Paradoxes of Globalization, Liberalization, and Gender Equality

Abstract

Globalization of the Indian economy has dramatically influenced social life in India. The expansion of the middle class is said to have occurred as a consequence of this process. Based on ethnographic research among lower-middle-class families in West Bengal, India, the author examines the apparent paradox between women's positive perceptions of empowerment and the overall negative impact of structural adjustment policies on women. Many scholars argue that globalization has been detrimental to women due to growing structural gender inequalities, but many respondents identify greater opportunities to challenge preexisting patriarchal norms through the role models available in the globalized media. While there are increasing inequalities for households, women do not consider these to be gender disadvantages, emphasizing instead the opportunities for greater independence. The author pays particular attention to the confluence of the prowomen consumer discourses of the global market with earlier developmentalist notions of the public role of women.

Does exposure to other cultures affect the impact of economic globalization on gender equality?

“…Moreover, new economic opportunities provide families with the ability and incentive to invest in their daughters’ education (cf. Ganguly-Scrase, 2003). However, these studies demonstrate that the effects of economic globalization and growth are uneven and conditioned by the era (Richards and Gelleny, 2007), by the types of industry predominant in a country (Ross, 2008), and by its level of economic development (e.g., Eastin and Prakash, 2013; Meyer, 2003).…”

One-person households in India

“…Households and families in India are being transformed by the processes of economic liberalization, structural changes and changes in social spheres (Ganguly-Scrase 2003). One such change is the expansion and creation of new economic opportunities for both men and women.…”

Ethnographic (dis) locations: An approach for studying marginalisation in the context of socio-economic change

“…In the context of the ‘modernisation’ of India, young women are particularly significant both as symbol and resource. Ganguly-Scrase (2003: 553–554) notes that ‘Public visibility of women and their participation in employment have occupied centre stage in…postcolonial developmentalist narratives of nation building in India’ as well as become a crucial marker of emerging middle class identity (also see Oza, 2006; Radhakrishnan, 2011). Further, young women may serve as latent capital for the bourgeoning service economy.…”