What Counts as Women’s “Work?”

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Having completed the first two parts of our course, we’re ready to launch into Part 3, “The Gendered Dynamics of Global Restructuring.” For the next few weeks, our focus will be on how and why women (along with poor people and people of colour) tend to be so negatively affected by neoliberalism and the processes of economic globalization. Although a bit tricky, this next section of our course will help you begin to understand even more fully why the majority of the world’s women are experiencing so many difficulties and obstacles.

This section's a bit tricky, because we’ll be reading and talking about some stuff that, at first glance, seems to have very little to do with women. For example, you might think that women’s lives and experiences have nothing to do with the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). But, much like figuring out how to stop the HIV/AIDS pandemic, how can you even begin to attempt to develop a country’s infrastructure and create a stable economy if you don’t take into account why and how these processes are gendered, or, in other words, how and why they affect women differently than they do men?

This is just one of the many questions we’ll be asking over the course of the next few weeks about globalization.

As Burn makes clear in Chapter 5, “[m]ost women work, and they work hard” (91). So, we’ll start off our section on the gendered dynamics of global restructuring during our next class meeting with a basic discussion of what counts as “work” in the context of the global economy. The global economy is a patriarchal social structure that we haven’t yet really talked that much about, but feminist economists have long critiqued the fact that governments and international institutions (such as the WB and the IMF) have very narrow definitions of what counts as “work,” and those definitions exclude the vast majority of women’s labour from being acknowledged and valued in local, national and global economies. We’ll unpack the challenges women face within the context of “work,” and why women’s labour is so important not only to the study of women globally, but also, quite literally, to the day-to-day functioning of the entire planet. As we’ve discussed briefly already this semester, without the “work” of women, day-to-day life as we and others around the world know it would grind to a halt.

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Our discussion of women’s “work” on Tuesday and Thursday will lay the groundwork for March 8th, when we’ll do some activities around the notion of “development” and the way(s) that it (usually negatively) has affected women. Then, on March 10th, we’ll do some reading and talking about the consequences of economic globalization for women and other historically marginalized groups, such as children, poor people, and people of colour.

A Word of Caution
There is one thing I want to make you aware of as we embark on this third part of our course: Because they focus on economic issues, these materials may seem a bit trickier to you than the other stuff we’ve been reading so far this semester. This is largely because even basic information about how the global economy works is completely unknown to most people. But this is your chance to learn a little something not only about the global economy, in general, but also the important (but too often undervalued) role women play in keeping it all running smoothly.

I can’t emphasize enough that the stuff we’ll be reading and talking about during these next couple of weeks is really the key to understanding the lives and experiences of women around the world. So, be patient with the reading you’re doing and with yourself as you’re doing it. If you’re having trouble, don’t throw up your hands in despair; rather, take a break and then try again. And you can always drop by to chat with me during my office hours. Happy reading!

Administrative Stuff
Just a reminder about a few things:

1. Exam #2 is due in hard copy at the start of our next class. Please be sure to follow the Course Writing Guidelines, which are available in the “Important Course Info” section here on our blog.

2. You should be well into your research for your Term Project by now. I went over the specific requirements of the assignment on Thursday, February 17th, so if you were absent that day, be sure to get the information from a classmate. And remember: I’m always happy to chat with you if you’d like to ask questions, brainstorm ideas, or anything else as you do your research, so don’t hesitate to drop by during my office hours or e-mail me to arrange an appointment.

3. With regard to the Term Project, don’t forget that you must meet with me before March 3rd. This is a requirement of the project; you will not be able to move forward with your research—or pass this course—without completing this component of the project, so make sure to come by my office hours or e-mail me to make an appointment.

4. Also regarding the Term Project, please remember to use all the resources available to you right here on campus at MRU. This might include meeting with the WMST librarian, Katharine Barrette, as well as linking to the various websites I’ve made available in the “Helpful Resources” section of our course blog.

5. Lastly, on Tuesday, March 22nd, I’ll be available at the Starbucks by the East Entrance from 2-4 PM, so come by to chat about anything you’d like: Ask about the Term Project, about stuff we’ve been reading and talking about in class, or how your semester’s going generally. The more, the merrier, so come on by!

Reference
Jain, Devaki. 2005. Women, Development and the UN: A Sixty-Year Quest for Equality and Justice. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.