mumbai provides free legal aid to poor women to deal with marital disputes, divorce, maintenance, custody of children, alimony, property, right to stay in the parental or matrimonial homes. This model must be replicated everywhere.

h. Housing Rights are the most important. NCHR demanded that in al1 housing societies and state supported housing schemes, 10 % houses should be reserved for female-headed households.

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i.Sanitation, Public toilets: There is an urgent need to take up the issues of urban sanitation in terms of higher budgetary provision from the state and municipal funding.

J.Safety nets for women in the subsistence sector of the economy in terms of loans, infrastructure, storage and transport and state subsidy and support price for agriculture, animal husbandry, dairy development, horticulture and floriculture.

k. Environmental Issues: Natural resources, being humankind’s common heritage, must be preserved for the use of actual and future generation with the perspective that each human being has an access to water, air, energy, etc. according to her or his needs.

l. Commercialisation and privatisation of these resources must be stopped. Biological diversity (flora, fauna, forests, ecosystems) must be preserved and indigenous women’s collective wisdom must be recognised, respected and valued.

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Fighting Communalism

Promotion of multicultural ethosStrong local, regional and global

networksAlternate MediaSecular educationFestival celebrations with plural

perspectiveWorkshops on unlearning communalism

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Decision Making for the Global Governance: •We will have to change the direction of globalisation that has rendered the toiling masses faceless and devoid of dignity.

•We can see the human face of globalisation only when we are able to reduce the North South Gap in the quality of life. Women decision-makers across the globe must strive collectively and see to it that resources and fruits of development and economic prosperity are distributed justly among countries, within countries and among all human beings thereby eliminating poverty.

•This will ensure everyone access to food and nutrition, shelter, health services, safe transportation, right to information, education, justice, culturally rich leisure-time activities.

•To deal with this crucial task force, we will have to evolve high levels of participatory democracy in governance so that we can improve lives and freedoms of peoples in all parts of the globe.

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Think & Act ,Locally & Globally.

Thank you