Women and Globalization
Contributors: Delia D. Aguilar (Editor); Anne E. Lacsamana (Editor)
Publisher: Humanity Books
Published: May 2004
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 428
ISBN-13: 9781591021629
Subjects: Feminism; Women's Studies - General; Social Science; Economics - Theory; Business / Economics / Finance; Women in development; Sociology; Women; Social conditions; Gender Studies; Globalization; Economic conditions
First sentence: One wonders whether, with the events of September 11, 2001, and the declaration of a "war on terror" by U.S. president George W. Bush, a paradigm shift would be forced on the academic mind from Hardt and Negri's view of a benign "Empire" to that of El Saadawi, who sees the United States as the world's ruling power that is neither kind nor gentle either at home or overseas.
Description: Delia D. Aguilar and Anne E. Lacsamana have assembled a collection of articles showing the various ways in which the neoliberal agenda of globalization has drawn women into productive labor and in the process radically reshaped their lives in the reproductive sphere. Implemented primarily through the structural adjustment programs required by international financial agencies, neoliberalism has intensified women's exploitation on the assembly line and spawned an unprecedented diaspora of women as mail-order brides, domestic helpers, and workers in the sex trade. Many of the essays describe the appalling conditions that characterize these work sites. Not less important, they underscore the vitality of grassroots organizations where women collectively wage battles for better work lives and envision a system more humane than what currently exists.