Impact of Globalization on Women

Abstract

The move toward a "borderless" world in trade and industry has had adverse effects on women. Studies of the impact of globalization on the garments industry in which women workers predominate reveal changes in structure of the garments industry (e.g., by-passing of middle-level subcontractors) due to increased global competition; the Asian financial crises which led to only the big firms surviving; the shrinking of the domestic market due to the flood of cheaper imports and the introduction of new technologies such as computer aided embroidery have made women workers and homeworkers highly vulnerable, subject to lay-offs, loss of orders and other economic difficulties. In the Cordilleras, a study of open-pit mining (OPM) focused on the effects of OPM on women's workload, access to and control over resources and household decision-making among women from the Ibaloy and Kankanaey ethnolinguistic groups. The study found the effects to be "catastrophic", not just on the women but on the economy, environment and culture of the region. The results of these pioneering studies call for more and continuing research on the impact of development projects on women in the context of globalization.