Economic Restructuring and Gender Subordination

1. Economic Restructuring and Gender Subordination By Helen I. Safa Soc/Anth 3602 Jennifer Guadarrama

2. Economic Growth • Tertiary Sector grew and Primary Sector shrunk • Population growth • Urban growth (in large cities due to migration) • Declines in fertility, mortality, and infant mortality • Life expectancy increase • Education and employment increase for both sexes • Female labor forced increase • Female headed household increase • Increase demand for female workers Latin America & the Caribbean during 1950-1980

3. Caused by rising prices of import, decline in quantity & price of export, and rise in interest rates on foreign debt • Resulting in implement structural adjustment programs designed by International Monetary Fund and the World Bank • Purpose was to cut government expenditures, improve the balance of trade, and reduce the foreign debt Economic Crisis of 1980’s

4. Poverty, unemployment increase • Devaluation of the currency • Increase rates of inflation and cost of living • Elimination of government subsidies for basic food • Subsidized credit to farmers • Cuts in government expenditures (social services) • Decline in wages Economic Crisis of 1980’s impact on Latin America and the Caribbean

5. Threaten the newly earned entitlements • Highlighted the importance of women in the labor force • Increased demand for women in the labor force (maquiladora/export-led industries) CHEAP LABOR • Increase in female headed households (breadwinners) Economic Crisis of 1980’s impact on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean

6. Does wage labor merely exploit women as a source of cheap labor and add to the burden of their domestic chores? Or does it give women greater autonomy and raise their consciousness regarding gender subordination?

7. Examining the factors affecting the impact of paid labor on women’s status in three countries of the Hispanic Caribbean: • Cuba • Puerto Rico • Dominican Republic Safa attempts to answer these questions by:

8. State Policy • Access to resources • The household economy • Gender Ideology 4 Fundamental factors that condition the impact of paid wage labor on women’s status:

9. State Policy

10. State Policy

11. State policy determines the resources women get: • It can influence wages, working conditions, provide social services, redistribute income (transfer payments), redistribution mechanism (rent control, agrarian reform) • All sectors of the economy have been nationalized (Cuba) • Capitalist societies: the states is often at the mercy of the private sector in defending workers’ rights (P.R. & D.R) Access to resources

12. Access to resources

13. Household Economy

14. Household Economy

15. Traditional gender ideology (reproductive/productive roles) • Casa/Calle • Socioeconomic differences • Cultural differences • Patriarchal laws prevail over women's rights • Responsibility of reproduction lies in the household not on State Gender Ideology

16. Women are more visible in the public sphere but subordination still exist • Occupational segregation • Wage differences • Maintenance of casa/calle • Paid employment is critical in family survival • Marital instability • Female-headed household increase • Women see themselves as housewife with economic responsibilities • Gender consciousness is growing Conclusion

17. Does wage labor merely exploit women as a source of cheap labor and add to the burden of their domestic chores? Or does it give women greater autonomy and raise their consciousness regarding gender subordination?