York and Ergas (2011) (excerpts and points summarized)

1. Authors explore 2 Issues: what are they?

(1) Women’s status in nations overlaps with the world-system position of those nations and

(2) The influence of women’s status within nations on a variety of national characteristics.

2. What do the Authors find out about women’s status?

a. Women’s status has a moderately strong association with world-system position: core or semi/periphery

b. Regardless of a country’s world-system position, GDP per capita, and urbanization, in nations where women have higher status (variously measured), total fertility rates, infant mortality rates, military expenditures, and inflows of foreign direct investment are lower, and public health care expenditures and per capita meat consumption are higher. These results suggest that women’s status has social effects.

3. Why do the authors’ argue that the historyofcapitalistdevelopmentis agenderedandracializedphenomenon?

a. When companies make policies and decisions on recruiting and employing workers, institutional exclusion of women and racial minorities occur. As these groups are not regarded as equal, they are not hired.

b. It is assumed thatwomenprovidedomesticlabor,enabling maleworkerstobeavailabletomeetthedemandsofemployers. Globally, these assumptions are intrinsic to the organization of labour. Genderrd and racialized labour structures reinforce malehegemony in preexistingpatriarchalculturesaroundtheglobe.

c. Colonial influence entrenches Malehegemonyas it imposes such viewsonpeopleswithlimitedor nopreviousgenderhierarchy,asin thecaseof theCherokee frontier.Beforecolonial influence,theCherokeerecognizedmatrilinealrights andcelebratedwomen’ssubsistencelabor

d. Womenwhodopaidwork,tendtoearn the lowestwagesanddotheleastvalued,althoughnotunimportant, jobs. This isespecially truefor womenofcolor

e. Unpaidlaborallows productioncosts toremainlow,which, inturn,keepscommoditiescheapand corporateprofits high

f. Globaltrendtowardthe“feminizationoflabor,”bothunwagedandwagedinbothinformaland formaleconomicsectors, isawelldocumentedphenomenon

4. Explain the Semiproletarianizationofthehousehold with example:

When corporationsexternalizecostsof productionbypayingwagedworkerslessthantheamountneededtomaintain, feed and reproducetheirhousehold,women and children in the household have to work to provide subsistence for the household. This systemic and institutionalized formof sexismforces households to absorb these costs throughwomen’sreproductiveandsubsistencelabor

Individuals in households adapt to corporate externalization of production costs by poolingresourcesinordertolive,includingwages,reproduction,subsistencefoodproduction, andinformalwork,suchascraftproduction.

Example: In Philippines when companies commercialexportaquaculture was introduced inasmall,previously subsistence fishingcommunity, the community’s economytransitioned from subsistencefishingto commercial exploitation of their resources. This resulted in increased malnutritionandhungerin thecommunity. Asaresultofthelossoffoodandsocialservices,womenadaptedbyworking threetofourmorehoursaday withoutpay tohelptheirhusbandsdotheirjobs,andproducedand soldcrafts, livestock, and driedoystersorfishininformalmarkets.

5. What do the authors’ note as the impact of the structural adjustment policies on women’s education?

The structuraladjustmentpolicies in the Third World,havenegativeeffectsonwomen’seducationaland occupationalachievement.

6. What do the authors’ examine as six different featuresofnations thathave beenofinteresttoquantitativemacro-comparative researchers:

1. Totalfertilityrate,

2.Infantmortalityrateper1000births

3. Governmenthealth expendituresaspercentage ofGDP

4. Military expenditures as a percentageofGDP

5. Net inflows of foreigndirectinvestmentasapercentageofGDP

6. Meatconsumptionpercapita(kg/year).

Totalfertilityrateandthe infant mortality rate are indicators of reproductive health, spending on health care and the militarygetatsocialandpoliticalpriorities,foreigndirectinvestmentdealswitheconomiclinks to theglobaleconomy,andmeatconsumption is relatedtoagriculturalproductionprocesses and culturalcharacteristics

7. What are the authors’ findings on how women’s status is connected to a wide variety of processes and social outcomes.

There is clear evidence that:

  • Where women have higher educational status, fertility rates and infant mortality rates are lower. These findings point to the major demographic and health consequences of women’s status.
  • Women’s status has a distinct effect on social priorities. Where women’s status is higher, military expenditures are lower and government health care expenditures are higher.
  • Women’s status is associated with national links to the global economy. There is less foreign direct investment in nations where women have higher status, which suggests that gender equality leads nations to be less dependent on the global economy.
  • Finally, diet and agriculture also appear to be affected by women’s status. Where women’s status is higher, meat consumption is higher.

1