gender and political economy

8/3/2019 Gender and Political Economy

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Gender and PoliticalEconomy


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Political Economy

Discipline whose object of enquiry is therelationship between the state, politics andpower, on the one hand, and economic

relations and the market, on the other Political economy examines the manner in

which power is implicated in economicrelationships

As such, any political economy needs to payattention to gender


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Gendered Political Economy

a gendered political economy examines the:

boundary between the public sphere of the state and the privatesphere of gender relations, the

public economy and the household economy, and the manner inwhich they influence each other

Position of women is structured by a double set of relations:

their relations to men

their position in the economic organization of society


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Gendered Political Economy

Intersection between economy, politics, and gender is

embodied in the sexual division of labor: paid/unpaid

tasks, differentials in pay, concentrations in occupations

and job levels within these occupations, and sexual

servicing as paid work of women

Access to positions of privilege has favored men

Womens place, womens work, and control of womens

sexuality


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Sexual Division of Labor

Two types of work:

Productive: work for exchange; satisfies

basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter

Reproductive: work for use and satisfaction of

immediate needs; production of people


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Sexual Division of Labor inAgricultural Production Systems Work not clearly distinguished: production

and reproduction carried out within the

household and productive labor common

enterprise among household members Extended household: kin and non-kin in one

unit

Division of labor in productive activities notsharply drawn


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Sexual Division of Labor inAgricultural Production Systems Reproductive work was womens work

Household work also productive work

because most of production was used or

consumed directly by household members

Unity of production and consumption

Labor of women and men geared to interests

of the group rather one individual


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Sexual Division of Labor inAgricultural Production Systems Mothering role not prominent, part of wide variety of

tasks

Network of support kin meant that productive and

reproductive tasks shared by both sexes Production based on satisfaction of immediate

needs of producers, subsistence from land

commonly-held

Exchange of complementary resources betweenhouseholds


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Evolution of agriculturalproduction systems and the

sexual division of labor From stable surplus arose social division oflabor

Men and women developed specialized

skills, production increased, economic baseexpanded, social classes of producers and

non-producers emerged

Social production no longer totally servedneeds of producers


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Evolution of agriculturalproduction systems and the

sexual division of labor With differential allocation of surplus,control/ownership of means of production(land) became important

From use-right to ownership of land, fromcollective ownership to individual/householdownership

Emergent state designated men as heads of

households, endorsing authority of men overwomen


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Merchant capitalism

Merchant capitalists buy not to satisfy immediate

needs but to sell, to acquire wealth

Merchant capital introduces money into the

economy, brings in foreign and luxury products,intensifies labor process

Reallocation of work between women and men in

household production and reproduction

More time devoted to productive work, need foradditional hands to contribute to production


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Capitalism

Merchant capital obliged to increase production toacquire more wealth, transformed tocommercial/productive capital or capitalism

Directly intervenes in the sphere of production andrestructures local economies away from self-provisioning by undermining domestic manufacturesand encouraging production of certain commodities

Work of women and men reallocated from

household needs to production for the market,women and men to specific commodities


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Capitalism

Introduced by colonizers and heralded:

a household system based on male prestige,

radical separation of home and workplace,

domestication of women

gender divisions in workplace such as sex

segregation in occupations, womens

marginalization from waged work, and wagedifferentiation


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Capitalism

Extraction of profit no longer from exchange ofgoods but from labor of producer/laborer

Based on three socioeconomic transformations:

separation of producers from means of productionand subsistence

formation of social class with a monopoly overmeans of production (bourgeoisie/capitalist class)

transformation of human labor power into acommodity (owned by working class/proletariat)


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Capitalism

Working class dispossessed of every means

of subsistence and obliged to sell labor to

capitalists

Labor a commodity, the value of which is thewage

Wage determined by the quantity of labor

needed to reproduce it (the subsistence ofthe worker and household)


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Capitalism

Surplus value: value above this necessary labor,

difference between the value produced by the

worker and the value of commodities needed to

ensure workers reproduction

Surplus value is the capitalists profit

Interest of capital: to increase its proportion of value

produced by labor

Interest of labor: increase its proportion of value itproduces


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Capitalism

Capital accumulation dependent on the

increase in the rate of surplus value

extraction:

by increasing time worked without increase inwages

by intensifying labor, making it more

productive Interest in keeping wages down


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Capitalism

Capital accumulation by introduction of machineryand division of the workforce into differentiatedgroups with different wages

Intensification of labor by fragmentation, making it

more efficient and allowing capital to divide workaccording to skills and corresponding wages

Gender a major consideration in the reorganizationof the production process and division of labor


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Effects of capitalism on thehousehold Household no longer had access to the

means of production, for subsistence reliedon labor for wages rather than own

production Work for wages distinct from work in

household Wages allowed purchase of goods and

services they once produced Production different from consumption


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Effects of capitalism on thehousehold Men as heads of households primary wage workers,

women secondary productive workers (had to workalso because wages of men inadequate)

Separation of home and workplace: capitalism

entailed technological advances and productionmore likely to take place outside the home

All women became primarily housekeepers keepingthem from similar participation in wage labor


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Effects of capitalism on thehousehold Among capitalist/propertied classes: family

household organized around male earner andwife/children as dependents

Among working class: dependence on productive

work of more than one member

women engaged in both productive andreproductive work

in paid work: type of work, value, position defined by

subordinate position and home responsibilities


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Womens position in theeconomy Defined by contradictions between capitalists and

workers, and between men and women

Relegation to household work (no value)

Secondary worker in productive sphere Intermittent participation in social production

Concentration in particular sectors of economy and

in levels of the work force

Low wages

Mediated position in capitalist class structure


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Relegation to household work

Provide work necessary to transform commoditiesbought by wages into items for consumption

All work at home unpaid (has value only when doneby hired help)

Provides material base for the reproduction of laborwithout which capital cannot appropriate surplus

Reproductive work serves interests of men andcapital


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Secondary work force

Because primary responsibility is in the home

Less likely to be absorbed into waged work,

are more likely to be released in recessions

Seek work in the informal sector


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Patterns of employment

Not continuous, dependent on life cycle

Seen as temporary, uncommitted workforce,

reinforcing secondary status


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Gender and work

Concentrated in occupations based on

stereotype of women: servicing and family-

oriented

Low-paid, low-skilled, with low-productivity,casual with few promotional possibilities, low-

level

Labor-intensive work in industry


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Lower wages

Labor a supplementary activity

Responsibility for home limits options,

relegated to low-skilled positions

Bearers of inferior status, men in higher

positions through exclusionary strategies

ensure women remain so


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Mediated position in capitalistclass structure As housewives, dependent on male wage, indirect

relation to capital

As workers, direct relation to capital

Directly responsible for reproduction of their own and

male labor

Mediated by the household system, ideology of the

family, male dominance, dependence on men,

reproductive work

Defined by their subordinate position to men


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Womens position in capitalistsociety In capitalism, differentiation of tasks and

differentiation in the status and power betweenwomen and men

Intersection of gender relations, class, and capitalist

accumulation process determines womens positionin capitalist society

Economic strategies of the state, stage of capitalistdevelopment, and countrys position in international

economy also determines womens position


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Capitalism in the Philippines

Proletarianization has yet to occur in aprofound way

For capital accumulation, capital must

revolutionize process of production andreleases labor in one sector for absorption inanother. But capital does not grow at asteady pace so labor not totally absorbed

(reserve army of labor, which depresseswages)


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Unlike in industrialized countries where capital is

more available, labor released not absorbed.

Dispossessed direct producers not always

employed as waged workers.

Magnitude of reserve army of labor high

Mass of impoverished people: peasants

smallholders, landless agricultural workers, workers

in pre-capitalist production


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Relation of capital to labor via profit extraction

that do not include wages: under-priced

goods and services and reproduction of

cheap labor power International and national political and

economic forces created uneven

development of the country and divisionsamong people


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Dominant forces at the global level structure our

economic development (IMF/WB, WTO, MNCs, G8)

Intensification of capitalist expansion and

accumulation of MNCs and their appropriation ofsurplus value (repatriate profits rather than reinvest

for local capital formation)

Labor-intensive operations carried out here,

preferential recruitment of women


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Large surplus population, wages at

subsistence levels, majority impoverished

Women in surplus population: housewives, in

subsistence agricultural work, informal sectorwork, casual/irregular work in formal sector


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Gender, class, and development

Perspective of poor oppressed women powerfulvantage point to examine effects of developmentprograms and strategies:

women constitute majority of the poor, socially and

economically disadvantagedwomens work, under-remunerated and undervalued,vital to the survival of all human beings

womens work in trade and services is widespread

(electronics, export production)


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Gender and class determine womens experiences withprocesses of economic growth, commercialization, and marketexpansion

Post-colonial development processes are in the interests ofpowerful nations and classes, have vested interests in their

persistence Womens vulnerability reinforced by systems of male domination

that deny/limit access to economic resources and politicalparticipation, impose sexual divisions of labor that allocate themto the most onerous, labor-intensive, poorly-rewarded tasks

inside and outside the home, as well as longest hours of work


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Gender-based subordination has limited womens

access to and control over productive resources

(land, credit, etc.), imposed sexual divisions of labor,

and curtailed mobility (varies across regions and

classes)

Impersonal forces in labor market have an impact

on womens access to resources, income,

employment, and sexual division of labor


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In the Third World

Patterns and processes in Third Worldcountries:

unfavorable structural location in international

economyvulnerability to the cycles and vagaries ofinternational trade

profound inequalities in resource ownershipand control over resources, access to incomeand employment


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In the Third World

deprivation of basic needs: adequate

nutrition, health, housing, water, energy,

sanitation, education

Partly the legacy of colonial systems ofsurplus transfer out of Third World and

reflects obstinacy of underlying structures


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Colonialism

Economic relations operate against interests ofdeveloping countries increasing vulnerability toexternal events and pressures

Economic and political structures of colonial rule

converted colonies into sources of cheap rawmaterials, food, labor, and markets for theirmanufactures. Drained resources and wealth,created export enclaves in agriculture, mining, etc.

and transformed self-provisioning communitiesthrough forced commercialization and introduction ofprivate property in land


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Colonialism

Colonial control suppressed manufacturing potentialin the colonies and destroyed traditional crafts andartisan production through imports of manufactures

Impoverishment, exacerbation of inequalities in

access to land, resources, and power, and thegrowth of powerful internal classes and groupswhose interest were linked to maintenance of anopen economy

Environmental degradation, demographic pressure,and land misuse


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Colonialism

Laid the basis for the particular position of

Third World countries in the world economy

Alienation of large segments of the

population from the land, or access underexploitative conditions, degradation of forests

and soils, resulting pressure on resources,

rapid growth of urban slums


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Colonialism

Growth of female poverty: women losttraditional use rights when private property inland was introduced, womens agricultural

labor unpaid, loss of work in traditionalmanufactures, women left behind by malemigration for work

Created and accentuated inequalities among

nations, and between classes and genderswithin nations


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Postcolonialism

Most Third World countries have retained many of

the dominant features of colonial era: persistence of

primary export enclaves, concentration on traditional

exports, and little growth in manufacturing sector

Prosperous commercial agriculture versus

marginalized semi-proletariat that can neither

subsist off its own landholding nor find adequate

employment


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Postcolonialism

Control over production, allocation, distribution in thehands of MNCs that subordinate national intereststo their own global profit and growth strategies

MNCs obtain generous terms for producing in free

trade zones, evade responsibility for environmentaland health hazards

Employment generation is slow since internationalcompetition dictates use of capital-intensive

production methods


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Postcolonialism

Few Third World governments have been

able to effectively counter internal pressures

from powerful groups or external pressures

from aid donors, multilateral institutions, orMNCs


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Effects on poor women

Womens access to land, labor, technology, creditand other agricultural production inputs haveworsened

Land reforms have reduced womens control over

land by ignoring their use-rights and giving landtitles to male heads of households Landless women predominate as seasonal, casual,

temporary laborers at lower wages than malecounterparts

Mechanization drastically reduces womensemployment and income


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Increased employment in certain export-orientedindustries but segregated into a narrow range ofoccupations, short-term with high turnover

Work in informal sector and sweatshops In comparison to absolute size of female workforce,

increase in industrial employment small Attempts to demand better wages, working

conditions, job security, advancement induce capital

flight


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Unpaid/poorly-paid family workers in home-based putting-out systems under exploitativeconditions of wages and work

In disproportionate numbers in petty trade,commerce, and services in the informalsector (low wages, uncertain employment,poor working conditions)

In informal sector: cannot accumulate theskills, networks, or capital to move out

gender and political economy

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