GI407: Wk1: Introduction to the Course and Key Themes
This lecture introduces different understandings and perspectives for the analysis of
globalisation. In particular, attention is given to a political economy perspective that
considers global-local change and the economic, social, geopolitical and gendered
dimensions of globalisation. Issues raised in this lecture will be developed throughout the
course.
KEY READING: Eschle, C., 2004. Feminist Studies of Globalisation: Beyond Gender, Beyond Economism? Global
society: journal of interdisciplinary international relations, 18(2), pp.97–125.
Author’s theoretical orientation: feminist
Useful background or context: agrees with Robertson and Khondker’s understanding of
globalisation as the expansion and justification of the capitalist system
Author’s argument: Dominance of eco. approach to globalisation is challenged by feminism but economics
marginalize feminism + globalisation should be detached to old eco. concepts: dichotomy local/global,
globalisation should be agentive rather than instrumental (Freeman)
Reasoning and evidence supporting the argument:
- C19th: 1st wave of feminism: rise of international congresses = awareness that relations/structures of
power affecting women are connected and across boundaries (BUT limited by imperialism and racism:
divide North/South)
- 1990s: feminists identify globalisation as the source and field of debate
- Studies focus on globalisation but rarely on hybridity/differences
- Why globalisation gives so little attention to feminism?
o Denounce global patriarchy
o IR is said to be neutral
o Self-exclusion of feminists: working more locally
o Economism resists to feminism but is central to globalisation
- Feminist globalisation as making women visible and looking at the consequences of globalisation on
gender AND the effect of gender on global structuring
Reading goals found:
- Globalisation but is there a unified global community?
- Feminists have recently taken globalisation as an area of analysis
- Approaches to globalisation:
o Eco-political: IR, dvpt, eco > focus on the integration of the global economy and the impacts upon
the nation state and political institutions
Held: hyperglobalists/sceptics/transformationalists
o Socio-cultural: socio, cultural, anthropology: globalisation as intertwined economic, political, and
social forces
Marchand and Runyan: homogenizers/heterogenizers
- Globalisation is rather understood as ‘expansion of the market economy’ or ‘homogenisation’
- Robertson and K: possible juxtaposition of masculine and feminine globalisation
- Chang and Ling: hypermasculine mode of ‘techno-muscular capitalism’ VS feminised ‘regime of labour
intimacy’
Strengths/weaknesses: says that feminism looks both at the local and global: but is there a real theory of
globalisation including gender? Does not give example of feminist theories looking at the multiple power
relations
,KEY READING: Benaria, L., Berik, G. and Floro, M., 2016. Gender and Development: a Historical
Overview in Gender, development, and globalization: economics as if all people mattered
Author’s theoretical orientation: Feminist
Author’s argument: gender is more introduced in the international political debate BUT danger of
instrumentalization, gender mainstreaming (simplification of gender equality goals making feminist policies
technical and bureaucratic), gender equality policies not taking care of intersectionality
+ capability + HR approaches can challenge neoliberal economic policies
Reasoning and evidence supporting the argument:
ARG used by the World Bank that gender equality makes economic sense:
1. Equal access to resources and opportunities increases productivity in the short (1) and long run (2)
2. Value of the feminine touch in governance
BUT instrumentalization of gender + focus on micro level policies only + no real acknowledgment of the female
experience + focus on girls but not older women
Sen & Nussbaum: capability approach: people-centred notion of development (miss macro)
Balakrischnan & Elson: human right approach (more macro): intro of human rights as a measure of dev. (BUT
less gap does not necessarily mean improvement for both genders)
Eisenstein/Fraser: gender successes during the neoliberal era shouldn’t be associated to neoliberal policies
Elson: neoliberal eco policies assume reducing the role of the state will boost social development and so
Western countries are considered developed though they are not
,KEY READING: Benaria, L., Berik, G. and Floro, M., 2016. Markets, globalisation and gender, in Gender,
development, and globalization: economics as if all people mattered
Author’s theoretical orientation: Feminist
AIM: overview of globalisation and the policies that have driven it: globalization has changed the way
women are connected to markets, changing gender roles, relations and meaning
Reasoning and evidence supporting the argument:
- Marketisation + new reproduction technologies = new parent roles/new maternity BUT different in
North/South
- Feminization of labour: integration of women in paid labour but women less qualified so more
represented in precarious and unstable conditions
- In the service sector, women are employed in pink collar jobs
- Integration of women in paid work is supported by WB, IMF but does not pay attention to conditions
of labour
- Eco growth can be accompanied by important gender pay gaps
- If women lose their low-skilled job they have no option but to join the informal eco
- Gender hierarchy has been worsened by women’s entry into the labour force
Three effects of women’s participation in paid work
- Liberalization: opportunity to have better wages (IF they have control on their earnings)
- Intensification: gender norms, unequal distribution of tasks, gendered violence can be worsened (BUT
less at home violence?)
- Reconstitution of gender inequalities: gendered relations of power in the household replicated at work
Reading goals found: Globalisation as the unprecedented expansion of markets beyond national borders and
the shrinking of time and space enabled by technological advances in communication and telecommunication
, RECOMMENDED READING: Beneria, L., Carmen D. D. and Kabeer, N. 2012. Gender and International
migration: globalization, development, and governance. Feminist Economics 18(2), pp. 1-33.
AIM: explore the connections between gender and international migration around three themes:
globalization, national economic development and governance
Connections between globalization and international migration and its feminization
ARG: gender awareness is crucial to understand international migration: organization of families, care work
organization
- Globalization accelerates movements of labour > migration because internationalization of living of
standards + easier commute + increased inequalities + care crisis in Northern countries due to women
entering the workforce creates need of domestic workers = people move to find better living
conditions
- Globalization and the asymmetries between capital and labour: enhanced capital mobility with
neoliberal policies but many barriers to labour movements > insecurity for workers (accepting lower
paid jobs) benefits to capital + skilled migrants are documented migrants (not true for the oppostite)
➢ Guy Standing: formation of the precariat: workers living under precarious working conditions with low
levels of social protection worldwide (especially migrants, part-time workers)
- Globalization and the feminization of international migration: women now migrate on their own and
are half of the migrant population BUT women migrants often have the lower paid/unstable jobs and
in highly segregated paid work + need for women for marriages in some parts of the world has led to
an ease of immigration regulations for women
➢ Increased number of transnational families > new gender roles/allocation of resources
➢ Women do not escape the segmentation of labour markets by migrating: they still do women’s jobs
How migration contribute or hinder economic development
ARG: remittance’s positive impact in the migration and development policies
- Focus on the brain drain: sending countries face the cost of reproduction (formation of workers until
they leave) > what about the gender dimension of the brain drain? More overqualification of women
in the country of destination than for men + worst impact of the brain drain in poorer countries +
skilled labour becomes more international & higher-paid while lower skilled becomes more restricted
and national
- Remittance: left behind women must face new responsibilities and enter new jobs BUT greater agency
in the household? > women migrants remit more than men and for raising their families’ standards of
living > creates inequalities between households receiving remittance and those who do not?
➢ NGOs argue for facilitating migration because they only look at the benefits of remittances on GDP
levels but what about the working conditions of the migrant workers (e.g. Dubai)
Debate: would international migrants be productively employed at home?
- Returning migrants: beneficial for development? But de-skilling of women when migrating
U-shape correlation between development and migration: poor countries are too poor to move
Issues of citizenship and effects on migrant populations
ARG: gender analysis highlights challenges of nation-based notions of citizenship
- Migration is structurally embedded so policies cannot control everything in receiving countries
- Incoherent/flexible migration regulations leading to increased uncertainty for migrants
- Protection of migrants’ rights is mainly supported by nongovernmental organizations
- Rights of migrants are also subordinated to market imperatives
- Women’s work conditions are worse than men
This lecture introduces different understandings and perspectives for the analysis of
globalisation. In particular, attention is given to a political economy perspective that
considers global-local change and the economic, social, geopolitical and gendered
dimensions of globalisation. Issues raised in this lecture will be developed throughout the
course.
KEY READING: Eschle, C., 2004. Feminist Studies of Globalisation: Beyond Gender, Beyond Economism? Global
society: journal of interdisciplinary international relations, 18(2), pp.97–125.
Author’s theoretical orientation: feminist
Useful background or context: agrees with Robertson and Khondker’s understanding of
globalisation as the expansion and justification of the capitalist system
Author’s argument: Dominance of eco. approach to globalisation is challenged by feminism but economics
marginalize feminism + globalisation should be detached to old eco. concepts: dichotomy local/global,
globalisation should be agentive rather than instrumental (Freeman)
Reasoning and evidence supporting the argument:
- C19th: 1st wave of feminism: rise of international congresses = awareness that relations/structures of
power affecting women are connected and across boundaries (BUT limited by imperialism and racism:
divide North/South)
- 1990s: feminists identify globalisation as the source and field of debate
- Studies focus on globalisation but rarely on hybridity/differences
- Why globalisation gives so little attention to feminism?
o Denounce global patriarchy
o IR is said to be neutral
o Self-exclusion of feminists: working more locally
o Economism resists to feminism but is central to globalisation
- Feminist globalisation as making women visible and looking at the consequences of globalisation on
gender AND the effect of gender on global structuring
Reading goals found:
- Globalisation but is there a unified global community?
- Feminists have recently taken globalisation as an area of analysis
- Approaches to globalisation:
o Eco-political: IR, dvpt, eco > focus on the integration of the global economy and the impacts upon
the nation state and political institutions
Held: hyperglobalists/sceptics/transformationalists
o Socio-cultural: socio, cultural, anthropology: globalisation as intertwined economic, political, and
social forces
Marchand and Runyan: homogenizers/heterogenizers
- Globalisation is rather understood as ‘expansion of the market economy’ or ‘homogenisation’
- Robertson and K: possible juxtaposition of masculine and feminine globalisation
- Chang and Ling: hypermasculine mode of ‘techno-muscular capitalism’ VS feminised ‘regime of labour
intimacy’
Strengths/weaknesses: says that feminism looks both at the local and global: but is there a real theory of
globalisation including gender? Does not give example of feminist theories looking at the multiple power
relations
,KEY READING: Benaria, L., Berik, G. and Floro, M., 2016. Gender and Development: a Historical
Overview in Gender, development, and globalization: economics as if all people mattered
Author’s theoretical orientation: Feminist
Author’s argument: gender is more introduced in the international political debate BUT danger of
instrumentalization, gender mainstreaming (simplification of gender equality goals making feminist policies
technical and bureaucratic), gender equality policies not taking care of intersectionality
+ capability + HR approaches can challenge neoliberal economic policies
Reasoning and evidence supporting the argument:
ARG used by the World Bank that gender equality makes economic sense:
1. Equal access to resources and opportunities increases productivity in the short (1) and long run (2)
2. Value of the feminine touch in governance
BUT instrumentalization of gender + focus on micro level policies only + no real acknowledgment of the female
experience + focus on girls but not older women
Sen & Nussbaum: capability approach: people-centred notion of development (miss macro)
Balakrischnan & Elson: human right approach (more macro): intro of human rights as a measure of dev. (BUT
less gap does not necessarily mean improvement for both genders)
Eisenstein/Fraser: gender successes during the neoliberal era shouldn’t be associated to neoliberal policies
Elson: neoliberal eco policies assume reducing the role of the state will boost social development and so
Western countries are considered developed though they are not
,KEY READING: Benaria, L., Berik, G. and Floro, M., 2016. Markets, globalisation and gender, in Gender,
development, and globalization: economics as if all people mattered
Author’s theoretical orientation: Feminist
AIM: overview of globalisation and the policies that have driven it: globalization has changed the way
women are connected to markets, changing gender roles, relations and meaning
Reasoning and evidence supporting the argument:
- Marketisation + new reproduction technologies = new parent roles/new maternity BUT different in
North/South
- Feminization of labour: integration of women in paid labour but women less qualified so more
represented in precarious and unstable conditions
- In the service sector, women are employed in pink collar jobs
- Integration of women in paid work is supported by WB, IMF but does not pay attention to conditions
of labour
- Eco growth can be accompanied by important gender pay gaps
- If women lose their low-skilled job they have no option but to join the informal eco
- Gender hierarchy has been worsened by women’s entry into the labour force
Three effects of women’s participation in paid work
- Liberalization: opportunity to have better wages (IF they have control on their earnings)
- Intensification: gender norms, unequal distribution of tasks, gendered violence can be worsened (BUT
less at home violence?)
- Reconstitution of gender inequalities: gendered relations of power in the household replicated at work
Reading goals found: Globalisation as the unprecedented expansion of markets beyond national borders and
the shrinking of time and space enabled by technological advances in communication and telecommunication
, RECOMMENDED READING: Beneria, L., Carmen D. D. and Kabeer, N. 2012. Gender and International
migration: globalization, development, and governance. Feminist Economics 18(2), pp. 1-33.
AIM: explore the connections between gender and international migration around three themes:
globalization, national economic development and governance
Connections between globalization and international migration and its feminization
ARG: gender awareness is crucial to understand international migration: organization of families, care work
organization
- Globalization accelerates movements of labour > migration because internationalization of living of
standards + easier commute + increased inequalities + care crisis in Northern countries due to women
entering the workforce creates need of domestic workers = people move to find better living
conditions
- Globalization and the asymmetries between capital and labour: enhanced capital mobility with
neoliberal policies but many barriers to labour movements > insecurity for workers (accepting lower
paid jobs) benefits to capital + skilled migrants are documented migrants (not true for the oppostite)
➢ Guy Standing: formation of the precariat: workers living under precarious working conditions with low
levels of social protection worldwide (especially migrants, part-time workers)
- Globalization and the feminization of international migration: women now migrate on their own and
are half of the migrant population BUT women migrants often have the lower paid/unstable jobs and
in highly segregated paid work + need for women for marriages in some parts of the world has led to
an ease of immigration regulations for women
➢ Increased number of transnational families > new gender roles/allocation of resources
➢ Women do not escape the segmentation of labour markets by migrating: they still do women’s jobs
How migration contribute or hinder economic development
ARG: remittance’s positive impact in the migration and development policies
- Focus on the brain drain: sending countries face the cost of reproduction (formation of workers until
they leave) > what about the gender dimension of the brain drain? More overqualification of women
in the country of destination than for men + worst impact of the brain drain in poorer countries +
skilled labour becomes more international & higher-paid while lower skilled becomes more restricted
and national
- Remittance: left behind women must face new responsibilities and enter new jobs BUT greater agency
in the household? > women migrants remit more than men and for raising their families’ standards of
living > creates inequalities between households receiving remittance and those who do not?
➢ NGOs argue for facilitating migration because they only look at the benefits of remittances on GDP
levels but what about the working conditions of the migrant workers (e.g. Dubai)
Debate: would international migrants be productively employed at home?
- Returning migrants: beneficial for development? But de-skilling of women when migrating
U-shape correlation between development and migration: poor countries are too poor to move
Issues of citizenship and effects on migrant populations
ARG: gender analysis highlights challenges of nation-based notions of citizenship
- Migration is structurally embedded so policies cannot control everything in receiving countries
- Incoherent/flexible migration regulations leading to increased uncertainty for migrants
- Protection of migrants’ rights is mainly supported by nongovernmental organizations
- Rights of migrants are also subordinated to market imperatives
- Women’s work conditions are worse than men
