Topic 2: Women and Globalized Labour: Comparing Canada and DW (India and Mexico) Why & how Canadian women workers are disadvantaged? Canadian neoliberal policies/practices legitimize the extraction of surplus from temps & low waged women workers Canada: Feminization of labour DW: Feminization of Poverty Canada • Neoliberal State • Affluent society • Relative poverty (Adult women below poverty line (1.22 mil.) 10.2% (2007) http://www.womensdirectorate.gov.yk.ca/pdf/womens_pover ty_2009_townson.pdf • Capital extracts surplus from temp/low wage working women • Issue: gender inequality in hiring, pay & job status • Feminization of labour Poverty line: spend 55% on basics http://www.canadianwomen.org/sites/canadianwomen.org/fil es/PDF-FactSheet-EndPoverty-Jan2013.pdf Periphery: DW • Commodity chain • Majority in DW are poor • Absolute (human) poverty (% Women: India: > 50% *; Mexico (27 mil.) 28% • Surplus extraction from most women (low or no wages) unpaid work at home, in agriculture and in unofficial sector • Issue: chronic poverty – want basic needs • Feminization of poverty *http://www.infochangeindia.org/analysis150.jsp Canada What is ‘Feminization of labour’? • Women’s high labour force participation and employment rates There are now twice as many working women in Canada as there were thirty years ago. In 2006, almost 60% of all females over the age of 15 were in the paid work force, compared to the 68% of all male over age 15. • Women holding greater % of insecure or temp jobs 70% of part-time workers and 66% of minimum wage earners are female (2009). http://www.canadianwomen.org/sites/canadianwomen.org/files/PDF-FactSheetEndPoverty-Jan2013.pdf Periphery: Feminization of Poverty: Compared to men, women in DW experience: • Higher incidence of poverty • Greater depth/severity of poverty (i.e., extreme) • More persistent/longer-term poverty • Rising burden of poverty •. Face more barriers to lifting themselves out of poverty • Women-headed households are the ‘poorest of the poor’. • Female household headship transmits poverty to children Feminization of labour: Annual growth rate in labour force: • OECD countries (1983 to 1992): 2.1% for econ. active women (men 0.8%). Table 1368. Female Labor Force Participation Rates by Country: 1980 to 2010 [In percent. Female labor force of all ages divided by female population 15–64 years old] Country 1980 1990 2000 2009 2010 years Canada 57.3 67.5 69.8 74.3 74.4 percentage In the US, Canada and the Scandinavian countries, women now make up nearly half the active population (women’s activity rates > 70% in the core age groups). https://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1368.pdf Canada: Certain sectors are feminized • Clothing and textile industries Women are vulnerable workers: •Hiring: discrimination • Work conditions: poor • Migrant women - Dependent on a male breadwinner - Derived rights of settlement Source: http://www.cdnwomen.org/eng/pdfs/poverty_facts.pdf. accessed Feb 24, 07 Canadian Women in Poverty (Canadian Women's Foundation, 2004) : • Of the world's 29 most developed countries, Canada has the 5th largest wage gap between women and men full-time workers • wage gap is due to the presence of children. Childcare ahead of career advancement diminish a woman’s financial status throughout her entire life. • Women are paid less only in 3 other rich countries: Korea, Japan and Germany than in Canada source: http://www.torontosun.com/money/2010/03/08/13155136.html accessed feb 2014 Canada: Poor women means poor children: 2007 http://thetyee.ca/Views/2007/01/02/ChildPoverty http://www.povnet.org/ • 37% of lone mothers on paid employment raise a family on <$10/hour. • Children make up 33% of people dependent on social assistance for survival. • Low income children are more than twice as likely to have problems with vision, hearing, speech, mobility, dexterity, cognition and emotion. • The infant mortality rate for the lowest income group in Canada is double that of the highest income group. Statistics Canada's low-income cut-offs i.e, poverty: Poor spend most income on basic needs: Single mother & one child in Ontario: per month Income assistance before deductions: $957 Expenditure: Rent $675 Groceries $200 Remainder $82 (to pay for electricity, telephone, heat, laundry, transportation, school needs for her child, emergencies, aspirin, medicine) Statistics Canada, September 14, 2000 Statistics Canada’s Calculation of an after-tax low income cut-off Low income lines ,2010-2011 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/75f0002m/2012002/figure/fig1-eng.htm accessed feb 2014 Household Work: Gender Differences for Home-Based Workers (Caragata: 2003) Work outside Home-based Canada of home work Type of Work Men Women Child care >15 hrs/wk 16% 25% Housework >15 hrs/wk 5% 16% Elder care 5–9 hrs/wk 3% 5% Men Women 14% 40% 9% 41% 13% 16% Source: Caragata (2003) based on data from Menzies (1998). • • • The economic crisis 2008 affected men and women differently in terms of unemployment rates in developed economies The difference between male and female unemployment rates in the same countries is calculated by subtracting the female unemployment rate from the male unemployment rate. From 2008-2009: the economic crisis resulted in increasing unemployment rates in all six countries, and the average increase was 1.9 %. In four out of the six countries gender gap in unemployment rate increased (Sept 2008). In particular in Canada and the United States, two countries where men’s unemployment rate rose faster than women’s. http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/---emp_elm/--trends/documents/publication/wcms_120471.pdf ILO (2010) Global Unemployment Trends http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_emp/--emp_elm/---trends/documents/publication/wcms_120471.pdf Women in pov http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CK4G1WzE0I 2.26min Ending Poverty Starts With Women 2012 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhBZkWCtwZI 10min Women in pov in Canada 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaYqNOYHmZ4 9.47 min Periphery: DW A Report (2005): Women And The World Economy: Hope For The Future? • < $2 a day: 50% of World Population. • < $1 a day: 1.8 bil.of the above population. • 70% of them are women. • Women live (age) < 40yrs: 340 mil. in the world • 35,000 children die/day of preventable causes. http://www.tiaw.org/microenterprise.asp accessed 2006 Notes: 1. Microcredit: A Commercial Model for Poverty Reduction. 2. UNICEF. 3. Ibid 4. The World Bank. 5. IDB and CGAP. Report (cont’d) •Poor in DW in the informal sector: 50-60% of the workforce • Women comprise the majority of this workforce • 96% of India’s working women are in the informal sector. • Women’s micro businesses rely on predatory moneylenders because of limited access to formal financial services http://www.tiaw.org/microenterprise.asp Notes: 1. Microcredit: A Commercial Model for Poverty Reduction. 2. UNICEF. 3. Ibid 4. The World Bank. 5. IDB and CGAP. Global women's unpaid work at home, in agriculture and in unofficial sector: •unnoticed by statistics, •estimated as a third of global GDP Global: Sectors Where Women Work: Change in 10 years Source: ILO. (2009). Global Employment Trends for Women March 2009 http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---dcomm/documents/publication/w Periphery (DW): Women hired & fired - ‘flexible labour’ • temporary and part-time • women more ‘suitable’ • ‘natural’ talent - dexterity and nimble fingers’ • cheaper and manipulable • endure monotonous tasks Women Dominate Employment in Most Export Processing Zones 2007 Table 1. Increase of Female Headed households and Single mothers, and Poverty Rate in Mexico City 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 % Total Female-Headed Households 13.96 14.69 16.17 17.54 18.33 20.01 with Children and No Partner 11.34 12.28 14.28 15.06 15.61 17.11 Percent below Poverty Female-Headed Households 13.48 16.34 28.37 26.07 13.24 13.96 Male-Headed Households 17.70 17.29 30.81 27.31 17.59 14.25 Heeju Shin (2006). Working and Living Arrangement of Single Mother Households and Social Support in Mexico. Center for Latin American Social Policy, Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies , University of Texas at Austin City, accessed Mar 1, 2010 http://www1.lanic.utexas.edu/project/etext/llilas/claspo/fieldreports/shin06.pdf % Poor Single Woman-headed households: Mexico: 20 % (2002) Wmn –mexico : http://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/bitstream/handle/2152/17907/shind94494.pdf?sequence=2 Ref: SYLVIA CHANT The ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ and the ‘Feminisation’ of Anti-Poverty Programmes: Room for Revision?Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 44, No. 2, 165–197, February 2008 See also: Chant, Sylvia (1997) Women-headed households: poorest of the poor? Perspectives from Mexico, Costa Rica and the Philippines. IDS Bulletin, 28 (3). pp. 26-48. ISSN 0265-5012 http://unstats.un.org/unsd/ (UN) http://www.zonalatina.com/Zldata161.htm (LAm) http://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/pkits/women3.htm Latin American countries: female-male wage gap: 2008 Overall gender pay gap The average pay gap in a few countries Brazil 38.5% Mexico 36.1% Argentina 29% Paraguay 11% http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/GAP-09_EN.pdf 2003 http://wbln0018.worldbank.org/LAC/L ACInfoClient.nsf/d29684951174975c8 5256735007fef12/e4bf3b5369a28e62 85256cde0074c903/$FILE/challenges .pdf Periphery Women: World workforce 49.1% (2007) World's poor 70 % Women’s share of world household income 40-60 % Work Provide 60 to 90 hr/wk 75% of healthcare Produce 75% of food (of the food consumed throughout Africa) (Source: WID, 2000; http://www.ilo.org/global/about-theilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_091102/lang--en/index.htm) http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_103456.pdf http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/--dcomm/documents/publication/wcms_103456.pdf http://kilm.ilo.org/GET2004/DOWNLOAD/trendsw.pdf South Asia (India), East Asia and Africa: Poor people in millions (living on $1.25/day) ( WB 2009 data) http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/stats-on-human-rights/statistics-onpoverty/statistics-on-poverty-in-india/