CAPITAL MARKET

Is a market in which money is provided for periods longer than a year as the raising of short-term
funds takes place on other markets e.g money market.
ECONOMIC INTEGRATION
Is the merging to various degrees of economies and economic policies of two or more countries
in a given region.
FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT
Is associated with investment in developing countries by the multinational corporations(MNC).
GENDER
Is defined as an analytical concept which focuses on women’s roles and responsibilities in
relation to those of men.
PRODUCTIVE WORK
Refers to the production of goods and services for consumption and trade.
REPRODUCTIVE WORK
Refers to the maintenance and care of household.
MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS
Are enterprises that operate in more than one country i.e. they have subsidiaries beyond their
country of origin.
GROSS DEMESTIC PRODUCT
Is the total final output of goods and services produced by the country’s territory, by residents
and non-residents, regardless of its allocation between domestic and foreign claims.
CULTURE
Culture is the whole complex of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional
features that characterize a society a or social group it include not only the art and letter, but also
mode of life, the fundamental rights of the human being, value system, tradition and beliefs.
(MOCD ).

TECHNOLOGY is the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or method of
an organization in order to
Technology is also defined as a process by which humans modify nature to meet their needs and
wants.

Page
1
GLOBALIZATION

Globalization is the integration of national economies into the international economy through
trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration and the spread of technology.

Page
2
INTRODUCTION

“Globalization describes an on going process in which regional economies, societies and culture
have become integrated through a net work of communication and execution”. Globalization is
not a new phenomenon. It begun in the 16th century, when, “the first great expansion of
European capitalism took place. This is the time when the first circumnavigation of the earth
took place between 1519 and 1521. It begun with the establishment of the international date line
and world time zone together with the adoption of the calendar between 1875 and 1925. During
this period, international standards were also agreed for telegraphy and signaling” (Partner
2003). Technology for high speed global communications appeared in the 19th century, with the
advent of intercontinental telegraph lines. This period also saw the emergence of global
commodity market, global brand names, a global monetary regime- in the form of the classical
gold standard and global association in several social movements, including labor and women
activities (Scholte A.). In the late 19th century there was a high level of international trade,
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and permanent cross-border migration.

The current wave of globalization has been driven by policies that have opened economies
domestically and internationally. In the years since the Second World War, and especially during
the past two decades, many governments have adopted free-market economic systems, vastly
increasing their own productive potential and creating myriad new opportunities for international
trade and investment. Governments also have negotiated dramatic reductions in barriers to
commerce and have established international agreements to promote trade in goods, services, and
investment. Taking advantage of new opportunities in foreign markets, corporations have built
foreign factories and established production and marketing arrangements with foreign partners.
A defining feature of globalization, therefore, is an international industrial and financial business
structure. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word 'globalization' was first
employed in a publication entitled Towards New Education in 1952, to denote a holistic view of
human experience in education. An early description of globalization was penned by the founder
of the Bible Student movement Charles Taze Russell who coined the term 'corporate giants' in
1897although it was not until the 1960s that the term began to be widely used by economists and

Page
3
other social scientists. The term has since then achieved widespread use in the mainstream press
by the later half of the 1980s. Since its inception, the concept of globalization has inspired
numerous competing definitions and interpretations, with antecedents dating back to the great
movements of trade and empire across Asia and the Indian Ocean from the 15th century
onwards. Globalization is not a new phenomenon. It began towards the end of the nineteenth
century, but it slowed down during the period from the start of the First World War until the
third quarter of the twentieth century. This slowdown can be attributed to the inward-looking
policies pursued by a number of countries in order to protect their respective industries...
however, the pace of globalization picked up rapidly during the fourth quarter of the twentieth
century. Therefore, this paper looks at Globalization and its implication on Gender relations.

DEFINITION OF TERMS

GLOBALIZATION

The United Nations ESCWA says globalization "is a widely-used term that can be defined in a
number of different ways. When used in an economic context, it refers to the reduction and
removal of barriers between national borders in order to facilitate the flow of goods, capital, and
services and labour... although considerable barriers remain to the flow of labor....."
GENDER
Is defined as an analytical concept which focuses on women’s roles and responsibilities in
relation to those of men or it can also be defined as psychological or cultural concept which
refers to one’s subject feeling of female or maleness. It can be said to be socially determined
roles of men and women. It describes the characteristics of men and women which socially
determined. Apartment from our biological roles what a man can and what a women can do.
(Gender Policy 2003)

Globalization that is the integration of national economies into the international economy
through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration and the spread of technology.
It is the short hand way of describing the spread and connectedness of production,
communication and technologies across the world. This spread involves the interlacing of

Page
4
economic and cultural activity. It can also refer to the effort of international monetary fund
(IMF), World Bank and others to create a global free market for goods and services. It involves
the diffusion of ideas, practices and technologies. It is something more than international and
universalization. According to Giddens Anthony (1990),”globalization is the intensification of
worldwide social relations which link distance localities in such a way that local happenings are
shaped by events occurring many miles away and vice versa.”

This process has effects on the environment, culture, political systems, economic development
and prosperity, and human physical well-being in societies around the world. Basically
globalization is an upshot of advances in transportation, communication, and information
technologies. Ideally globalization describes the growing political, economic, technological, and
cultural linkages that connect individuals, communities, businesses, and governments around the
world. Tom G. Palmer defines globalization as "the diminution or elimination of state-enforced
restrictions on exchanges across borders and the increasingly integrated and complex global
system of production and exchange that has emerged as a result."

Thomas L. Friedman has examined the impact of the "flattening" of the world, and argues that
globalized trade, outsourcing, supply-chaining, and political forces have changed the world
permanently, for both better and worse. He also argues that the pace of globalization is
quickening and will continue to have a growing impact on business organization and practice.[

However, globalization is usually recognized as being driven by a combination of economic,

technological, socio-cultural, political, and biological factor. The term can also refer to the
transnational circulation of ideas, languages, or popular culture through acculturation. An aspect
of the world which has gone through the process can be said to be globalized. According to T.L.
Friedman 1999:78 writes that globalization is an inexorable integration of markets, nation-states,
and technologies to a degree never witnessed before in a way that is enabling individuals,
corporations to reach around the world further, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before the
spread of free

MAIN DIMENSION OF GLOBALIZATION

Page
5
Globalization is a complex multidimensional phenomenal but most of its visible and influential
aspects are economic in nature. It is mainly economic though it “encompasses other thing such
as, the international flow of ideas and knowledge, the global environmental movement” (stiglitz,
2006). Economy is the one which drive all the other aspects of globalization. Economy was
among the first aspect of globalization. People wanted to expand their economy; hence, they
started moving round the world looking for raw materials for their expanding industries and
markets for their industrial products. By definition economic globalization entails the closer
economic integration of the countries of the world through the increased flow of goods and
services, capital and even labour. As people trade they come to mingle hence they learn and
embrace other cultures. Also the aspect of language comes in because for people to trade and
agree they have to understand each other and this is only possible if they speak the same
language, therefore need to learn different languages.

In the capitalized economy people do not want to waste time so that they can improve on their
production. This makes them to embrace other culture such as fast foods because they think fast
food save time which they can use in production to improve their economy. There is also
integration in ideas and knowledge because they want to compete favorably. They want to learn
how those nations which are doing well managed their economy so that they too can be at the
same level. People want to be moving faster and improve on their way of communication so that
their trade can be fast, efficient and effective. Hence, they come up with technology to help in
achieving their goals. Through technologies such as internet, they are able to communicate,
advertise and sell their services and goods with in a shortest time no matter the distance and
location. They are over coming geographic barrier.

In addition, globalization can be said to be mainly economic because almost every person or
nation want to integrate on the global scale so as to improve their economy. Developing
countries are liberalizing their economy and opening their nations for foreign capital and others
because they believe that it is one way in which they can improve their economy. According to
Wikipedia, to remain globally competitive, they have to pursue the path to economic
liberalization. Therefore globalization in this century has proceeded along two main lines trade
liberalization (the increase of circulation of goods) and financial liberalization (the expanded
circulation of capital). Nations have come to embrace all aspects of globalization because they

Page
6
want capital for their industries and market for their products. They invite foreign capital and
Multination Corporation and foreign direct investment to boost their GDP. According to free
term paper (2010) the value of trade (goods and services) as a percentage of worlds GDP
increased from 42% in 1980 to 62.1% in 2007 due to economic globalization.

Todaro (2009) said that “developing countries are importing and exporting more from each
other, as well as from the developed countries, and in some parts of the developing world
especially East Asia but notably Latin America as well, investments have poured in from
developed countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. Developing
countries are embracing all these trends just because of economic development. Formal process
of trade liberalization has been key to the encouragement of globalization. As we have seen,
there have been a significant series of “rounds” of the trade negotiation through the general
agreement on tariffs and trade.

The world is globalized and increasingly interdependent. Dependence on rich nations is a stark
fact for developing countries at the same time developed world ,which at once prided it self on
its apparent economic self-sufficiency, has come to realize that in an age of dramatically
increased capital flows, diminishing natural and mineral resources, global environmental threats,
accelerated international migration, burgeoning world trade in manufactures and services, and
new form of geopolitical tension, it is becoming ever more economically dependent on the
developing world (Todaro 2009). Therefore, we can say globalization is more of economic than
any other as in most cases it is being talked about in terms of increasing integration of national
economies into global market and resources flow.

OTHER DIMENSIONS OF GLOBALIZATION

Apart from economic dimension which revolve around such problems as free trade, and
institution of free markets versus national protection or the problem of political economies of
state, where by the state adjust their function to expanding role of industrial and financial market.
Globalization has powerful political, culture technological and social dimensions. Castells states
that it is a new brand of capitalization that has three fundamental features. Due to political

Page
7
policies and change in culture, people come together and interact in their business. The coming
of aircrafts, ships and other means of transport has made it possible for people to move around
the global and made it seem as a small village. Goods and services move from one nation to
another and continent to continent.

SOCIAL DIMENSION

Social dimension of globalization refers to the impact of globalization on the life and work of
people, on their families and their societies. It is concern with the impact of globalization on
employment, working conditions, income and social protection. Beyond the world of work,
social dimension encompasses security, culture and the identity, inclusion or exclusion and
cohesiveness of families and communities. Some people argue that the present model of
globalization has exacerbated problems of unemployment, inequality and poverty, while others
contend that globalization helps to reduce them.

CULTURAL DIMENSION

Culture is most commonly used in three basic senses: excellence of taste in the fine arts and
humanities, also known as high culture. Cultural dimension is an integrated pattern of human
knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social
learning. It also refers to the set of shared attitudes, values, goals and practices that characterizes
an institution, organization or group. The increasing global interconnectedness has helped to
produce a kind of homogenous mass culture (mostly American and English language) (WHO ).
These same dynamics have led to the mixing of many different cultures and societies, helping to
produce a new multiculturalism. The cultural dimension of globalization also deals with gender
issues, question of identity, and the social construction of reality, as well as the production and
consumption of media. Cultural globalization has made cultural influence to be obvious in the
westernization of so much of popular culture in music, clothes, and life styles and so on. For
example today the single largest export industry for the United States is not aircraft, automobile,
computers but entertainment –Hollywood films and television (Partner 2003). This is so because
of cultural globalization. Some people blame it for increasing risks of behaviors such as
smoking and alcohol consumption, increasing social conflicts, loss of identity, dislocation and
dissatisfaction while others argue that greater cultural exchange is likely to increase tolerance

Page
8
and understanding. More access to information can “create life styles and social changes with
health benefits such as gender equality, greater respect for human rights, less stigmatization for
people living with HIV/AIDS” (WHO).

TECHNOLOGICAL DIMENSION

The technological dimension of globalization refers primarily to the advancement of New

Information Communication Technologies (NICTs) which has fueled the communication and
information revolution of recent years; and new production technologies which have produced
efficiencies in production and created the so-called “post-fordist” era of manufacturing.( World
Commission). It includes everything from the internet and mobile phones, which have done
much to create the “interconnectedness” of the world, to improved logistics systems, which have
enabled industries worldwide to function more efficiently and profitably, to modern agronomic
practices, which are restoring infertile lands and opening up new opportunities in agriculture.

POLITICAL DIMENSION

The political dimension refers primarily to the decline of the sovereign state, which is due to the
rise of multinational corporations, but also due to globalization’s ties with neoliberalism.
Neoliberalism calls for the less interventionist state in both economic and social arenas, and its
adherent, who have been in power at the world bank and international monetary fund for the
sovereign state to set economic policies, decentralization of government, shifting power from the
sovereign to the more local, and reduction of the role of the state by increasing the role of the
private sector in most areas of economic and social life.

DRIVING FORCE OF GLOBALIZATION

Economics has been the driving force of globalization; especially through the lowering of
communication and transportation cost (Stiglitz 2006). They lower communication and
transportation costs so as to motivate a lot to trade at the global market. As we can see today, the
main problem which governments are facing is how to attract new investment. They want to
create jobs and promote sustained economic growth. They compete for capital therefore striving
for superiority through variation in their interest rate or their rate of exchange, and through the
competitiveness of their markets. They want capital so that they can improve on their

Page
9
economical status. In addition, the world has become capitalist as nations believe that the ever-
increasing financial movement can reward savings and productivity and that strengthening the
country’s economy. During the 1990s over 50 developing countries have created capital
markets. They free themselves from government-controlled economies and go looking for
capital to take off. For example, the increasing budget deficits of United States, Europe and
Japan have triggered an additional demand for capital where by China is having US$1 Trillion in
America treasury bonds. Further more, those who have capital are throwing it to the world
market and through a world wide network of computerized communication, it circulates freely in
search of the maximum profit. “Today almost two trillion US Dollars moves around the world
every day, seeking not the best production but the best return on speculation” (Partner 2003).

GENDER

The concept of gender refers to the social and cultural constructs that each society assigns to
behaviors, characteristics and values ascribed to men and women, reinforced by symbols, laws
and regulations, institutions, and perceptions. The concept of gender on the other hand,
encompasses all aspects of human relations and welfare. It is used to understand the social and
personal relations between man and woman, as well as how the concepts of femininity and
masculinity are constructed as regards to health, education, political, technology and
employment.

Giddens A (1989) defines gender as the culturally specific pattern of behavior, either actual or
normative, which may be attached to the sexes. It refers not to physical/biological differences but
to the social relations between men and women. Gender refers to the social roles of men and
women in society and to the manner in which these roles and their different status are
constructed. Gender relations are based on social and cultural habits and traditions and reflect the
structure and distribution of power in society.

Moore (1988:2) in Touwen A (1996:17) describes the process of gender as moving from a phase
in which the male bias’s was discussed and women’s activities were central on the very meaning
of development in the light of persistent gender disparity all over the world. This led to a greater
awareness which grew in order to integrate gender analysis not only in policy-making, in
programmes and projects, but also in evaluations and impact analysis. It may also refer to the

Page
10
socially determined roles and responsibilities of women, men and children. Gender is related to
how we are perceived and expected to think and act as women, men or children because of the
way society is organized (opcit).

Gender issues highlight the position of both men and women in relation to the means of
production and livelihood in society. Although the roles of women and men vary from culture to
culture, there is no instance of a society in which females are more powerful than males, their
role are generally valued and rewarded than women s roles, yet society as a system is inter
linked with parts which when in balance produce social solidarity

Gender: An analytical concept which focuses on women’s role and responsibilities in relation to
those of men. Gender can also be defined as a psychological or cultural concept which refers to
one’s subjective feeling of femaleness or maleness. Gender can be said to be socially determined
roles of men and women. It describes the characteristic of men and women which are socially
determined. Apartment from our biological roles what a man can do and what a women can also
do (Gender policy, 2003). The discourse of development has been fundamentally transformed by
the introduction of gender analysis, and it is now no longer possible to construct an analysis of an
economy or a society, at micro or macro levels, which is gender-blind. This is because men and
women have sharply different social and economic roles, differential access to income and
resources, different economic behaviors, including different patterns of consumption and
expenditure, and are subject to different legal arrangements. Even in societies where there is de
jure equality, for example, of pay or employment or property rights, these differences
nevertheless remain as significant features of economic and social life. To attempt to understand
economic and social change without incorporating an explicit gender analysis is therefore an
exercise in futility.

Just as gender analysis must pervade the development discourse in order to arrive at an
understanding of social change, so it might have been anticipated that the advent of globalization
would similarly transform development thinking. The impact of globalization on gender relations
is pervasive, in some societies it directly affects most households, and its implications are far-
reaching for every aspect of people’s lives now and in the future, and its effects are felt in every
sector at every level.. , promoting gender equality implies a profound change in socio-economic

Page
11
organization of societies not only in the way women work, live and care for other members of
the households but also in the way men do, and in the way their respect roles in, the family and
community are articulated.

In the same vein, it would suffice to mention that the world is unique for every human being, but
in general, women’s lives vary greatly from those of men because of patterns of socialization
related to gender. In terms of the environment, women around the would play distinct roles in
managing plants and animals in forests, dry lands, wet lands and agriculture, in collecting water,
fuel and fodder for domestic use and income generation. By so doing, they contribute time,
energy skills and personal visions to the family and community development. Women’s
extensive experience therefore makes them an invaluable source of knowledge and expertise on
environmental management and appropriate actions

By and large the importance of women in relation to environment and development can not be
over –emphasized. Women’s roles as users, producers and managers of the earth’s resources
make women interact more with the environment than men. However, this force can only be
realized with the empowerment of women in this global environment

Taking the discussion to another dimension Andrews, (1988:126) argues that the women’s
inferiority in the society can be defined based on the degree of women’s access to and control
over material resources (Food, Land, Income and other forms of wealth) and social resources
(knowledge power and prestige) within the family in the community and in the society at large.
The foregoing dimension is the premise upon which in many societies researches argue that
women are subjects of inferior standing through the practice of religion, education, socio
economic standing and political ideology. Finally, in relation to women and the environment
Elemu (2006:30) envisages that women comprise over half of the world’s population and as such
make the major contribution to the well-being and sustainable development of their communities
and nations, and to the maintenance of the earth’s ecosystems, biodiversity and natural resources.
A number of publications have highlighted that a gender perspective on environment and
development calls for a specific focus on the contributions, needs and visions of women, as their
positions have been neglected in environmental arena.

Page
12
IMPLICATIONS OF GLOBALIZATION ON GENDER

Globalization has positive and negative implications on gender in relation to economic,

technology, social, cultural and political.

ECONOMIC

The World Development Report (2000) draws attention to the strong reactions provoked by
globalization, both positive and negative. According to this report globalization is praised for the
opportunities and impacts on gender it brings, such as equal access to business markets and
transfer, but it is also feared and condemned because of the instability and risks that can
accompany it. Foreign investment and international competition can help poor economies to
modernize, increase their productivity and raise living standards. At the same time, it can
threaten the livelihoods of workers of any gender, undermine banks and destabilize whole
economies especially when flows of foreign capital overwhelm them. The globalization process
thus offers opportunities, as well as challenges for human development.

Scientific and technological progress does not merely make people’s lives more convenient and
prosperous; it has also brought huge changes to how society itself operates. Two clear examples
in recent years of society undergoing a major change are Globalization and the Information
Technology revolution. This sudden acceleration of globalization can be traced to the end of the
Cold War in 1989, when the political restraints against the international movement of people and
goods were relaxed, and when the nations of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe
abandoned communist-led economies, resulting in expansion of the world’s capitalist markets, as
well as to the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, which served to
strengthen the world’s free trade and investment systems. These developments form the
backdrop for advances in energy and materials technologies, which have led to the appearance of
larger scale, faster transport systems, to dramatic progress in information technologies, and to
other advances in science and technology (World Bank, 2003).

Page
13
Furthermore, technology as a broad concept, deals with a species usage and knowledge of tools
and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its environment. In human
society, it is a consequence of science and engineering, although several technological advances
predate the two concepts. This rapidly advancing globalization has greatly expanded the realm of
individual activities, with international exchanges on a global scale becoming ever more
common at all levels of society, from individuals to corporations and regions. The result has
been an expansion of trade and investment, and economic development on a worldwide scale,
but even more than that, there has been a steady change in the nature of international society
itself. In other words, the nation-state once constituted the only entity in international society,
and was the medium through which different societies interacted. While the nation-state remains
the most important entity, in recent years different levels of societies are increasingly interacting
directly with each other without going through nation-state mediation at all.

Globalization has thus served to boost people’s prosperity, and to broaden their range of
activities, to the point that the very nature of international society is changing. This trend has also
given rise to issues that society has never faced before. For example, the advance of
globalization has led to the need for new policies that span international borders, including rules
for governing electronic commercial transactions, and better responses to international organized
crime (McLuhan and Corley, 1997). At the same time, the development of international mutually
dependent relationships has strengthened ties crossing international borders, so that even such
issues as employment, which have previously been considered as purely domestic, must now be
treated as issues for the global economy. Progress in energy and materials technologies has given
rise to a variety of new transport modes, such as the railroad, the automobile, and the airplane,
vastly improving human mobility in terms of both time and space. These advances in mobility,
joined with inventions in the area of telecommunications technology, such as the telephone and
radio, have served to broaden the range of human activities and to expand the scope of human
exchanges.

Henceforth, the underlying principles of development paradigm and gender equity, which
underpins development goals and strategies, demand policies that are, among other things, pro-
environment, pro-poor and pro-innovation. Simultaneous progress in many area of globalisation
with respect to how it impacts on gender in relation to science and technology policy should

Page
14
therefore be at the core of a viable strategy aiming at achieving broad-based economic growth
and sustainable development in the world (Lewis, and Man, 1984).

Globalisation has impacted positively on gender in relation to technology by emphasising the

need to incorporate both men and women in the development, acquisition and use of technology
in general by increasing on the need for technological advancement and facilitating the access of
all peoples is different countries to best technology. It has made the integration of all sexes, male
or female in the productive and technological sectors of any country’s economy. Increases in
world trade, particularly in the services, has increased the involvement of women in the various
occupations and professions of the services sector. Women around the world have made
impressive inroads into professional services such as law, banking, accounting, and computing;
in tourism related occupations; and in the information services, including offshore airline
booking, mail order, credit cards, word-processing for publishers, telephone operators, and so on.
The word-trade in services also favours women’s labour migration in contrast to the demand for
male labour in manufacturing industries during earlier periods of industrialization in Europe and
United States. The ageing population in the developed countries and the corresponding decline in
the state provision of welfare services indicate that the demand for female labour from the
countries of the south as care gives will continue to be on the rise in the years to come.

Though, it cannot be argued categorically that globalization has touched all sexes in the last few
years, but whether the extent of globalization can be taken as yardstick for measuring extent of
transformation of the world into a gender sensitive global village is beyond scholarly doubt and
needs no preamble. Perception of people in terms of turning the world into global image is
occasionally reflected in the contents of cinema or books. But this decrement in the amount of
time, taken by people to communicate with each other, along with leading to enrichment of
social values also proposes some terrifyingly negative aspects, the most apparent descendant
being terrorism (Saul, 2005). While the concept of a village basically nurtures the assumption
that people live in constant communication, enhancing their political, social and materialistic
development, this concept, by any stretch of imagination, does not entertain any malicious
intrusion in the realms of religious and spiritual life.

Page
15
Globalisation has increased the need for massive entry of women into the workforce around the
world coincides through the political mobilization of women and the expansion of women’s
organizations of all types. The continued sentiments for the fact that investment in human
capabilities enhances the growth potential of an economy and that disinvestment lowers it have
led to the elimination of all forms of discrimination against Women. The other relentless impact
of globalisation on gender in relation technology is the promotion of active exchange of
information between countries and within sectors to raise awareness about needs and
requirements of the market, available technology, training and credit. Lewis and Man (1984)
have argued that globalisation has been at the core of assisting exporting developing nations, in
line with the directives and guidelines of the World Trade Organisation, in attaining and
maintaining compliance with the rules and regulations of the global marketplace, in particular in
the areas of promoting gender balanced participation of people in developing countries, quality
assurance and technology.

Needles to add, globalisation through being devoid of respect for any particular gender, has also
led to development of competitive products in terms of price, quality, delivery, duties,
regulations, preferences, currencies, reputations, meeting or better exceeding internationally
agreed standards due to improved technology. Globalisation has introduced inclusive and
progressive stimulation of people despite their gender and thus impacted positively on gender in
relation to education, technology and general economic development (McLuhan and Corley,
1997).

In the expanding reach of new communication technologies, the use of technology for the
empowerment of women can been noted as impressive. For example, many women world-wide
are making effective use of Internet and e-mail for development purposes such as networking,
advocacy, dissemination and exchange of information, and creative e-commerce initiatives
designed to help local artisans and producers market their products globally. Nevertheless, it
must be recognized that millions of the world’s poorest women and men still do not have access
to these facilities. Issues such as cost, location bias, and time constraints pose impediments to the
diffusion of these technologies. Mechanisms need to be developed to avoid new forms of
exclusion and isolation.

Page
16
Globalisation has also led to technology being widely applied, used and sought after. It is in this
view that globalisation can also be said to have made technology as a very broad and competitive
field which offers employment to millions of people globally. Employment opportunities in
information processing work – particularly in the services sector – have opened up novel
opportunities in some developing countries, for women as well as men. Telematics-related
distance work likewise represents new opportunities since it offers a wide range of modes of
working, from home-based tele-working to employment in tele-centres or tele-cottages. These
modes of working offer flexibility in location and hours of employment and thus can overcome
some of the constraints facing women. This gender empowerment has not only impacted
positively on the strengthening of the fight for gender equity in relation to technology and
education, but has also significantly contributed to the average economic growth of most
countries (McLuhan and Corley, 1997).

Saul (2005) has gone one step further and states that, “Instead of tending towards a vast
Alexandrian library the world has become a computer, an electronic brain, exactly as an infantile
piece of science fiction. So, unless aware of this dynamic, we shall at once move into a phase of
panic terrors, exactly befitting a small world of tribal drums, total interdependence, and
superimposed co-existence.” In addition, a small review of the pervasive discrimination of many
ethnic cultures still prevalent in many affluent societies might change our views. Finally, it can
also be noted that while some people are ceaselessly exploring the boundaries of universe, in the
name of globalization and technological advancement, their strategy always seems to be centred
on exploitation of people on the other end, for fulfilling their selfish means.

Globalization today is much more than technology. The advances in technology have both
facilitated and been affected by new economic strategies a position that strongly promotes
market-led decision-making, or what we commonly term neo-liberalism. The contribution rate of
science and technology to economic increase influenced by capital and labour is determined also
by two factors: one is the flexibility of the amount of capital and labour, and the other is the
flexibility of output of capital and labour. McLuhan (1996) notes that although the contribution
rate of science and technology is obtained indirectly through the contribution rate of capital and
labour, it suggests the same reason. Scientific input mainly includes the input of scientific

Page
17
resources and personnel which reflects the strength of science and technology while the output
flexibility of scientific element input reflects the level of efficiency and scarcity degree of that
production element. It is closely related to science and technology accumulation caused by
previous scientific and technological development as well as the rational arrangement of capital,
labour and science and technology (Chen, 2002).

Beck (1992) points out that through globalisation, technological advances have taken aboard
both genders and created the impression of a global village in an effort to realise accelerated
development. This is still yet to achieve a more humane behaviour pattern across the globe. The
hallmark of life in a village is the closeness and the resultant neighbourliness, compassion and
sympathy between all the inhabitants despite the gender differences. Through technological
advancement, the world is definitely shrinking in terms of accessibility of information and ease
in communication, globalisation is thus evidently possible and viable. Emerging global trends are
also significantly altering the spatial and cross-border flows of labour. Globalization has created
labour demand patterns which inherently favour short-term, temporary employment. As a result,
a short-term contracted labour migration appears to be on the rise with distinct gender
differentiated consequences. Women, whose labour has low opportunity cost in the market and
who are socially considered to be flexible labour are entering into new labour engagements more
so than ever before.

On the other hand, globalisation can also be realised to have had some negative implications on
gender. As indicated in the 1999 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development quoted in
the Human Development Report (1999), in the age of globalization, Governments’ policy
choices have shifted in favour of gender openness of trade and financial flow. Policies calling for
lighter regulation of industry, privatization of state-owned enterprises and lower public spending
have characterized the programmes of governments around the world. Liberalization policies
coupled with technological advances in communications accelerated the impact of economic
integration, thus eroding conventional boundaries particularly that of the national state (UNDP,
1999).

Page
18
In many instances, governments proceeded with deregulation without the introduction of new
forms of regulation to ensure the observance of social protection and provisioning of needs. This
increased the risks of globalization for many social groups. Recent studies such as Human
Development Report (1999) suggest that economic growth fostered by recent liberalization
policies can be accompanied by increased gender inequality and a decline in living standards. As
the East Asian crisis has revealed, failures in financial markets can cause severe dislocations in
the real economy around the globe.

The Survey also points out that the cultural, political and social correlates of increasing
international integration has also been profound. Populations around the world are being
familiarized through economic exchanges and exposure to advertising, the media and tele-
communications, to a culture of instant gratification through material consumption. Additionally,
globalization is tied to momentous political changes of the present era such as the rise of gender
identity politics, transnational civil society, and new forms of governance and universalization of
human rights (UNDP, 1999).

In conclusion therefore, a few turns in the right direction regarding the need to have a gender
inclusive world development agenda, supported by the need for vision, and indispensable
requirement of mutual-dependence, may lead us in the direction of making this world a family, a
place where every individual gets due respect and privileges irrespective of their gender.

Economic – the economic effect can be viewed as the realization of a global common market,
based on the independence of exchange of goods and capital. The interconnectedness of these
markets, however, meant that an economic collapse in one area could impact other areas. With
globalization, companies can produce goods and services in the lowest cost location. This may
cause jobs to be moved to locations that have the lowest wages, least worker protection and

Page
19
lowest health benefits. For Industrial activities this may cause production to move to areas with
the least pollution regulations or worker safety regulations.

POLITICAL

Globalisation in its totality and the nature in which it has entered itself has resulted in the
interaction and integration of people, products, cultures and governments between nations
around the globe. This kind of interaction has not left out the political sector in which gender
relations have been affected.

POLITICAL CHANGES.

The role of women and men has been affected due to political changes which try to adapt to the
philosophy of globalisation. The philosophy of globalisation is seen to affect gender in the way it
is being harmonised. Globalisation is being affected outright globally regardless of the level and
advancement of a given country’s political maturity. This means that a country like Zambia with
the young and untested kind of democracy is expected to interact and share their ideas with the
highly developed country in terms of democracy like the United States of America (U.S.A). With
the envy and administration of their democracy, Zambian men and women may feel inferior to
participate on global issues. The world bank, world development report(1999-2000) draws
attention to the strong reaction provoked by globalisation both negative and positive such as
political instability and risks which affect humanity(2000;12).

This means that globalisation offers both opportunities as well as a challenge to human
development. In the face of globalisation in many instances governments in governance and
politics have proceeded with deregulation or restructuring without the introduction of new forms
of regulations to ensure social protection and the provision of the needs of women and men. For
instance many developing countries like Zambia came at a time when fewer were qualified
enough to take up such challenging roles. This has resulted in many areas appointing unqualified
staff just to make the 30% representation of women talks.

Page
20
POLITICS AND LOCAL TRADITIONS.

Globalisation is also tied to momentous political changes of the present era, such as the rise of
identity politics, transnational civil society, and new forms of governance and universalism of
human rights. These political movements had negative implications on the local cultures where a
woman is expected to be very obedient to her husband. These brought confusions when women
demanded for equal rights with their husbands and this was almost taken as a taboo by most
traditional societies in developing countries were traditional attachments are predominant. On the
other hand this globalisation helped women who were or who are constantly abused by their
husbands.

The integration and interaction which is as a result of globalisation has created significant gender
differences and disparities with respect to decision making and participation. According to the
SUN (1999), gender inequality and discrimination in all parts of the world, women can be
affected negatively by globalisation process to a greater extent. Women however have continued
to resist the adverse effects of globalisation and to seek and improve their positions. ‘It is also
possible that entirely new forms of global governance will be created that more gender
awareness and focus on human development (UNDP 1999).

We would also want to recognise fact of peace keeping which has resulted from globalisation.
Men and women are deployed in foreign countries to help bring peace to countries with political
instability. Undertaking such activities comes with it many risks especially in situations where
lives are lost. Since these individuals may be away for a longer period of time regardless of
gender, it becomes very disturbing for the families left behind; in short it disrupts family unity.
On the other hand, this has helped a lot of countries which are unable to resolve their disputes.
This is because if these countries were not helped to resolve their conflicts, the civil wars can
never cease.

Women in various communities throughout the developing nations have created self-help groups
that might provide a springboard to transformation if women were redirected towards strategic
gender needs as well as towards their practical gender needs(Elson;1992). A good example of
women support groups formed are organisations such as NGOCC,FAWEZA,WILSA and such

Page
21
organisations which have fought for things like thirty percent(30%) women representation in all
decision making positions which include politics.

Although women cannot prevent their husbands leaving, they have joined together to address the
problems in the public sector, including housing, schools, nurseries, transport, social security and
hospitals.

However, it has been observed that poor women and men are unable to gain adequate access to
the resources. Women, children and men are suffering from this inequality, as well as the effects
of economic globalisation.

From the above mentioned points, community support groups have been somewhat successful in
their attempt to implement and influence certain decisions. It is important to note that the degree
to which survival and transformation strategies can be successful depends on what heavily
happens in the international community.

The U.N decade sparked the development of global feminism where women of the north and
south came up to discuss the commodity of their lives and about to develop a global perspective
with each of the movements on all the issues that attended the decade discussed the male bias in
development that fails to consider women’s needs. Women have continued to be under-
represented as members of the national parliament desire that they always make up over half of
the electorate. Breines (1990;51) asserts that, ‘challenge is how to convince more men about the
importance of gender equality and that empowering women would not lead to the dis-
empowering of men’’.

WOMEN IN POLITICS

The impact of globalisation on women especially on the political scene needs to be assessed
critically with there already multiple roles as productive and reproductive labour in their families
as well as their contribution towards overall community cohesion and welfare. Because of these
deep rooted differences in gender roles the impacts of globalisation are felt quite differently
between women and men. With globalisation which demand more women participation- politics
globally it entails that women would bet over burdened with a lot of responsibilities which would

Page
22
now encompass the political scene. In this way globalisation can in many ways have a greater
impact on women in developing countries.

POLITICAL INEQUALITIES

Globalisation raises a lot of troubling concerns in many different ways on the political sector as
regards to gender. It may accentuate political inequalities across the countries, however on the
brighter note it could also help bridge the gap between women and men in politics through world
recognised programmes such as the international women’s day which aim at empowering
women. In this way the progress of women in politics can be properly coordinated and timely
implementation of its strategies. Todaro (2009:5890 asserts that “a faster diffusion of productive
ideas, can help countries through cultural, social, political and scientific technological changes”.
It should be noted and mentioned that initially gender disparities in politics where high before
globalisation started to take its root, mabazi; (2005:115) points out that many women hesitated to
enter politics despite the clear openings, because among other things, not many women were
educated. Eventually with the global sensitization through non-governmental organisations and
international human rights organisations support for women’s education, more and more women
began to enter politics. Despite their progress, however their involvement in politics is still very
low. Through such global exchange of idea’s political gender balance could be realised.

Another growing concern of the increased interconnection of all kinds by national governments
and its people directly is the process that affects everyone in the world. It may lead to more rapid
growth of political knowledge for all citizens, such as in democracy or the world by being too
interdependent to engage in global war. This is because politics nowadays have very little chance
to be peaceful, as a result due to its interdependent the wars may affect all countries involved.

It should be noted and mentioned that initially gender disparities in politics where high before
globalisation started to take its root, mabazi; (2005:115) points out that many women hesitated to
enter politics despite the clear openings, because among another things, not many women were
educated. Eventually with the global sensitization through nom-governmental organisations and
international human rights organisations supports for women’s education, more and more women
began to enter politics. Despite their progress, however their involvement in politics is still very
low. A more and truly gendered approach of globalisation should be carefully sort and practiced

Page
23
especially in relation to politics and take seriously on long held altitudes about appropriate male
and female behaviours.

CULTURE

The simple definition of culture is, a way of life of a particular people. Jagdish (2005) defines
culture “as patterns of human activity and the symbols that give these activities significance.
Culture is what people eat, how they dress, the beliefs they hold, and the activities they practice”.
It is imperative to also define globalization in terms of cultural perceptive. In terms of culture,
Sukhdev (2006) defines globalization as the world wide distribution (sale) of material goods,
cultural products such as movies, music, toys, videos, news, media, dressing and food habits,
communication skills and languages, of some services such as transport, hospitality,
accountancy, consultancy, so on and so forth. Some scholars have concluded that globalization is
a social-political ideology seeking to re-enact colonialism.

Globalization has affected almost every aspect of life in every nation. It has affected people’s
cultural behavior in different ways. People are changing their living ways. For instance, everyone
in the world wants to talk (slang) and behave like Americans do. Surprisingly, the cultural
influence of globalization is not considered by policy makers, its influence greatly affects people
in different parts of the world, for instance the food that we eat.

FOOD

Food is one of the greatest carriers of globalization, the way it is prepared, the way it is served
and consumed. It diminishes the traditional beliefs of people. In Africa, and Zambia for instance,
fast foods like Pizza, sausage and chips, fried chickens, burgers, hotdogs, samusas etc were not
usually considered main meals or food for lunch. But due to the integration of the global
economy and cultural exchanges as well as the rapid influx of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI),
more foreign restaurants providing international menus have been opened in Zambia e.g. Hungry
Lion, Nandoos, Chicken licken, etc.

In America, fast food restaurants like McDonalds, introduced fast foods in foreign countries.
According to William Gould (1996), before the introduction of McDonald’s overseas “fast food

Page
24
was almost unknown. McDonald was the first company to try to export America’s love of fast
food and changes in eating habits of other nations”. He continues to say that “by eating like
Americans people all over the world are beginning to look like Americans at least in one
respect.” The trend of eating outside the home means that people consume more calories, less
fiber and more fat. This has created a movement away from a family oriented dining to
individual dinning.

DOMINANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Globalization encourages both men and women to scramble for global products (brands
including English as a global language). English is now being marketed as a global product;
English Language Teaching (ELT) has become an industry. To cope with the situation, a huge
monetary and intellectual investment goes into English Language Teaching (ELT) on the globe
notes, (Sukhdev 2006). For instance, in Zambia, due to globalization or the integration of the
economy to the international community, many families especially those from the middle class
and the upper class send their small children to preschools, nursery and baby schools so that they
can learn the English language. As a result, as children enter grade one; they already know how
to speak English. In addition, English is the only official language or medium of instruction in
Zambian schools. Further, English is used in almost all public gatherings such as the church,
funerals, bars, markets, buses and trains etc. The implication is that grandmothers and grand
fathers can no longer communicate with their grand children, cannot tell tales in their mother
tongue language. All cultural attributes have been eroded by foreign styles.

In India, during British colonial rule English was introduced and then imposed by the British as
the language of enlightenment and governance. English in India became “the sine qua non for the
scholar, the job seeker, and the affluent in the society” (Sinha 1978:80). The government
withdrew financial support to the Indian educational institutions and Indian languages. Thus
Indian education systems were destroyed and Indian languages bore a major setback. On the
other side, English language became powerful and new schools and colleges teaching western
subjects in English language were set up. “This change… meant that any Indian who aspired to a
role in public life or private business had to imbibe of western knowledge.

Page
25
According to Desai (1956) there are more number of English medium schools, more number of
publishers of English books, more number of English newspapers, and magazines, more number
of teachers and students, more number of writers of creative texts, information and coffee table
books than there were in the past and there are now in any Indian language. Those who can
afford education in English have opted to use English in academic learning. Thus the number of
English medium schools has increased. Even those who have studied through Hindi or any other
Indian language, and have improved their social and financial position, send their children to the
English medium schools. Surely the motivation is pragmatic: English will help them in social
life.
This is the extent to which culture has been broken due to globalization. Women and men must
use the English language if they want to improve their social standing and move at the same pace
with the rest of the world.
STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT PROGRAMMES (SAPs) AND CULTURE
The effect globalization has had on culture and gender is immense and diverse. It has affected
people's cultural behaviours in different ways. With the introduction of SAPs, countries open up
their economies freely to the global market and its forces, reduce the role of governments in the
economy to that of supporting the market and private enterprise; and leave the determination of
prices of goods, currencies, labour, as well as the allocation of resources to the operation of the
market.(common council of churches). This affected women in that they started cross border
trade. This meant that children in this case are left out of parental care and the number of rape
cases on young children has become an alarming cause of concern. According to the common
council of churches, In Zimbabwe alone, there is an average of four reported cases of rape every
day. In other cases there have been reports of married women getting involved in extra-marital
affairs once they cross the border while the spouses they have left behind indulge in the same,
complicating and worsening the AIDS pandemic situation.

SAPs further degenerated Cultural values in that children no longer sit around the fireplace in the
evening to listen to stories that promote the values of respect, integrity, peace, love and unity,
even in the rural areas where this sort of environment would fit best. People - men, women and
children - are all engrossed and embroiled in the struggle for survival - the struggle to get a bowl
of mealie-meal to fill the tummy at least for the day.

Page
26
MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS
Opening up the economies to the global market means breaking up cultural barriers in all aspects
of our lives to suit the rest of the world. The advent of multinational companies in other
economies especially African economies, have created a huge and indelible impact in our culture
and gender relations. Todaro and Smith (2003:669) says “multinationals carry with them
technologies of production, tastes and styles of living, managerial philosophies, and diverse
business practices…” The following is how Multinational companies have affected culture and
gender:
a) Technology transfer-traditional methods of production such as those in farming are
gradually becoming outdated in Africa and other developing countries due to the rapid
transfer of technology. The traditional culture of using tools such as hoes for tilling the
land, harvesting maize, planting maize all these are being replaced by tractors, combined
harvesters and planters. This means that the workforce in the farm is reduced. Men and
women can have time to do other jobs. Women can have enough time to do reproductive
jobs such as cook, nurse and clean their surroundings.
b) Globalization has also affected the way people communicate. The introduction of mobile
phones, internet, facsimiles, telex, computers, radios etc has brought the world together.
People are slowly shunning the traditional way of writing and posting letters through the
post office due to delays. They use the internet because it is instantaneous. In towns and
villages especially in LDCs, before people used to travel long distances to deliver
messages but now mobile phones are used instead.
c) A complete taste and styles of living have changed. The sale of a shirt made outside
Zimbabwe is more certain than a locally manufactured one. "Import" is the in term.
Ladies who wear perfume from Paris and shoes from Italy tend to receive more respect
than those wearing a locally manufactured brand. Children in rich families are too busy
involved in video games, international schools that offer English and other "international"
languages, television and movies whose content is 90% from outside the country. This is
not just in Zimbabwe alone but in most LDCs. In Zambia, local languages on television
are given just one hour per day the rest is dedicated to English and alien productions and
the contents of the movies do not conform to African culture. Africans, Asians, can now
hug and kiss in public.

Page
27
SONGS, DANCE AND DRESS

Songs, dance and dress are also the major attributes of culture that have been affected by
globalization. Local music production and rhythm and dance have been replaced by western
styles. The American styles as regards songs, dance and dress have dominated the world
especially among the youths. Songs done by TUPAK (late), Michael Jackson (late), Celine Dion,
Brandy and others have dominated the airwaves in the entire world. Aptet (1976) notes that “the
youth prefer the western beats to the local artists and hair styles, shoes and clothing keep to the
trends on the western fashion scene.” This therefore, entails that Africans and other countries can
no longer teach young ones through traditional music and dance. Young men and women have
adopted the American and British way of dress: the jean culture; miniskirts, etc.

DELAYED MARRIAGE AMONG YOUTHS

Marriage ceremonies follow western values and procedures. Men and women have to be in a
relationship or courtship for much longer period than before. Before the spread of western
procedures young men and women in LDCs used to marry at a tender age; such as at 19 or even
20. This means that other factors such as beauty, education, background or socioeconomic status
were not relevant. On the other hand, globalization today, as noted by Shobha (2006) demands
that transitions to adult roles such as work, marriage and parenthood are occurring at later stages
in most parts of the world as the need for preparing for jobs in an economy that is highly
technological and information based is slowly extending from the late teens to the mid-twenties.
Additionally, as the traditional hierarchies of authority weaken and break down under the
pressure of globalization, the youth are forced to develop control over their own lives including
marriage and parenthood

Culture is not static but dynamic. It is only proper that old practices and beliefs should be
hindered from progressing. Only progressive ideas and practices should prevail if the world has
to advance. Cultural exchanges between countries have made it possible for technology to
spread. Old ways of communicating such as sending boys or girls to dispatch a somber message

Page
28
or sounding drums to signify the death of someone in the village, has been replaced by mobile
phones and the internet, radio, television etc. United Nations Division for the Advancement of
Women notes that “Due to the expanding reach of new communication technologies the use of
technology for the empowerment of women has been impressive. For example, many women
world-wide are making effective use of Internet and e-mail for development purposes such as
networking, advocacy, dissemination and exchange of information, and creative e-commerce
initiatives designed to help local artisans and producers market their products globally.”

Women can no longer be confined to stereotype or inferior jobs such as reproductive or un paid
jobs, they can now perform challenging jobs such as engineering, medicine as in female doctors
and all those tasks that were previously performed by men only. Women can do business, can
travel outside the country to do business, can fly a plane and do other challenging tasks. This is
all because of the diffusion of culture.
SOCIAL

The social aspect basically is concerned with the well-being of people in society, what
contributes to its well-being and its social structures. This may include such things as Health,
employment, gender relations, family, housing, education and many others.

HEALTH

In the face of globalization , health has become a commodity. In developing nations under the
demand of structural adjustment programs, health systems are fragmented and privatized.
According to Afshar and Barrientos (1999), global health policy makers have shifted during the
1990s from the United Nations players to financial institutions. The result of this power
transition is an increase in the privatization in the health sector. This privatization fragments
healthy policies by crowding it with many players with many private interests. These policies
usually require reduction in health and child-care services. That means that women must assume
even greater responsibilities in these areas. This problem has affected a lot of women especially

Page
29
with those with financial problems. When pregnant, women need a lot of medical attention and
care. This becomes difficult because each visit they make, they have to pay. Privatization of the
health sector has a bad impact on everyone especially on women.

EFFECT ON EMPLOYMENT

One of the most significant social effects of the new global international economy has been the
enormous numbers of women joining the economically active populations of all countries, both
as wage-earning employees and as self-employed workers. Women have, of course, traditionally
carried out socially productive work in the household and in childcare, in cultivation of the land
and in the paid activities of the man/head of the family. The new factor is that the majority of
women in nearly all the industrialized countries and a rapidly rising proportion in the urban
economies of the developing countries have joined the employment market. In both developed
and developing countries, women’s participation to labor force has been high. That involves
mainly because of the world’s changing economic, social and cultural structure; changing family
structure, changing the perception of life has all contributed to this trend (Borja and Castells,
1997). .

Women in almost all countries work more hours than men. This is so because women work in
both reproductive and productive work, for instance a woman in formal sector will do the
productive work (at her work place) and when she goes home will be doing reproductive work
(house chores and caring for children). The informal sector characterized by long hours, bad pay
conditions and non-existent organization. In Bangkok in 1984 some 45 per cent of people in
employment (Afshar 1999, p: 182).Accordingly, the migrant flow accelerated in the 1980s and
the early 1990s with Bangkok City continuing to be an important destination. A recent study by
(Afshar, 1999) based on 1990 census samples from the National Statistic Office, indicates that
part of the increased demand for labor in export-led growth in the 1980s, particularly in
Bangkok, was met by female migrants. Between 1985 and 1990 there were 87 male migrants for
every 100 female migrants to Bangkok. Large numbers of young female migrants also entered
the sex industry in urban areas to supply the demands of the growing tourist trade.

Page
30
 Additionally, the rural-urban migration streams have sex ratios that reflect the growing
significance of young women (aged 15–25) in the occupational categories of private employees,
unpaid family workers and those not in the labor force. As women become older they tend to be
excluded from formal occupations and are concentrated in sales and service occupations working
as self-employed or as unpaid family workers.

EFFECT ON GENDER RELATIONS

The significant gender differences and disparities with respect to decision-making powers,
participation, and returns for effort that prevail in different societies need to be taken into
account when responding to the forces of globalization. The globalization process has brought
about gender inequalities in most societies. Because of these gender inequalities and
discrimination in all parts of the world, women are affected negatively by globalization processes
to a greater extent than men (Fernandez: 1994). On the other hand, there can be significant gains
for women with globalization. At the policy level, the impact of globalization on women and
gender relations continues to be neglected nationally and internationally. Entities of the United
Nations system are taking steps to integrate the goals of macro-economics with those of social
development. Yet more remains to be done to integrate gender equality dimensions in their
normative, policy and operational work so as to ensure the continuing leadership of the system in
promoting gender equality, development and peace within the context of globalization.
Therefore, it is important to systematically monitor the gender impact of change so that the goals
of gender equality and the expansion of human capabilities are not sacrificed.

The shock of market fluctuations, yet another immediate impact of integration into global
markets with intensifying effects on poverty, is also absorbed by poor women by working harder
both inside and outside the household. In many instances, women combine home making and
piece working with reproductive activities in the household and rely more extensively on the use
of children’s labor for domestic work, households’ production and cash earnings.

By and large, the adjustment costs associated with economic restructuring in many countries
have increased the economic hardship for the poor. The human damage caused by economic

Page
31
deprivation in terms of one’s capabilities and future prospects in life, is greatest for those who
are least prepared to withstand it, i.e. poor women. In the long run, the impact of the shifting and
adjustment costs onto society’s most vulnerable groups results in disinvestment in human
capabilities with far reaching effects on society at large.

EFFECT ON FAMILY

Long working hours, relatively lower wages, the mass of influx of women into paid work,
insecure working conditions in the globalized economies have lead to family breakdown. In
many countries-developed and developing-divorce rates are rising and fewer couples are getting
married (Vicker, 1991). This is because globalization has had contradictory effects when it
comes to questions of sexual freedom and reproductive rights, in particular a woman's right to
choose if and when to have children. On the one hand, the mass influx of women to the
workforce has resulted in a real shift in attitudes to sexual activity outside marriage in a wide
range of countries, including some which were formerly notoriously repressive. On the other
hand, the 'race to the bottom' has seen global capitalism unwilling to provide even minimal
protection for the important role played by women in bearing the next generation of workers.
Many women see their children and their ability to have children as a threat to profits rather than
a contribution to society.

Changes in women's relationship to production have lead to changes in their family relationships
and attitudes to family life, sex and sexuality. The sheer number of women who are now
economically independent and living in cities away from the claustrophobic prying of rural small
minds almost inevitably means more sexual activity outside marriage. This, combined with the
widespread availability of contraception--especially the pill which women can take with or
without the knowledge of a partner--means women have no reason not to have sexual
relationships on a fairly equal basis with men. It also means that women are increasingly
unwilling to remain in relationships that are abusive or not supportive, or where the man is not
pulling his weight (ibid).

This shows that globalization has led to the disunity of families because most marriages end in
divorce, children have to be divided or go to separate homes. In addition to this, women living

Page
32
alone as a result of divorce often do not have the skills to compete in the job market as they have
generally spent their married lives managing a home and family too busy to gain the formal
qualifications and skills required for well paid jobs (Little, 1994). This is one of the most
important social effects of the new type of economy which is globalised.

EFFECT ON HOUSING

Women experience more difficulty than men in becoming owner occupiers in their own right.
Female-headed households (either women living alone or single mothers) are generally poorer
than male-headed household since women continue to earn, on average, significantly less than
men and frequently employed on a part time basis-especially when they have child-rearing
commitments. Women living alone as a result of divorce often do not have the skills to compete
in the job market as they have generally spent their married lives managing a home and family
too busy to gain the formal qualifications and skills required for well paid jobs(Little, 1994).

There has been a significant increase in the number of households headed by a woman. It is
estimated that one-third of the world’s households are headed by women. In urban areas,
particularly in Latin America and Africa, the figure exceeds 50 per cent ...and globally, the
phenomenon is on the increase (Borja and Castells, 1997).70 per cent of the world’s 1.300
million poor are women (UNDP, 1995).And what is more, the criteria for eligibility for
subsidized housing are based on regular income from formal employment, while women’s
income often comes from casual work and unstable jobs. Housing policies in societies subject to
rapid processes of cultural and demographic change should be adapted to take account of the
increasing diversity of types of household: traditional nuclear families, people living alone,
adults sharing accommodation, and families composed of a woman or women and children.

EFFECT ON EDUCATION

Page
33
Education is an important investment in building human capital, that is a driver for economic
growth and technological innovation. It is only through improving the Education status of the
society that the muilti-faceted development is ensured. Therefore, education as a social structure
contributes positively to the society. Globalization has brought about a lot of changes in the
inter-sectoral priorities in the allocation of resources leading to the misconceived policy of
downsizing of higher education. It has also advocated privatization of higher education without
realizing the danger of making the system a commercial enterprise.

Globalization has led to unregulated and poor quality higher education, with the world wide
marketing of fraudulent degrees or the so called higher credentials.

Despite these negative effects of globalization on the education sector, it has brought about
positive effects that favor women. In the past, only men were required to go to schools. A girl
would be intelligent but would be stopped to go to school to let her young and older brothers to
go to school. But with the coming of globalization, women have been given chance to go to
school and reach their full potential thus contributing positively to the society. Good policies
such as re-entry policies have allowed women who fall pregnant while in school are allowed to
go back to school. There is the introduction of distant education to allow those at home to get
educated and also introduction of night schools which was not the case before globalization.

Under conditions of globalization the limits on the states ability to provide social protection,
provisioning of needs and human capital investments has become more strained. This poses a
major challenge to poverty eradication programs and the efforts to respond to the needs of the
less visible segments of the population especially women and children, in responding to their
right to basic services and development of their capabilities.

The withering away of the welfare state and increasing cost of social services has constituted a
uniformly negative outcome for poor women, in developed and developing countries alike. The
shift of societal costs of reproduction and maintenance of labor power and other welfare
provisions from the public sector to a sphere where these costs are no longer visible, i.e. the
household, is made possible by increasing women’s workload within the household.

Page
34
Political dimension of globalization- Political use of the term globalization implies, the creation
of a world government which regulates the relationships among governments and guarantees the
rights arising from social and economic globalization Politically, the United States has enjoyed a
position of power among the world powers, in part because of its strong and wealthy economy.
With the influence of globalization and with the help of the United States’ own economy, the
People's Republic of China has experienced some tremendous growth within the past decade. If
China continues to grow at the rate projected by the trends, then it is very likely that in the next
twenty years, there will be a major reallocation of power among the world leaders. China will
have enough wealth, industry, and technology to rival the United States for the position of
leading world power.

But policy and technological developments of the past few decades have spurred increases in
cross-border trade, investment, and migration so large that many observers believe the world has

Page
35
entered a qualitatively new phase in its economic development.. Distinguishing this current wave
of globalization from earlier ones, author Thomas Friedman has said that today globalization is
“farther, faster, cheaper, and deeper.”

Technology has been the other principal driver of globalization. Advances in information
technology, in particular, have dramatically transformed economic life. Information technologies
have given all sorts of individual economic actors—consumers, investors, businesses—valuable
new tools for identifying and pursuing economic opportunities, including faster and more
informed analyses of economic trends around the world, easy transfers of assets, and
collaboration with far-flung partners.

Globalization is deeply controversial, however. Proponents of globalization argue that it allows

poor countries and their citizens to develop economically and raise their standards of living, while
opponents of globalization claim that the creation of an unfettered international free market has
benefited multinational corporations in the Western world at the expense of local enterprises,
local cultures, and common people. Resistance to globalization has therefore taken shape both at
a popular and at a governmental level as people and governments try to manage the flow of
capital, labor, goods, and ideas that constitute the current wave of globalization.

To find the right balance between benefits and costs associated with globalization, citizens of all
nations need to understand how globalization works and the policy choices facing them and their
societies

Takis Fotopoulos argues that globalization is the result of systemic trends manifesting the market
economy's grow-or-die dynamic, following the rapid expansion of transnational corporations.
Because these trends have not been offset effectively by counter-tendencies that could have
emanated from trade-union action and other forms of political activity, the outcome has been
globalization. This is a multi-faceted and irreversible phenomenon within the system of the
market economy and it is expressed as: economic globalization, namely, the opening and
deregulation of commodity, capital and labour markets which led to the present form of
neoliberal globalization; political globalization, i.e., the emergence of a transnational elite and
the phasing out of the all powerful nation-state of the statist period; cultural globalization, i.e.,

Page
36
the worldwide homogenization of culture; ideological globalization; technological globalization;
social globalization

Effects summary

Globalization has various aspects which affect the world in several different ways. These effects
include the following:

• Industrial - emergence of worldwide production markets and broader access to a range of

foreign products for consumers and companies. Particularly movement of material and
goods between and within national boundaries.
• Financial - emergence of worldwide financial markets and better access to external
financing for borrowers.

• Job Market- this can also be observed as competition in a global job market. A look at the
past, shows that the economic fate of workers was tied to the fate of national economies.
With the advent of the information age and improvements in communication, this is no
longer the case. Because workers compete in a global market, wages are less dependent
on the success or failure of individual economies. This has had a major effect on wages
and income distribution.

• Health Policy – when viewed on global scale, health is observed as a commodity. An

analysis of developing nations under the demands of Structural Adjustment Programs,
show that health systems are fragmented and privatized. Privatization fragments health
policy by crowding it with many group of actors with many private interests. Hence forth
these fragmented policy players stress partnerships and specific interventions to combat
specific problems (as opposed to comprehensive health strategies). Influenced by global
trade and global economy, health policy is directed by technological advances and
innovative medical trade. Moreover global priorities, in this situation, are sometimes at
odds with national priorities where increased health infrastructure and basic primary care
are of more value to the public than privatized care for the wealthy.
• Globalization is not new, though. For thousands of years, people—and, later,
corporations—have been buying from and selling to each other in lands at great

Page
37
 distances, such as through the famed Silk Road across Central Asia that connected China
and Europe during the Middle Ages. Likewise, for centuries, people and corporations
have invested in enterprises in other countries. In fact, many of the features of the current
wave of globalization are similar to those prevailing before the outbreak of the First
World War in 1914.
• The World Development Report (2000) draws attention to the strong reactions provoked
by globalization, both positive and negative. According to this report globalization is
praised for the opportunities and impacts on gender it brings, such as equal access to
business markets and transfer, but it is also feared and condemned because of the
instability and risks that can accompany it. Foreign investment and international
competition can help poor economies to modernize, increase their productivity and raise
living standards. At the same time, it can threaten the livelihoods of workers of any
gender, undermine banks and destabilize whole economies especially when flows of
foreign capital overwhelm them. The globalization process thus offers opportunities, as
well as challenges for human development.
• Scientific and technological progress does not merely make people’s lives more
convenient and prosperous; it has also brought huge changes to how society itself
operates. Two clear examples in recent years of society undergoing a major change are
Globalization and the Information Technology revolution. This sudden acceleration of
globalization can be traced to the end of the Cold War in 1989, when the political
restraints against the international movement of people and goods were relaxed, and
when the nations of the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe abandoned communist-
led economies, resulting in expansion of the world’s capitalist markets, as well as to the
establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, which served to
strengthen the world’s free trade and investment systems. These developments form the
backdrop for advances in energy and materials technologies, which have led to the
appearance of larger scale, faster transport systems, to dramatic progress in information
technologies, and to other advances in science and technology (World Bank, 2003).
• Furthermore, technology as a broad concept, deals with a species usage and knowledge of
tools and crafts, and how it affects a species' ability to control and adapt to its
environment. In human society, it is a consequence of science and engineering, although

Page
38
 several technological advances predate the two concepts. This rapidly advancing
globalization has greatly expanded the realm of individual activities, with international
exchanges on a global scale becoming ever more common at all levels of society, from
individuals to corporations and regions. The result has been an expansion of trade and
investment, and economic development on a worldwide scale, but even more than that,
there has been a steady change in the nature of international society itself. In other words,
the nation-state once constituted the only entity in international society, and was the
medium through which different societies interacted. While the nation-state remains the
most important entity, in recent years different levels of societies are increasingly
interacting directly with each other without going through nation-state mediation at all.
• Globalization has thus served to boost people’s prosperity, and to broaden their range of
activities, to the point that the very nature of international society is changing. This trend
has also given rise to issues that society has never faced before. For example, the advance
of globalization has led to the need for new policies that span international borders,
including rules for governing electronic commercial transactions, and better responses to
international organized crime (McLuhan and Corley, 1997). At the same time, the
development of international mutually dependent relationships has strengthened ties
crossing international borders, so that even such issues as employment, which have
previously been considered as purely domestic, must now be treated as issues for the
global economy. Progress in energy and materials technologies has given rise to a variety
of new transport modes, such as the railroad, the automobile, and the airplane, vastly
improving human mobility in terms of both time and space. These advances in mobility,
joined with inventions in the area of telecommunications technology, such as the
telephone and radio, have served to broaden the range of human activities and to expand
the scope of human exchanges.
• Henceforth, the underlying principles of development paradigm and gender equity, which
underpins development goals and strategies, demand policies that are, among other
things, pro-environment, pro-poor and pro-innovation. Simultaneous progress in many
area of globalisation with respect to how it impacts on gender in relation to science and
technology policy should therefore be at the core of a viable strategy aiming at achieving

Page
39
 broad-based economic growth and sustainable development in the world (Lewis, and
Man, 1984).
• Globalisation has impacted positively on gender in relation to technology by emphasising
the need to incorporate both men and women in the development, acquisition and use of
technology in general by increasing on the need for technological advancement and
facilitating the access of all peoples is different countries to best technology. It has made
the integration of all sexes, male or female in the productive and technological sectors of
any country’s economy. Increases in world trade, particularly in the services, has
increased the involvement of women in the various occupations and professions of the
services sector. Women around the world have made impressive inroads into professional
services such as law, banking, accounting, and computing; in tourism related
occupations; and in the information services, including offshore airline booking, mail
order, credit cards, word-processing for publishers, telephone operators, and so on. The
word-trade in services also favours women’s labour migration in contrast to the demand
for male labour in manufacturing industries during earlier periods of industrialization in
Europe and United States. The ageing population in the developed countries and the
corresponding decline in the state provision of welfare services indicate that the demand
for female labour from the countries of the south as care gives will continue to be on the
rise in the years to come.
• Though, it cannot be argued categorically that globalization has touched all sexes in the
last few years, but whether the extent of globalization can be taken as yardstick for
measuring extent of transformation of the world into a gender sensitive global village is
beyond scholarly doubt and needs no preamble. Perception of people in terms of turning
the world into global image is occasionally reflected in the contents of cinema or books.
But this decrement in the amount of time, taken by people to communicate with each
other, along with leading to enrichment of social values also proposes some terrifyingly
negative aspects, the most apparent descendant being terrorism (Saul, 2005). While the
concept of a village basically nurtures the assumption that people live in constant
communication, enhancing their political, social and materialistic development, this
concept, by any stretch of imagination, does not entertain any malicious intrusion in the
realms of religious and spiritual life.

Page
40
• Globalisation has increased the need for massive entry of women into the workforce
around the world coincides through the political mobilization of women and the
expansion of women’s organizations of all types. The continued sentiments for the fact
that investment in human capabilities enhances the growth potential of an economy and
that disinvestment lowers it have led to the elimination of all forms of discrimination
against Women. The other relentless impact of globalisation on gender in relation
technology is the promotion of active exchange of information between countries and
within sectors to raise awareness about needs and requirements of the market, available
technology, training and credit. Lewis and Man (1984) have argued that globalisation has
been at the core of assisting exporting developing nations, in line with the directives and
guidelines of the World Trade Organisation, in attaining and maintaining compliance
with the rules and regulations of the global marketplace, in particular in the areas of
promoting gender balanced participation of people in developing countries, quality
assurance and technology.
• Needles to add, globalisation through being devoid of respect for any particular gender,
has also led to development of competitive products in terms of price, quality, delivery,
duties, regulations, preferences, currencies, reputations, meeting or better exceeding
internationally agreed standards due to improved technology. Globalisation has
introduced inclusive and progressive stimulation of people despite their gender and thus
impacted positively on gender in relation to education, technology and general economic
development (McLuhan and Corley, 1997).
• In the expanding reach of new communication technologies, the use of technology for the
empowerment of women can been noted as impressive. For example, many women
world-wide are making effective use of Internet and e-mail for development purposes
such as networking, advocacy, dissemination and exchange of information, and creative
e-commerce initiatives designed to help local artisans and producers market their
products globally. Nevertheless, it must be recognized that millions of the world’s
poorest women and men still do not have access to these facilities. Issues such as cost,
location bias, and time constraints pose impediments to the diffusion of these
technologies. Mechanisms need to be developed to avoid new forms of exclusion and
isolation.

Page
41
• Globalisation has also led to technology being widely applied, used and sought after. It is
in this view that globalisation can also be said to have made technology as a very broad
and competitive field which offers employment to millions of people globally.
Employment opportunities in information processing work – particularly in the services
sector – have opened up novel opportunities in some developing countries, for women as
well as men. Telematics-related distance work likewise represents new opportunities
since it offers a wide range of modes of working, from home-based tele-working to
employment in tele-centres or tele-cottages. These modes of working offer flexibility in
location and hours of employment and thus can overcome some of the constraints facing
women. This gender empowerment has not only impacted positively on the strengthening
of the fight for gender equity in relation to technology and education, but has also
significantly contributed to the average economic growth of most countries (McLuhan
and Corley, 1997).
• Saul (2005) has gone one step further and states that, “Instead of tending towards a vast
Alexandrian library the world has become a computer, an electronic brain, exactly as an
infantile piece of science fiction. So, unless aware of this dynamic, we shall at once move
into a phase of panic terrors, exactly befitting a small world of tribal drums, total
interdependence, and superimposed co-existence.” In addition, a small review of the
pervasive discrimination of many ethnic cultures still prevalent in many affluent societies
might change our views. Finally, it can also be noted that while some people are
ceaselessly exploring the boundaries of universe, in the name of globalization and
technological advancement, their strategy always seems to be centred on exploitation of
people on the other end, for fulfilling their selfish means.
•

• Globalization today is much more than technology. The advances in technology have
both facilitated and been affected by new economic strategies a position that strongly
promotes market-led decision-making, or what we commonly term neo-liberalism. The
contribution rate of science and technology to economic increase influenced by capital
and labour is determined also by two factors: one is the flexibility of the amount of
capital and labour, and the other is the flexibility of output of capital and labour.
McLuhan (1996) notes that although the contribution rate of science and technology is

Page
42
 obtained indirectly through the contribution rate of capital and labour, it suggests the
same reason. Scientific input mainly includes the input of scientific resources and
personnel which reflects the strength of science and technology while the output
flexibility of scientific element input reflects the level of efficiency and scarcity degree of
that production element. It is closely related to science and technology accumulation
caused by previous scientific and technological development as well as the rational
arrangement of capital, labour and science and technology (Chen, 2002).
•

• Beck (1992) points out that through globalisation, technological advances have taken
aboard both genders and created the impression of a global village in an effort to realise
accelerated development. This is still yet to achieve a more humane behaviour pattern
across the globe. The hallmark of life in a village is the closeness and the resultant
neighbourliness, compassion and sympathy between all the inhabitants despite the gender
differences. Through technological advancement, the world is definitely shrinking in
terms of accessibility of information and ease in communication, globalisation is thus
evidently possible and viable. Emerging global trends are also significantly altering the
spatial and cross-border flows of labour. Globalization has created labour demand
patterns which inherently favour short-term, temporary employment. As a result, a short-
term contracted labour migration appears to be on the rise with distinct gender
differentiated consequences. Women, whose labour has low opportunity cost in the
market and who are socially considered to be flexible labour are entering into new labour
engagements more so than ever before.
• On the other hand, globalisation can also be realised to have had some negative
implications on gender. As indicated in the 1999 World Survey on the Role of Women in
Development quoted in the Human Development Report (1999), in the age of
globalization, Governments’ policy choices have shifted in favour of gender openness of
trade and financial flow. Policies calling for lighter regulation of industry, privatization of
state-owned enterprises and lower public spending have characterized the programmes of
governments around the world. Liberalization policies coupled with technological
advances in communications accelerated the impact of economic integration, thus
eroding conventional boundaries particularly that of the national state (UNDP, 1999).

Page
43
• In many instances, governments proceeded with deregulation without the introduction of
new forms of regulation to ensure the observance of social protection and provisioning of
needs. This increased the risks of globalization for many social groups. Recent studies
such as Human Development Report (1999) suggest that economic growth fostered by
recent liberalization policies can be accompanied by increased gender inequality and a
decline in living standards. As the East Asian crisis has revealed, failures in financial
markets can cause severe dislocations in the real economy around the globe.
• The Survey also points out that the cultural, political and social correlates of increasing
international integration has also been profound. Populations around the world are being
familiarized through economic exchanges and exposure to advertising, the media and
tele-communications, to a culture of instant gratification through material consumption.
Additionally, globalization is tied to momentous political changes of the present era such
as the rise of gender identity politics, transnational civil society, and new forms of
governance and universalization of human rights (UNDP, 1999).
• In conclusion therefore, a few turns in the right direction regarding the need to have a
gender inclusive world development agenda, supported by the need for vision, and
indispensable requirement of mutual-dependence, may lead us in the direction of making
this world a family, a place where every individual gets due respect and privileges
irrespective of their gender.
•

• THE SOCIAL IMPACT OF GLOBALISATION ON GENDER.

• Globalization is praised for the opportunities it brings, such as access to markets and
technology transfer, but it is also feared and condemned because of the instability and
risks that can accompany it. Globalisation can help poor economies to modernize,
increase their productivity and raise living standards. At the same time, it can threaten the
livelihoods of many people. The globalization process thus offers opportunities, as well
as challenges for human development and gender equality. The same aplies to the social
aspect of the economy. The social aspect basically is concerned with the welbieng of
people in society and what contributes to its welbieng. This may include such things as
Education, health,
• IMPACT ON HEALTH POLICIES.

Page
44
• On the global scale, health becomes a commodity. In developing nations under the
demands of structrual adjustment programs, health systems are fragmented and
privatised. Global health policy makers have shifted during the 1990s from the united
nations players to finacial institutions . the result of this power transition is an increase in
the privatisation in the health sector. This privatisation framents healthy policies by
crowding it with many players with many private interests. These fragmented policy
players emphasize partnerships and specific interventions to combat specific problems (as
opposed to comprehensive health strategies). Influenced by global trade and global
economy, health policy is directed by technological advancements and innovative
medical trade. Global priorities , in this situation, are sometimes at odds with national
priorities where increased health infrastructure and basic primary are more of value to
the public than privatised care for the wealthy.
• EFFECT ON EMPLOYMENT
• One of the most significant social effects of the new global international economy has
been the enormous numbers of women joining the economically active populations of all
countries, both as wage-earning employees and as self-employed workers. Women have,
of course, traditionally carried out socially productive work in the household and in
childcare, in cultivation of the land and in the paid activities of the man/head of the
family. The new factor is that the majority of women in nearly all the industrialized
countries and a rapidly rising proportion in the urban economies of the developing
countries have joined the employment market. In both developed and developing
countries, women’s participation to labor force has been high. That involves mainly
because of the world’s changing economic, social and cultural structure; changing family
structure, changing the perception of life has all contributed to this trend.
• Women in almost all countries work more hours than men (Borja and Castells, 1997).
Women workers have mostly worked, especially in developing countries, in the informal
sector of the urban areas. The informal sector characterized by long hours, bad pay
conditions and non-existent organization. In Bangkok in 1984 some 45 per cent of people
in employment (Afshar 1999, p: 182).Accordingly, the migrant flow accelerated in the
1980s and the early 1990s with Bangkok City continuing to be an important destination.
A recent study by (Afshar, 1999) based on 1990 census samples from the National

Page
45
 Statistic Office, indicates that part of the increased demand for labor in export-led growth
in the 1980s, particularly in Bangkok, was met by female migrants. Between 1985 and
1990 there were 87 male migrants for every 100 female migrants to Bangkok. Large
numbers of young female migrants also entered the sex industry in urban areas
(Archavanitkul and Quest, 1993) to supply the demands of the growing tourist trade.
• Additionally, the rural-urban migration streams have sex ratios that reflect the growing
significance of young women (aged 15–25) in the occupational categories of private
employees, unpaid family workers and those not in the labor force. As women become
older they tend to be excluded from formal occupations and are concentrated in sales and
service occupations working as self-employed or as unpaid family workers.
• The significant gender differences a nd disparities with respect to decision-making
powers, participation, and returns for effort that prevail in different societies need to be
taken into account when responding to the forces of globalization. Because of gender
inequalities and discrimination in all parts of the world, women can be affected
negatively by globalization processes to a greater extent than men. On the other hand,
there can be significant gains for women with globalization. It is necessary to
systematically monitor the gender impact of change so that the goals of gender equality
and the expansion of human capabilities are not sacrificed.
• At the policy level, the impact of globalization on women and gender relations continues
to be neglected nationally and internationally. Entities of the United Nations system are
taking steps to integrate the goals of macro-economics with those of social development.
Yet more remains to be done to integrate gender equality dimensions in their normative,
policy and operational work so as to ensure the continuing leadership of the system in
promoting gender equality, development and peace within the context of globalization

• Under conditions of globalization the limits on the states ability to provide social
protection, provisioning of needs and human capital investments has become more
strained. This poses a major challenge to poverty eradication programs and the efforts to
respond to the needs of the less visible segments of the population especially women and
children, in responding to their right to basic services and development of their
capabilities.

Page
46
• The withering away of the welfare state and increasing cost of social services has
constituted a uniformly negative outcome for poor women, in developed and developing
countries alike. The shift of societal costs of reproduction and maintenance of labor
power and other welfare provisions from the public sector to a sphere where these costs
are no longer visible, i.e. the household, is made possible by increasing women’s
workload within the household.
• The shock of market fluctuations, yet another immediate impact of integration into global
markets with intensifying effects on poverty, is also absorbed by poor women by working
harder both inside and outside the household. In many instances, women combine home
making and piece working with reproductive activities in the household and rely more
extensively on the use of children’s labour for domestic work, households production and
cash earnings.
• By and large, the adjustment costs associated with economic restructuring in many
countries have increased the economic hardship for the poor. The human damage caused
by economic deprivation in terms of one’s capabilities and future prospects in life, is
greatest for those who are least prepared to withstand it, i.e. poor women. In the long run,
the impact of the shifting and adjustment costs onto society’s most vulnerable groups
results in disinvestment in human capabilities with far reaching effects on society at large.
• This chapter seeks to discuss the effects of globalization on gender in relation to culture.
However, it is important to define culture and globalization as key terminologies in the
essay. The area to be covered include cultural attributes such as; food, language, dressing,
education, information communication technologies (ICT). The chapter will also attempt
to give the positive and negative effects of globalization to the affected population.

Page
47