Women, Work, and Globalization|Challenges
Citation: Mercedes Sánchez-Apellániz, (2015) ”Women, Work, and Globalization. Challenges and Opportunities”, Gender in Management: An International Journal, Vol. 30 Issue: 1, pp.87-90, https://doi-org.sdl.idm.oclc.org/10.1108/GM-05-2014-0046
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Review Number: 2015/1
Review Subject: Women, Work, and Globalization. Challenges and Opportunities By Bahira Sherif Trask
Publisher Name: Routledge
Place of Publication: New York, NY
Publication Year: 2014
Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright: © Emerald Group Publishing Limited 2015
Published by Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Article Women, Work and Globalization. Challenges and Opportunities by Bahira Sherif Trask addresses the relationship between the globalization process and its impacts on women’s paid and unpaid work and their life and families, from a cross-cultural perspective. The book stresses the idea that the neoliberal processes affecting globalization and their focus on markets have multiple effects. They impact the role of governments, the increasing participation of women in paid employment, the type of
jobs held by women, migration processes, changes in gender roles, notions of a “good mother” and the balance between household and work responsibilities.
The author notes that:
[…] these changes indicate that there is a direct connection between transformations in the economics and political realms, gender roles, and the microcosm of families. Women are at the center of these changes from both
an ideological and a role perspective (p. 25).
The centrality of geographic contexts is highlighted, underlining the idea that analyses must be carried out within each specific context. The author does not consider these changes as something purely negative, but rather as a set of forces that while involving both women and men, women can benefit from.
The book is organized in three main sections. The first one analyzes the impacts of globalization on women’s lives, on their relationship with the labor market and on the evolution of the gender concept in both industrialized and developing countries. Discussions in the first part are grounded on the basic ideological foundations of globalization and the outreach of feminist movements and principles. The second part addresses in detail specific aspects affecting women in the global economy, such as socialization processes, sexual exploitation and trafficking, transnational migration of women and their impact on concepts such as “motherhood” and “good mother”. In addition, new social relations emerging with the renegotiation of the responsibilities connected to the care of dependent persons are explored. The third part of the book shows the different types of initiatives being implemented in developing countries to improve the lives of women, as well as different governmental policies implemented in industrialized countries to facilitate achieving a balance between household and care responsibilities and professional ones.
The first chapter of the book introduces most of the topics discussed throughout the book and provides a guiding thread for the book. Themes developed include the increasing participation of women in paid employment as a common feature of the global scenario; the weight of globalization and economic transformation in this process; changes emerging in the concept of gender and work; and the difficult balance between household and family responsibilities and work and professional responsibilities arising from this new scenario. From the outset, it is highlighted that changes are not homogeneous and that any analysis should take into account the context in which such changes take place.
To explain this starting point, the other two chapters that make up the first part of the book address the ideological foundations of globalization and its impacts and the evolution of women’s movements and feminist principles. Thus, in Chapter 2, we find an explanation of neoliberalism, the decreasing role of States, the development of the informal economy and how attention has focused more on markets and less on the well-being of individuals. The author analyzes the impact of all these changes on women, on their employment patterns, on economic cut-backs and on the change of concepts of male and female and of global and local. She notes that individuals are who make processes meaningful, and that concepts vary according to space, so globalization should not necessarily be defined as a negative event, as it has also provided women with individual agency, empowerment and political rights. The message in this chapter is that women are not just victims; they can also be and indeed are change agents. Chapter 3 details how women rights have been incorporated into development agendas and the different approaches that have emerged, emphasizing that experiences in the Western world are not universal, and that although empowering women is a priority in the political arena, gender inequality persists, and economic indicators are not sufficient to analyze gender issues. As such, gender relations must be linked to analyses about the access to resources.
The second part discusses specific experiences affecting women. Chapter 4 examines socialization experiences, especially in developing countries, stressing that cultural restrictions put limits to women’s potential and development, so we cannot speak about universal experiences. The chapter delimits what we understand under socialization, sex and gender, the role played by families and how globalization is providing new gender images. The author states that gender does not always mean less opportunities, as context plays a critical role and, therefore, it must be combined with race, ethnicity and social exclusion, as these intersections are what actually limit an individual’s life opportunities. Chapter 5 discusses the relationship between economic vulnerability and sexual exploitation. It describes in detail the different factors associated with sexual trafficking and exploitation and explains the impact of cultural norms on the way contexts engage with these issues. The conclusion is that globalization has enhanced the conditions for the exploitation of women and girls and has contributed to the creation of new and different forms of exploitation. Chapter 6 focuses specifically on transnational motherhood. It explains how transnational migrations modify and alter traditional gender roles based on the breadwinner/homemaker reality, arguing that this dichotomy is fading away, as migrations are redefining the motherhood concept by incorporating the concept of breadwinner without replacing caretaking. The book analyzes the change in the concept of “good mother”, which is leading to new culturally and contextually defined approaches to maleness and manhood. This chapter also
reviews the role of States in migration processes across contexts, and the development of the newly emerging and heterogeneous women networks, which are facilitating the creation of new roles for women. Chapter 7 closes the second part of the book addressing the way caretaking has become a global phenomenon and necessity requiring new agreements in social relations. This chapter explains in detail the five trends emerging in care labor and ends suggesting some potential models to ensure gender equity in families.
The third part of the book discusses the different policies and action being implemented in both developing and industrialized countries with some global suggestions to achieve a better balance between work and family responsibilities. Chapter 8 discusses successful initiatives in developing countries in the fields of health, prevention of sexual trafficking and exploitation and education, always based on the idea that discrimination and lack of opportunities must be addressed not as a “women’s issue”, but rather as an ethical and human issue. Chapter 9 reviews policy responses in industrialized countries to support working families and gender equity. The author considers that efforts must not only target the incorporation of women into the labor market, but must also focus on employment quality, including caretaking. It stresses that we must break away from the traditional breadwinner/homemaker model, noting that women’s values have changed and policy outcomes are better when social and support policies implemented account for these changes rather than stocking to a traditional model. Chapter 10 provides a general reflection, insisting that the debate on male and female roles is still open and that changes in gender socialization taking place all over the world should not be considered as a deficit, as they are also contributing new perspectives. At the local level, States must become more involved in social change, and suggesting private solutions to a problem with public implications is not the appropriate way to move ahead. Although there is not a single answer to whether the changes brought by globalization are positive for women, dialogue and collaboration must be fostered by shared agreements, because although experiences may be different, this does not mean that the experiences cannot be shared.
In general terms, although this book provides a comprehensive vision of the effects of globalization on the life of women and families at a global scale, some chapters are stronger than others. In particular, Chapters 6 and 7 provide clear explanations of the duality women are facing, how their role has changed in an incremental manner and how they are still being criticized for abandoning their traditional role, which is in decline. Chapters 8 and 9 are extremely illustrative in terms of what policies and actions are being successful and which ones are not. Its solid documentation, the introduction to the
different case studies and its cross-cultural approach are some of the major strengths of this book.
Perhaps more emphasis on the positive effects of globalization could have been made. Although it is mentioned that they do exist, they have not been clearly defined and therefore the general idea is that such effects are more negative than positive. The role of men in the entire process could have also been discusses in further depth. Although they are constantly present in the book, the implications of these changes on their lives are only slightly addressed, as well as their role as agents of change. For instance, separated fathers associations, joint custody, etc. are examples of changes in Western countries, often led by men, and sometimes women enter into conflict with them. Finally, more emphasis could have been put on the impact of public policies, and some regulations may have and indeed do have an impact when it comes to triggering social changes among the male population.
Despite these criticisms, this book remains a good source to provide the readership of Gender in Management with an integrated vision of the impact of globalization on women and their families from a global perspective. These impacts are relevant in understanding how gender roles are changing and the specific outcomes, which are not the same everywhere. The book would be of great interest to anyone in women studies and particularly wanting to understand the effects of globalization on family life, in particular scholars in the fields of gender, cultural diversity, cross-cultural analysis, work and family, migration or formal versus informal economy studies, in the different fields of sociology, psychology and human resources management in a global environment. This book would be a good reference book for courses focusing on cultural diversity, gender and the duality family – work and its impact on families, in general, and women, in particular
