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How can paid labour change the balance of gender relations?
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How does paid labour change the balance of power within gender relations? The aim of this discussion is to look first at the relevant definitions of work, gender relations and empowerment. Second, I will evaluate the empowering effect of obtaining a wage and how economic independence can lead to autonomy and self-determination for women. Third, I will look at the limitations of work in both the informal and formal sector and how it often results in a double burden for women. I will explain that this is all in the context of economic crisis and structural adjustment measures within Latin America. By defining ‘work’ or paid labour in relation to women it becomes apparent that much work or daily tasks performed by women go unnoticed. Household reproduction because of its very nature and location has been concealed within the household and not fully appreciated as being of value. Western notions of work are perceived as being very separate from the home and can therefore be more easily set apart from reproductive tasks. This emphasis upon deriving income from outside sources has the effect of undermining the work that women do as it is seen as secondary to the contribution that is provided by the male breadwinner. Aside from domestic tasks within the household, it is becoming more apparent that women are becoming increasingly engaged in income generating activities that are based around the home and domestic responsibility. The effect of this is that distinctions between the public sphere and the private sphere are merging and becoming rather fuzzy (Craske 1999 Pg 91). One effect of work or paid labour upon women is that it is said to be ‘empowering’. Empowerment itself is a highly ambiguous concept that is open to interpretation. Rowlands (1997) highlights that the action of empowerment ultimately involves the process of bringing people on the outside of the decision making process into it. It can also be seen as a process by which those who have been denied the ability to make strategic choices acquire the ability to do so. Other encompassing factors could include a shift to an emphasis of participation in political and formal decision-making. In the economic sphere empowerment would involve obtaining and sustaining an income and therefore ceasing dependency relationships where they occur, ultimately seeking to maximise these aspects of empowerment without constraint (Rowlands 1997 Pg 13). These notions of work and the empowering effect is said to have for women has an impact upon gender relations. Gender relations refer to a cultural construction of gender interests, with emphasis placed on the complementary nature of men and women in society. In the context of Latin America the mothering role for women is overwhelming viewed as their primary role whereas fatherhood is not viewed in the same way for men. Gender relations are further enforced by the separation of men in the public sphere and women in the private (Craske 1999 Pg 10). The 1980’s have been referred to as the lost decade in Latin America and indeed the South as a whole. The decade has been marked by increasing external debt, inflation, unemployment, migration and urbanisation (Pitkin & Bedoya 1997 Pg 34). The structural adjustment measures undertaken by governments have led to increasing pressures at the household level, particularly for working class households. The state is receding and is providing less and less in terms of basic necessities (such as health, welfare and education). The result of this is that households are required to figure their own survival strategies. Brodie (1994) points out that adjustment policies have had five major negative consequences for women. First, that poverty is becoming increasingly gendered especially among female-headed households and elderly women. Second, women tend to be more adversely effected by a reduction in social spending. Third, women have had to reduce household expenditure whilst prices continue to rise and thus have had to seek income generating activities to supplement the household income. Forth, the gains made in the 1970’s towards gender equity are being undermined through changes in the employment market and reductions in childcare facilities, education and retraining programmes. Lastly, the cutbacks in public expenditure have has a direct impact upon the women that worked within public sector occupations (Brodie 1994 pg 50). Thus, in terms of the rolling back of the state and its removal from social spending, it is most definitely women that are feeling the brunt of economic restructuring. Economic restructuring has also had the effect of increasing the numbers of women entering into the formal sector of the labour force. The reasons given for this are that capital has become more fluid and transnational corporations are now dominating international trade. This has led to a growth of technology in a global sense and also to the growth in export processing industrialisation as a major development strategy (McClenaghan 1997 Pg 21). What is central to these notions of an international division of labour, are the employment of large numbers of women (they generally constitute 70% to 90% of the industrial labour force) in free trade zones.
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