7.4 Women

• Traditionaly, women have not enjoyed similar status/equity with men

  • Gender division of labor began in early human civilization:

    • Hunter-gatherer societies

    • Domestic tasks (rearing/raising children, home-making)

      • Both include participation in subsistence (sruvival): food procurement and preparation (in most societies, women prepare food, domestically)

  • The shift to an industrialized (monetized) ecnonomy tended to leave women with tasks that remained unpaid

    • In order to survive, many families need women to participate in paid jobs (but domestic tasks still need to be completed; thus, many women have dual responsibilities)

      • Many females are paid less than men (and thus need to work longer hours to earn as much as men); some jobs require a man to bring their wife to work as well, but only the man is paid

The Modern World/Gender and Labor

• Women typically are dispropritionately educated compared to men in most LDC’s and semi-peripheral countries

  • Lack of education=lack of skills and thus, lack of access to higher-paying jobs

• Gender discrimination in the workplace still exists:

  • Some jobs are percieved as “more masculne” (military, police, etc.)

  • Entrenched attitudes about women (“emotional”, not “tough enough, etc.) can lead to discrimination and fewer opportunities in certian sectors/jobs

  • Some employers prefer female employees (women believe to have more agility/dexterityl traditonal cultural norms lead women to act more “docile” and thus less likely to cause troublem go on strike, etc.)

  • Gender gap in pay:

• Certain professions are dominated by females (“pink-collar” jobs):

  • Care-oriented professions (nursing, teacher, beauty/personal care, secretarial work, childcare)

Microloans (microcredit)

• Giving very small loans with low-interestrates to those with no collateral

  • Designed to replace high-interest “predatory” loans that typically are avialable to poor people

  • Goal is often to help a persona develop an entrepreneurship of some kind

    • A women can buy a chikcen—-chicken lay eggs—-egggs sold at market——profits can be saved and used for more susbtantial activity such as buying a sewing machine….)

  • Grameen Bank (Bangladesh)=97% of all microlaons go to women

    • Woemn tend to borrow smaller amounts and have better repayment rates

  • Can help adjust social cultural norms (female empowerment, owning assets, being involved in more deciison-making processes)

Microcredit Issues/Criticisms

1) Many loans used for basic survival/daily needs (food, utilities)….so people stay in cycle of debt

2) Loans/impact are so small they they will not have much/any effect at the macro-economic level (a drop in the ocean)

• Data shows a fairly limited effect at the macroeconomic level

3) Without government