Globalization has contributed a lot to women’s empowerment. The term globalization was invented by American business schools to represent those companies that are adequately prepared to survive in highly competitive markets. However, the term has recently been viewed to have a multidimensional definition as it encompasses complex politics, economy, culture, and geographical processes.
However, the most significant contribution from globalization is the improvement of women’s lives worldwide in particular the third world countries. The aspect of globalization has opened up many women to civil rights, education, health, and employment. However, women in third-world countries still face challenges during maternity. It is estimated that about 529,000 women die annually when pregnant or childbirth mostly due to poor economic status. As such, globalization has helped to identify such issues in third world countries leading to drastic actions to organizations, such as the United Nations (UN). The UN’s millennium development goal has emphasized gender equality and women empowerment (Tripathi, 2022). Such efforts have compelled scientists and politicians to stress the need for creating opportunities through an international division of labor to improve the lifestyles of the nation’s individuals.
However, industrialized countries seem to view globalization differently as it seems to impact women more than men. As such, women in such countries are not affected as a group but on ethnicity and class. As such, most women dominate the temporary staff and most of those who drop from gainful employment are women. Such women also find themselves in low-wage countries where they are forced to work willingly since only a few are unionized.
A country like India shows the highest gender-based discrimination at birth. However, globalization has tried to eliminate such a dogmatic way of thinking by forcing the government to take action and form a “beti bachao’ beti padhao” program that works to ensure education, safety, and survival for a girl child. As such, globalization has made India realize that discrimination against sexes has a possibility of diminishing their ability to compete globally. The areas in which the country might not compete globally due to sexual discrimination include the nation’s image and the export of goods and services. Such a realization has also been informed by a combination of greater access to information, technological diffusion, and economic integration, which have helped to lift constraints of gender equality. Such factors have contributed to new information and communication technologies giving way to connections and jobs for women in the market as well as other opportunities.
Beneficial characteristics of globalization
Globalization has a more positive impact on women’s empowerment than a negative impact. As such, it has increased exports to different countries in which wages are higher in various sectors that are occupied by women thus getting higher wages than men who dominate the formal industrial sector. Such information shows that globalization has helped to create opportunities for women’s employment and enabled them to contribute to the family expenses, creating new resources and raising the level of income for the family. Social choices for women have also increased due to an increase in family income. Such advancement has increased women’s morale and self-confidence since most women who work all over the world are not paid or their work is not valued (Molina & Tanaka, 2022).
Through globalization, third-world countries have managed to engage in significant international exports, thus creating new employment opportunities. Third counties that rely on agriculture have a serious gender implication. As such, the traditional ways of farming demand the contribution of women but pay them low wages. However, as the country opens up to globalization, the profitability also increases for cash crops in the international markets. Such an increase in profitability also increases women’s independence as globalization restructured agricultural productivity. The restructuring also opens opportunities for countries, which help them process agricultural products for purposes of value addition. Such investments benefit women greatly due to the nature of work and the high wages compared to their pay for working at their farms. Another benefit is that women’s health condition improves by working in companies thus reducing their death during pregnancy or giving birth (Tripathi, 2022).
Globalization has also helped in building the service sector. Such a sector is comprised of communication and information technology among other services. The sector is considered as one of the biggest employers of women in economic classes. The demand for women’s services is spread across insurance companies, banks, railways, airlines, the industrial export sector, and the data processing sector.
Global competitiveness due to globalization is another impact that has benefited women. Many multinational companies have completely scrapped employee recruitment based on gender; they focus on skills since they operate in competitive environments. As such, they are focused on choosing the best t employee irrespective of gender. Such progress has motivated many women to see employment. The progress has also helped a country like India institute the “liberalization,” “globalization” “privatization” policy which has helped in creating opportunities for women in form of jobs.
References
Molina, T., & Tanaka, M. (2022). Globalization and Female Empowerment: Evidence from Myanmar. Ftp.iza.org. Retrieved 16 March 2022, from https://ftp.iza.org/dp13957.pdf.
Tripathi, S. (2022). IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON WOMEN. Lkouniv.ac.in. Retrieved 16 March 2022, from https://www.lkouniv.ac.in/site/writereaddata/siteContent/202004050638207821sanju_tripathi_wom_st_Impact_of_Globalisation_on_Women.pdf.
