Role of Women in International Development

Globalization has led to intense trade relationships between states. It has made capital more mobile than ever before and with that mobility, capital is being invested in places that offer lowest cost of production. The need for lowering cost of production among states attracting capital investment has increased the demand for cheap labor. In order to fulfill that demand, the outlet that has been exhausted the most is the unskilled labor supply of developing countries, particularly that of women. Women workers are attractive because they are seen as passive, docile, and yet dexterous. Their weak position in the society has made women’s work largely unprotected. The recent events in Bangladeshi garment factories led to deaths of hundreds of women workers. This event shared an eerie similarity to the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911. The horrifying consequences of the incident in 1911 have led to stronger labor laws both in the United States and at the international level. However, despite the enactments of such laws, developing countries have yet to make improvements in the issue of protection of female workers.

Global leaders have unanimously established economic development as a priority since the end of the Second World War. The end of the Cold War led the dominant Western, liberal ideals of economic growth to influence the theoretical discussion on development. What followed was the introduction of trade liberalization policies under the leadership of the Bretton Woods Organizations. Under these policies, development is often measured in terms of industrial advancement of the state. This model allows the capitalist paradigm of development to dominate the policies drafted to assist the global development. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a result of such policies.

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) defines FDI as “the category of international investment that reflects the objective of a resident entity in one economy to obtain a lasting interest in an enterprise resident in another economy” (OECD, 2008). FDI has been praised, as well as criticized, as a way for poorer countries to develop. While FDI does lead to higher levels of wealth for the countries in question, scholars are also concerned about the effect it has on the country’s citizenry. One factor that has enabled this attraction of FDI in the developing areas is the easy availability of cheap labor. The excess of unskilled labor in the markets of the developing areas have allowed FDI to establish manufacturing industries like apparel industries, food packaging industries etc., which does not require complicated know-how for operating at a line level. In these industries, the majority of labor is comprised of young female workers. Despite this majority, the macro level impact of FDI on social, political, and economic status of women in the FDI-led economies remains a mystery.

FDI has been praised as an attempt to provide a window of opportunity for women to be a part of the developmental process. Host states often assert that FDI allows women empowerment; however, feminist scholars establish that by ignoring cultural and social roles of women, FDI is actually discouraging women to be a part of the economic process (Moser, 1993; Elson & Pearson, 1996). These scholars argue that FDI completely ignores reproductive roles, such as household chores, taking care of children etc., of women that are necessary for producing and maintaining the supply of future labor force. FDI’s association with women empowerment is linked to provision of productive work, but it demands that women choose between reproductive and productive work. The role of women as economic actors has been ignored for a long time. Time and again, women have been portrayed as passive actors in the process of economic development. However, phenomenon like the global and gender divisions of labor illustrates that women have been equally active participants in inducing economic growth. Despite this, there is a lack of political will in protecting unskilled labor; this lack is particularly pervasive in areas where the labor force is comprised of mostly women.