Economic Globalization, Poverty, and Women's Oppression: Essay

This essay delves into the multifaceted impact of economic globalization on women, exploring its intersection with poverty and various forms of oppression. It examines how neoliberal policies and globalization processes directly affect women, highlighting issues of gender inequality, structural injustices, and the challenges women face in accessing essential resources. The essay analyzes how globalization influences women's roles in both formal and informal employment sectors, the concept of violence and dispossession in the context of globalization, and the role of feminist concepts in understanding these dynamics. It also discusses the limitations of globalization in addressing gender inequality and the importance of specific public policies. The essay references multiple studies and feminist approaches, providing a comprehensive overview of the complexities of economic globalization and its implications for women's lives. Finally, the essay emphasizes the need to consider multiple forms of oppression, including those related to race, class, and sexual orientation, in order to fully evaluate women's experiences.

Running head: ECONOMICS
ECONOMICS
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Table of Contents
How do economic globalization and poverty intersect with other forms of oppression? How
are women directly impacted by neoliberalism and globalization?...........................................2
References..................................................................................................................................5

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How do economic globalization and poverty intersect with other forms of oppression?
How are women directly impacted by neoliberalism and globalization?
Economic globalization has influenced the lives of women in many countries.
Globalization is a complex economic, political, demographical, and cultural process that
leads to the mobility of ideas, opinions, business, people, and many more other factors that
have taken a global, transnational form. In the past, there has been a rapid increase in the
economic globalization featured by supranational spatial integration of different economies
and societies. Globalization refers to integration of economical, political, cultural, and social
processes that result in the expansion of transnational economic production, communication,
and technologies. Even though globalization leads to development of many countries;
however, there is a specific limitation that is has incurred by the globalization phenomena.
Due to rapid increase of globalization flow of goods and services, finance, people, and
cultural and political aspects have been intensifying all over the world (Smith, 2015). It is
extremely important to understand the bridge between globalization and inequality due to
certain disparities that have been arising related to accessing needs such as food, shelter, land,
information, and sustainable standard of living. Due to various inequalities that have been,
arising because of globalization has challenged the human security and environmental
sustainability (RUSPINI, 2019). Various feminist approaches can be taken into consideration
for understanding the gender inequality that is associated with economic globalization. Many
researchers propounded that gender issues have a gendered dimension consisting of war,
global governance, migration, and climate change. It is a well-known fact that gender
oppression takes multiples form in various geographical locations and cultural diversity.
Females in every society face some specific disadvantages that result from their socially
allocated responsibility related to domestic work (Anthias, 2014). It can be said that the
disadvantages are mainly because of structural injustices; females of all nationalities are

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suffering from poverty, deprivation, and political marginalization related to neoliberal
policies. Many research studies on impact of economic globalization on oppression claimed
that globalization is not a contingent process. Instead, it is an outcome of systematic
structural gender inequality that is taking place all across the world. It can be conveyed that
the basic structure that is being followed globally is implicitly biased against females. The
framework of oppression interact to generate injustice, and this leads to the conclusion that
gender inequality cannot be analyzed completely by only depending on topics such as sex or
gender. To critically evaluate the women experience of gender oppression, one needs on
takes into consideration various aspects of oppression, such as oppressions related to race,
class, religion, disability, and sexual orientation (Benería, Berik & Floro, 2015). Various
feminist concepts related to economic globalization recommended that oppressions related to
gender interact with a system of oppression by taking into account various other forms of
systematic disadvantages that have been arising within the global context. In the present
scenario, globalization alone cannot solve the gender inequality specific public policy will be
needed to solve the injustice issue. It is evident that globalization is accompanied by an
increase in inequality level and only by depending on trade and foreign investment poverty
cannot be alleviated.
Globalization and neoliberalism are influential factors that help to shape the
economic, social, and political connection across all over the world. Globalization is claimed
to be an external war that is associated against women’s rights and livelihood as the
globalization process leads to a continuation of dispossession and violence. It is extremely
important to have a clear understanding of the concept that violence and dispossession are not
only limited to physical and forceful activities that are exercised by more dominant groups
towards the less powerful group (Regilme, 2014). However, the concepts related to political,
economic, and sociocultural factors are not taken into consideration for the analytical

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purpose. Researchers claimed that financial crisis had led women to work for informal sector
of employment where their labour has been unremunerated and unrecognized. Thus, their
work is not recorded in the national statistics. Whereas the formal employment sectors have
been reserved for, males and even they get recognition for their work. By analyzing the
formal and informal employment sector, we can get a clear understanding of the privileges
and disadvantages that is going on in the economy. Women’s work and labour are seen as a
natural extension of their physiology. Thus, they are treated as invisible and are even unpaid
while men’s work assumed to attract more profit and are considered more valuable for the
capitalist economy (Kotz 2015). The major instruments of violence are financial crisis and
structural framework adjustment activities that collaborates with the nation-states to transfer
the attention from social policy to fiscal policy as earning profit is considered more important
than the well-being of people. Neoliberal feminism might analyze the gender wage gap and
sexual harassment associated as signs of continuing inequality. Neoliberalism referred to a
specific model policy that focuses on the value of free competition in the market. In
neoliberalism framework, the concept is that existing market situation must be taken up by an
individual (Benería, Berik & Floro, 2015). One needs to enhance their personal capital. This
framework recommended that unemployed should take responsibility for their condition and
take up work. The culture of neoliberalism offered women idea of agency and choice free
exercised. The concept mainly deals with the self-sufficiency of individual by undermining
the collective struggles that lead to the possibility of self-struggle. Even it can be said that
inequality arises from the choices that have been made by women and thus, one needs to
make adequate choices for themselves (Carroll & Sapinski, 2016). The choice should be the
weapon against the feminist objection. Specific neoliberal policies have led to increasing in
militarism instead of environmental protection. The policies have led to privatization and

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destruction of natural resources that are owned publicly. Lastly, it can be said that
globalization has led a system of hostility for women.
References
Anthias, F. (2014). The intersections of class, gender, sexuality and ‘race’: The political
economy of gendered violence. International Journal of Politics, Culture, and
Society, 27(2), 153-171.
Benería, L., Berik, G., & Floro, M. (2015). Gender, development and globalization:
economics as if all people mattered. Routledge.
Benería, L., Berik, G., & Floro, M. (2015). Gender, development and globalization:
economics as if all people mattered. Routledge.
Carroll, W. K., & Sapinski, J. P. (2016). Neoliberalism and the transnational capitalist class.
In Handbook of neoliberalism (pp. 67-77). Routledge.
Kotz, D. M. (2015). Neoliberalism, globalization, financialization: Understanding post-1980
capitalism. The restructuring of capitalism in our time.
Regilme Jr, S. S. F. (2014). Bringing the global political economy back in: Neoliberalism,
globalization, and democratic consolidation. International Studies
Perspectives, 15(3), 277-296.
RUSPINI, E. (2019). From the Effects of Globalization on Women to Women’s Agency in
Globalization.
Smith, K. (2015). Stories told by, for, and about women refugees: Engendering
resistance. ACME: An International E-Journal for Critical Geographies, 14(2), 461-
469.

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