Globalization and the Concept of Women Human and Political Rights

Globalization and the Concept of Women Human and Political Rights

Author

Institution

Introduction

The issue of globalization and its wide ranging effects has been a controversial and relatively heated one in the recent times. This is especially considering that different countries will be affected in a different manner by the concept given the different contexts of its application. However, recent times have seen an increase in the interest of scholars with the impact of globalization on women especially in developing countries. Needless to say, women have since time immemorial occupied a disadvantaged position in the society. Underlining this fact is the statement that women carry out two thirds of all work in the world, but receive only 10% of the total world’s income while owning only one percent of the entire globe’s means of production. Their disadvantaged status in the society despite the unique position that they hold in the society may be credited to the varied social impediments and barriers. Scholars have noted that women are usually the least privileged and most exploited members of any household, not to mention that they are usually overburdened by domestic work in their families thanks to their position as primary caregivers. Nevertheless, women issues have consistently acquired importance in all countries, notwithstanding their second class position in varied societies, thanks to the exposure and increased awareness on the impact of gender discrimination in economic, political, social and employment arenas. Indeed, women have strived to fight against entrenched interests pertaining to community benefits, and gone ahead to earn a new identity via their collective strength. Women right across the globe come as a crucial indicator of the increased comprehension of global wellbeing. However, there have been questions as to the effects of globalization on the conceptualization of human rights and political rights of women. While there may be differing opinions as to these effects, globalization has defined the human and political rights of women, thereby assisting in the elimination of barriers and oppression while empowering them to take charge of their lives in a global democracy.

There exist varied definitions of globalization with the most accepted definition being a “complex cultural, geographic, political and economic process that has allowed the mobility of organizations, capital, peoples, discourses and ideas to take up a transnational or global form. It may be seen as a situation where national economies undertake international integration, i.e. the process that unifies all people in the world into a single society (Bayes & Tawḥīdī, 2001). It essentially embodies the integration or amalgamation of international markets for services, goods, technology, labor and finance. In this case, multinational corporations come as the drivers of globalization, with scholars noting that they play a key role in the integration of world economies via investment, transfer, relocation of business activities, finance, trade and technology. At the minimum, globalization revolves around the creation or establishment of a world economy that is a powerful, autonomous entity rather than a sum of the national economies. This is created through the world market and the international division of labor, which is currently predominating the national market (Rowbotham & Linkogle, 2001). The globalization process is defined by long-term, large scale flow of capital, technology, labor and commodities across international and national boundaries. While this seems to take on a largely economic aspect, globalization affects varied aspects of societies including social and cultural aspects. This is especially considering the interactions between social beings from different parts of the world.

First, scholars have noted that globalization has provided the platform through which women movements can organize across varied parts of the globe and air their views, as well as their plight. Indeed, globalization has given life to a previously unimaginable capacity of women to organize across varied continents, as well as mobilize international solidarity within minutes. Indeed, connections that were crafted and strengthened among organizations and women at the Beijing Convention in 1995 have persisted since then with the internet creating a more permanent and effective capacity to network (Naples & Desai, 2002). Researchers note that action alert campaigns aimed at defending women against being mutilated, flogged or stoned have been immensely amplified through the social media and the internet, just as have interventions that demand justice for women that have been killed, raped and beaten with impunity (Naples & Desai, 2002). Testament to the effectiveness of globalization in tackling social norms that keep women down are the online campaigns that protested against the systematic destruction of women via gender apartheid in Afghanistan, the damaging role that UN peacekeeping missions have played in encouraging trafficking and prostitution, as well as the failure by the Vatican to take action against sexual violation of nuns by their priests, all of which raised awareness of the issues and resulted in public pressure to put an end to the violation of women’s human rights (Naples & Desai, 2002).

On the same note, women have, using internet, had a significantly active voice in international forums such as the United Nations (Moghadam et al, 2005). Recent times have seen an increase in the calls for enhanced representation of women from across the globe, which has resulted in an active exchange of ideas for increased international campaigns towards the inclusion of women in the highest echelons of decision-making in such intergovernmental organizations, as well as affirmative action at the national level. Scholars note that the efforts have essentially resulted in strongly positive results (Moghadam et al, 2005). For example, there is no coincidence in the fact that two of the most significant judgments pertaining to sexual violence made by the ad hoc international criminal tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia were made by trial chambers that were comprised of at least one woman (Naples & Desai, 2002). Indeed, increased pressure and campaign from women movements have resulted in the unequivocal call for gender representation in the judiciary at the International Criminal Court, as well as unequivocal inclusion of crimes pertaining to sexual violence (Moghadam et al, 2005). This inclusion in the higher echelons of the international bodies has given them the capacity to make decisions that would protect women against social norms and ills that have kept them down since time immemorial, as well as provide them with a platform from which they get to air their views and make policies that would lessen the burden of oppression that has been keeping them down for a long time (Moghadam et al, 2005). Indeed, participation in such high-profile organizations has eliminated a large number of myths in varied societies pertaining to the limited capabilities of women, both in terms of physical and emotional strength, as well as intellectual aptitude, as they have been shown to have similar capabilities with their male counterparts or, in some instances, better capabilities than their male counterparts (Naples & Desai, 2002).

In addition, globalization has immensely affected trade, which in turn has had an impact on production, consumption, employment, and distribution patterns, social relations, the environment and cultural values, all of which affect both genders (Moghadam et al, 2005). Increased world trade has resulted in increased demand for cheap labor, with women being the obvious choice thanks to their previous “second-class” status in the past. While this may have been seen as a negative effect, it essentially resulted in the increased participation of women in varied professions and occupations in the service sectors (Moghadam et al, 2005). Indeed, women across the globe have made tremendous inroad in professional services like banking, computing, law and accounting, alongside tourism-related occupations, information services and many more. On the same note, the integration or blending of national economies to make a single global economy is increasingly modifying the formulation, as well as implementation of policies shifting the processes from the national and local levels to the global or international level. In this case, increased modification of governance to an international-focused one undermines the conventional notion of citizenship thereby providing women movements with significant ground for promoting their claims for equal rights and civil identity (Moghadam et al, 2005). Scholars note that new players below and above the nation state have been increasingly asserting alternative roles and identities for women, which has ended up giving them a new form of political citizenship (Rowbotham & Linkogle, 2001). On the same note, globalization has been creating an unprecedented comprehension of the fact that social and economic rights are a component of the discourse of international human rights. Similarly, there has been an increase in the force of international movement of women, as well as their influence on the varied intergovernmental processes, which has empowered them and created space for organizations of women at both the national and local level, not to mention the international level (Rowbotham & Linkogle, 2001). Needless to say, increased employment and participation of women in the employment sector comes with a chance for higher wages, which, in effect, raises their self-confidence and allows them to be autonomous. This independence would, in turn, promote equality of sexes, a milestone that a large number of women across the globe have been struggling to achieve for a long time (Rowbotham & Linkogle, 2001). In this regard, globalization would be seen as incorporating the power to eliminate the traditional views and treatment that is accorded to women, thereby affording them an equal opportunity in the society and national building.

Lastly, the economic modifications with which globalization has come has had the capacity to sow the seeds for the transformation of cultures thereby enhancing the conditions with which women must deal. Impressive studies on public attitudes about gender roles show that economic growth makes only a small component of the story, with substantial modification of the social norms, values and beliefs playing a key or fundamental role in enhancing the role of women in politics and society. The researchers noted that postindustrial and industrial nations have had a higher likelihood of supporting gender equality compared to agrarian nations, which essentially underlines the role that technological shift during globalization promotes gender equality. In addition, the increased participation of women in employment has resulted in considerably more supportive attitudes to gender or women equality, which then offers a significantly fertile opportunity or platform for the making of concrete policies that would assist women in gaining equal opportunities and rights (Moghadam et al, 2005). In this regard, scholars have underlined that economic globalization enhances the physical quality of life for women and comes up with extra options for them both in their professional and social life, not to mention their family life. This, however, is subject to the limits that economic globalization would increase the availability of opportunities for work for women, thereby increasing their autonomous earnings. On the same note, to the extent that the increased trade opportunities resulting from globalization would generally enhance economic growth, it would enhance the literacy and measured life expectancy of life for women (Brysk, 2002). While there may be some downsides to such economic integration such as displacement and the fact that women would still make the largest proportion of individuals that are poorly paid, independent economic opportunities and resources would provide women with more choices and independence, thereby giving them more control over their lives, as well as offer them the agency to strive to get their collective interests. On the same note, a large number of women in the past were relegated to the position of domestic unpaid workers, especially considering that they were primarily thought as being deficient of any intellectual aptitude or even physical and emotional strength to take on jobs in other sectors such as corporations (Brysk, 2002). In some cases, women even today have had to grapple with the prospects of resigning from their jobs to undertake home duties. However, globalization has allowed for the entry of other professions that are relatively flexible thereby allowing women to work from any place, in which case they would not have to abandon their work just to look after their kids or engage in other home-making duties (Bayes & Tawḥīdī, 2001). This means that they have become considerably independent unlike in the past when they had to depend on their male counterparts as they could no longer cope with the pressures of the workplace and those from their homes or family backgrounds (Brysk, 2002). With such independence, it goes without saying that women would essentially have the capacity to make decisions and shape their lives in the manner that they want.

In conclusion, issues pertaining to globalization have been controversial especially with regard to their effects on different nations, as well as different genders. While there may be differing opinions on the effects of globalization on women’s human rights and political rights, it is evident that the concept has defined the human and political rights of women, thereby assisting in the elimination of barriers and oppression while empowering them to take charge of their lives in a global democracy (Bayes & Tawḥīdī, 2001). This is through the provision of enhanced platforms through which women can organize, as well as mobilize forces in fighting for their rights. Indeed, women movements have lobbied for gender parity in a large number of international organizations, and even called for stiffer penalties for individuals that punish women (Bayes & Tawḥīdī, 2001). In addition, it has allowed for increased trade opportunities in varied countries, which has essentially provided women with more employment opportunities thereby safeguarding their economic independence, as well as their capacity to make decisions for themselves. Increased participation of women in the workforce has allowed for a change in the ideas and attitudes that people have pertaining to their capabilities, which has essentially eliminated the social barriers to their progress and freedom (Bayes & Tawḥīdī, 2001). On the same note, it has allowed for the entry of technology that essentially allows them to work from anywhere in which case they do not have to sacrifice their motherly duties so as to work. This only ends up enhancing their economic independence and their capacity to make decisions for themselves.

References

Kerr, J. (2003). Women reinventing globalisation. Oxford: Oxfam.

Bayes, J. H., & Tawḥīdī, N. (2001). Globalization, gender, and religion: The politics of women’s rights in Catholic and Muslim contexts. New York: Palgrave.

Naples, N. A., & Desai, M. (2002). Women’s Activism and Globalization: Linking Local Struggles and Global Politics. London: Routledge.

Brysk, A. (2002). Globalization and human rights. Berkeley [u.a.: Univ. of California Press.

Moghadam, V. M., & American Council of Learned Societies. (2005). Globalizing women: Transnational feminist networks. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

Rowbotham, S., & Linkogle, S. (2001). Women resist globalisation: Mobilising for livelihood and rights. New York: Zed Books.