Transcript 'Sexual Division of Labor: what transformative policies'

" The Contribution of Women from the Lowest
Income Groups to the Economy:
How Time-Use Studies can Enable an
Accurate Valuation”
Devaki Jain*
Member erstwhile South Commission
Currently Council member , National Institute of
Advanced Studies
I want to suggest three things:
 focus our attention on women from the lowest income
and no-income decile
 replacing our quest to integrate unpaid work into
macroeconomic frameworks
 with integrating unrecognized work of all types into the
same.
We carry the learning we receive from:
 Analyzing the burdens, the undervaluation of women’s
work
 The inequality they address due to the stereotyping of
roles
 To a critique of macro-economic reasoning, beyond the
minimalist goal of gender equality.
I would like to locate my proposals
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Within the context of continents of the South, i.e.
Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia
and the Pacific,
Looking at the patterns of work and deprivation that
women in these regions experience
Recognize that after the economic shocks of 20082009, a new world order has emerged, global
economic power has shifted from the North to the
South.
Another global crisis is on its way
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As feminists of the South, we need to shift our
approach to public policy
Must move away from old economic theories
such as the trickle-down theory with policies that
focus on GDP growth and surplus
Policies should take poor women as the engines
of growth, as the beginning of public policy and
macroeconomic reasoning.
Should not be limited to gender equality in
sharing of work, but expanded into public
investment in social infrastructure and gendering
national budgets.
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We should be arguing for another economics- one in
which care is also embedded, as it is a phenomenon that
affects women across class and cultural divides.
We should be asking whether the woman in the lowest
economic situation can redefine economic reasoning.
Women, especially from the poorest households, are the
most neglected but most valuable contributors to the
growth of the economy.
Time-use studies provide the evidence for this
hypothesis, as well as provide support to these pillars of
the society and economy. This is examined at a later
stage of the paper.
This goal of gender equality and women’s
empowerment is language that we have adopted from
international mandates, especially those of the UN.
 Making this into a global agenda has closed our eyes to
differentiating our priorities from the conditions of
difference.
 Furthermore, these goals are not attainable without
major changes to the macro economy and the pressures
from outside
 The debate should go beyond measurement of care
work and its sharing, into the measurement of women’s
contribution even to the SNA type of productive work
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Their location in the economies and how that
location’s identification as well as circumstances can
give value and visibility to that contribution
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Transform the way we think of development offers,
development policy, and engines of growth.
It would alter the very measures of progress.
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The important questions are :- Are the GDP and GNP useful measures?
- Does the HDI offer a satisfactory substitute?
- Are tools of valuation appropriate or have we other
tools?
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If we measure work by time, then women in the developing
countries come out on top, as the most valuable people, as
they spend more hours on everything than men.
So should time and not money or monetized value be the
measure of value?
In 1975, I undertook a time use study in 6 villages in India.
The results revealed strong variations across class, caste and
culture, not just economic zones, in the work life of women
and children.
In the mainstream economic data collections and policy
formulation spaces in India, women were considered
secondary bread winners (with males being the primary
ones)
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Women from landless households had a formal labour force
participation rate of 74% which was higher than their men.
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So, I challenged the perception that women were
supplementary bread winners which is the way the formal
statistical system sees women. The “aam aurat“ (common
women) were actually the main support, i.e. the primary
breadwinners for their households
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I had collected the data not only across land classes, but also
of children above 5 years [the detailed methodology which
was observation and recording every half hour in every
household six times over the year] showed the strong
differences between boys and girls in access to leisure or
education.
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We later carried the findings forward to show that women had
a self-perception of ‘not doing anything’ when in fact they
may have been weeding, cutting grass, and any number of
other activities
Why were we keen to show that they were formally
economically active without taking note of the 3 Cs –
Cooking, Childcare and Cleaning?
We wanted skills development, tools to improve their
productivity and ease the strains, occupational hazard
protection, apart from identification in the occupational tables
which would entitle them to wages, and also enable the state to
be aware of displacement.
I will illustrate from India both
1 The value of time use studies, but specific to
hypothesis or to alleviate burden or to prove the value
of women's work to productive sectors
2. That dealing with the macro economic policy signals
and directions as a template , as a blackboard and then
putting our knowledge including time use, is valuable
3. I argue that such a contribution by us is more valuable
to poor women than pointing out gender inequality or
even the measuring care work or changing of roles
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Working Group of Feminist Economists (WGFE) to
gender the Eleventh Five-Year Plan (2007-2012). The
members included scholars who had worked in the field
as well as data experts on different sectors of the
economy.
Their inputs were directly introduced into the 20072012 Plan. A few illustrations of change are laid in the
following slide.
Knowledge drawn from:◦ Data base
◦ Specialization base
◦ Knowledge which could be called voice drawn
from the broad based consultations
◦ Leading to significant inclusions in the 11th Plan
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WGFE’S Sector specific Inputs
Achievements in the 11th Plan
Agriculture
To recognize that women are increasingly the
main cultivators, Enhance women’s land and
infrastructure access; Skill training in farm
technology maintenance; Group approach for
supporting women farmers
Recognizes that 85% of farmers who are small and
marginal are increasingly women. And therefore women’s
names should be recorded as cultivators in revenue
records. Also, gender bias in institutions for information,
credit, inputs, marketing should be corrected by gendersensitizing the existing infrastructure providers
Industry
Globalization has induced feminization of
indebtedness; increasing asset lessness, fall in
real wages; declining in the conditions of
work. Scheme designs should target women
and recognize that it is more difficult for
women to be successful in self employment.
And requires capacity building, financial
literacy, account keeping, etc.
Highlights the need to integrate social security cover
sensitive to women’s special needs. It stresses the need to
ensure equal wages, adequate protection and
infrastructure. Recognizes that the vulnerabilities
associated to the MSE sector especially affect women and
children
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Towards Women’s Agency and Child Rights
To ensure that schemes are transforming
gender roles and constructs, not reinforcing
gender stereotypes by adding up to women’s
unpaid and reproductive work and Strengthen
the capacity of Gender Budget Cells (now in
Pointed out that the performance however has been far
from satisfactory”. The Gender Budgeting and Gender
Outcome assessment will be encouraged in all
ministries/departments at central and state levels
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WGFE’S Sector specific Inputs
Achievements in the 11th Plan
Healthcare, Family Welfare and Clean Living Conditions
Recognizing that besides themselves suffering
form ill-health, women are severely affected by
the morbidity and mortality within families as they
not only have to cope with the impoverishment
caused by ill-health but also with additional
burden of care
“The strong links between poverty and ill health need to be
recognized. The onset of a long and expensive illness can drive the
non-poor into poverty. Ill health creates immense stress even among
those who are financially secure. High health care costs can lead to
entry into or exacerbation of poverty.”
Education
It is imperative for educational planning to pay
specific attention to recruitment of female teachers
–and form different social groups.
Enrollment Ratio form 51,7% to 75%. Opening of
schools exclusively for girls to overcome gender
disparity on access to education
Aim towards major reduction in gender, social, and regional gaps in
enrolments, dropouts and school retention (…) The GER in secondary
education is targeted to increase form 52% in 2004-05 to 75% by
2011. Acknowldged the need for measures to be undertaken to
overcome obstacles to girl’s education
Water and Sanitation
Need to mention the long distances that are
traveled by women in their daily search for water.
References to the need of nearby covered toilets
that provide dignity to women
Acknowledges that “women and girls spend hours fetching water and
that drudgery should be unnecessary and recognised that lack of
covered toilets imposes a severe hardship on women and girls
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WGFE’S Sector specific Inputs
Achievements in the 11th Plan
Healthcare, Family Welfare and Clean Living Conditions
Recognizing that besides themselves
suffering form ill-health, women are
severely affected by the morbidity and
mortality within families as they not only
have to cope with the impoverishment
caused by ill-health but also with additional
burden of care
“The strong links between poverty and ill health need to be
recognized. The onset of a long and expensive illness can
drive the non-poor into poverty. Ill health creates immense
stress even among those who are financially secure. High
health care costs can lead to entry into or exacerbation of
poverty.”
Environment and Climate Change
Recognizing that women are the principle
users of forests and that they are thus
especially affected by forest degradation
and the principle stakeholders in forest
conservation.
Women should be an integral part of
community-centered ecotourism given their
extensive knowledge of biodiversity. This
could also provide a new source of income
for educated women in the villages.
Acknowledges women as the “principal stakeholders in
natural resources use and management.” It affirms “the
participation of women should be ensured in all community
activities and the decisions should be based on their
considered opinion.” community-based programs should
therefore be gender-responsive.
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We in the southern continents need to throw
off the inherited concepts vocabularies as well
as advisories
 We need to redefine as well as re-name
categories
 In the following slides I will show how
vocabulary , nomenclature oppresses as well
as misdirects us
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Another type of distortion, this time coming from the language
and the vocabulary used to describe economic phenomena
from the early industrialized countries of the North. To
illustrate:
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If the home is called ‘workplace’ as indeed it is for the
majority of women in the global South, then work at home
would be recognized as work which can come under labour
laws.
Home-based workers are now recognized for labour welfare
protection as a result of our advocacy. “Formal/informal” and
“organized/unorganized”.
The so-called informal sector is very formal, but it is
controlled in different ways from the factory floor
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Similarly, the unorganized sector is extremely
organized but in different ways.
Most of these forms are exploitative and unless named
and understood correctly, they cannot be dealt with.
These are names given to economic spaces and forms
of work, and they are misnomers if seen from Africa or
Asia
It is useful to change nomenclature for policy and
analysis.
I have illustrated from India both
1. The value of time use studies, but specific to
hypothesis or to alleviate burden or to prove the value
of women's work to productive sectors
2. That dealing with the macro economic policy signals
and directions as a template , as a blackboard and then
putting our knowledge including time use, is valuable
3. I argue that such a contribution by us is more valuable
to poor women than pointing out gender inequality or
even the measuring care work or changing of roles