PERSPECTIVE

Globalisation: Asian Women’s Experience
Chang Hee Won
Hee Won hails from Korea SCM and is a keen activist on the issues of Peace and Justice. She has just completed her
Masters’ degree in International Politics and Security Studies in the Bradford University in UK

Globalisation; opening up

Globalisation, an ideology has become an unstoppable process that is shaping our society, economy, culture, politics and also our way of thinking. Globalisation has opened up boundaries between nations, enabled free flow of people, information, investment and trade and created networks among people, business, countries, social movements and civil society.

Many people benefit from globalisation, the world has become smaller through high technology for instance, mobile phones, e-mails, Internet, and similar cultures through traveling, Hollywood movies, fast-food chains, clothing brands and so on. In economy it has created new jobs and investments through out the globe. The social movements itself; anti-globalisation movement and anti-war movement have become a global trend as well. These two very big movements would not have become a ‘global’ movement if it wasn’t for ‘globalisation’. Globalisation has enabled people to come together and create an arena for people to oppose and criticize in solidarity the unjust structural violence that is affecting them and others as well.

However, there is the abnormal side of globalisation: it has become deformed, something beyond control and threatening, this is what we call ‘neo-liberal globalisation’. Neo-liberal globalisation is led by neo-liberal market policies and by the Bretton Woods Institution; International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). They are also famously known for implementing Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs), nearly every country in Asia, Africa and Latin America has gone through this programme or are undergoing. Also, World Trade Organization (WTO) advocates ‘free trade’ and it is easily heard in the news that some countries are signing over ‘free trade agreements’. But there are set of rules and regulations to follow if you want to compete in the world economy. The ideas behind this neo-liberal thinking is that for an economy to flourish, the market has to be allowed to move freely, the role of the government is limited and a ‘hidden hand’ will take care of itself; market can correct itself on its own.  The word ‘free’ and ‘liberal’ sounds very attractive, why not? It’s something that the entire humankind has been fighting for since the history itself! However, ‘freeing and liberating’ on the other side of the end is ‘restraining and occupation’. So we need to critically look at who advocates for neo-liberal policies, who makes up the rules and regulations and who controls? Then we will get an answer and are able to see clearly how neo-liberal globalisation works.

Undoubtedly, globalisation is a dominant social paradigm that has its say in everything and everyway hence it came to be perceived as something that is beyond human control. The problem with globalisation is that only the 20% is benefiting from this process the other 80% is simply caught up and have no say. So, leaving aside different opinions on globalisation, if you are able to read this article, have been abroad, attended international meetings or demonstrations, have an e-mail account or mobile phone, know how to use the internet and many other aspects, then you belong to the 20% including myself.  We all go through a rather different experience in the process of globalisation. Here we will look at the experience of Asian women in the force of globalisation. The experience of Asian women can not be generalised, for every woman is affected differently based on their region, country, gender, class, religion, ethnicity, age, ideology and sexual preference[i]. However we will try to catch at least a glimpse of changing lives of Asian women in globalisation. When we look at the lives of Asian women in globalisation we need to look beyond the surface of ‘what is happening’ hence we should put in mind the rooted problems of patriarchy, violence against women (militarism) and discrimination of women and how all of this is interlinked with Asian women’s lives and how globalisation has effected; liberated or reinforced.

 Asian women’s Experience

There are around 1.3 billion people living in extreme poverty and women take up 70%. Asia is said to be the highest in numbers so it can be said that the most marginalised are women of Asia. Asian women do not suffer from poverty alone they have to struggle through the already existing discrimination and other forms of hardship that globalisation has brought. Globalisation advocates that poverty will be reduced through the economic growth. Therefore, some say that Asian woman’s lives have benefited from the globalisation process, that it has helped women in need and also eliminated discrimination against women. According to United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (UNESCAP)[ii];

l        Globalisation has enhanced employment opportunities for women, where previously they had not existed.

l        The migration of women in search of employment opportunities has helped to ease the problem of poverty in many cases and meet the labor needs of a number of countries.

l         Globalisation has also contributed to the creation of new associations of women and the strengthening of their networks to offer mutual support and resources.

l        In several countries in the region, new information and communications technology (ICT) have improved the access of women to health, micro credit, employment opportunities and information in general.

To some extent globalisation has helped Asian women as stated above but it is only a minority that really benefits. They say that the rapid economic growth in North-East Asia has helped in eliminating poverty and helped women in equal rights and furthered a step into the global era. However as we look at women in South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, countries where it is recognised as having stable economy’; most women work on irregular conditions, such as part-time, contract workers and dispatch workers. In South Korea, the situation deteriorated after the 1997 financial crisis where 70% of women worked as irregular workers. Also women were the first to be fired. In most of South East Asia, women work in dire conditions employed by multi national companies. It is not difficult to find sweatshops in this region where women are under-paid and violated. Women’s labour force is purchased in a cheap price and justified on the grounds that women were provided with work. Hence, globalisation is not creating jobs for women, it is exploiting women’s struggle for survival.

Globalisation has enabled ‘free flow of people’ and it gives us an image of people in their suits with laptop computers and business suitcase busily going around the world through air flights and fast transportation. However what is it in reality for Asian women? The term ’free flow of people’ in other words is migration and trafficking of women. Nearly 1 billion people are crossing boarders in order to find a job for a better living, and of these 1 billion, 13 million are from Asia, and 72% are told to be women[iii]. Most of it is for domestic labour or farm labour. They have to put up with long hours of work, low pay and abuse. They have to put up with racism and sexual violence. The biggest problem is nevertheless the sexual exploitation of Asian women through trafficking. Globalisation has accelerated sex industry and sex trafficking of women. Trafficking comes in several forms, through mail order-brides, entertainers, kidnapping, job ads and etc. All share the same logic of simply selecting and buying young girls and women for sexual pleasure. This is co-linked with patriarchy-militarism and poverty. These Asian women become vulnerable and targets for sexual violence, their rights totally violated.

The SAPs implemented in Asian countries are making it harder for women to survive. Through SAPs the role of the government lessens, privatisation takes place and social welfare budgets reduced. The people have no where to turn to. Also because of the heavy debts the countries pay there is no money left for reinvestment for its people. Hence the vicious circle of poverty goes around. It is no wonder that SAPs are regarded as death sentence. Therefore many Asian women are driven to sustain themselves and the family through going abroad as domestic workers or trafficked into sexual industry. Globalisation has also deepened inequality among Asian women. Asian women are divided by class by the standards inside their country and also by the status of the country. 

Closing

The experience of Asian women going through globalisation is truly diverse, some benefit, some struggle to live. Hence the problem rises on how we can take a step forward in unity. How can we go beyond the differences we all have and come together? Asian women everyday are struggling and surviving the many hardships that they are facing. The important point is that we need to be critically aware of the conditions that construct many Asian women’s lives. It has to start from myself and my surroundings. We need to be an open eye and bear in mind that my benefit can be someone’s exploitation. As we have seen the current globalisation, is structural violence for many Asian women. It does not liberate the lives of Asian women, it oppresses and abuses. Patriarchy-violence against women (militarism) is being strengthened and reinforced by globalisation. We say that globalisation is beyond the hands of human, but if it was not us, then who created such a thing. Globalisation can be transformed and controlled by us through humanising it. It should be a process that everybody benefits. To do so we need to listen to the voices of the Asian women, we need to engender it and add the perspective of the most oppressed women.

PERSPECTIVE II

The Rights and Needs of Women Migrant Workers
Mona Saroinsong

Senior friend of GMKI (SCM Indonesia), and very much involved in the work on Women Migrant Workers. This article focuses on the Indonesian Women Migrant Workers.This article was written in St. Gallen, Switzerland, 14 February 2005, in celebrating women’s love to the world.

 A WOMAN, THAT IS I AM

I am is I am…. Alive but not alive.
Flowers bloom around me,
I could see, but can’t smell them.

I am is I am, Exist but not exist.
            Sun shines,
            I could feel but can’t enjoy it.

I am is I am…, Breathing but not inhale.
Wind blows,
It touches me but not comforting.

I am is I am,
            Alive but not for me
            Alive but not recognised
            Living to be controlled and determined.
            Living to carry the burden.
            Living to work for family to live
            Living for mother, father and for my siblings to survive
            Being scolded and blamed are my daily routine
            Humiliation and being beaten by my employer are my daily meal
            Being marginalised by my own people is my normal life

I am is I am, alive but not live because I am a WOMAN …and more A WOMAN MIGRANT WORKER!!

Foreword

I’d like to start this article by quoting this:
 
In the recent decades, the world's women have made huge strides towards achieving equality with men, and each year, International Women's Day helped to highlight their accomplishments and focus on existing problems and continuing equalities, but sadly, as we look at the world situation of today, women still represent a striking majority among those who are most exposed to inequality and injustice. They constitute 70 per cent of the world's poor, they are a vast majority of the world's illiterate adults and they suffer the most from different forms of violence. Their plight is particularly tragic in societies torn apart by conflict and crisis, where women and girls are usually among the first to become victims of strife. Today, however, it should be matched with an equally strong action in all areas of critical concern to women's advancement, including such vital issues as poverty, education, health, violence against women, and women's participation in economic and political life.

 (UN Press Release, GA/SM/34, WOM/1042, 19980306)

 That Press release was already issued in 1998, but up to now it is still disturbing me so much seeing the reality and reading reports on women’s development all over the world, because whatever it comes out, despite of the recognition of the specific rights of women, in particular on women migrant workers in various International Treaties and Convention, most women all over the world still experienced as what expressed in the above poem. It is so because the governments in Asia-Pacific countries continue to neglect in adopting national legal measures that give full protection to rights of women in more specific women migrants and which address ongoing situations of exploitation, violence and abuse. 

I think it is important to listen and to pay attention carefully to what Mahbub ul Haq said in his UN 1995 Report: "Economic growth is necessary for human development," he says. "But the purpose of development is to help people live longer, more productive and more fulfilling lives. This simple but powerful truth is too often forgotten in the pursuit of material and financial wealth. Economic growth that does not put people at its centre is development without a soul. Do people participate in economic growth as well as benefit from it? Are human choices enlarged or narrowed by new technologies? Is economic expansion leading to job-led or job-less growth? Are budgets being balanced without unbalancing the lives of people?”  

Further on he said: "There is an unwitting conspiracy on a global scale to undervalue women's work and contributions to society. In virtually every country of the world, women work longer hours than men, yet share less in the economic rewards. If women's work were accurately reflected in national statistics, it would shatter the myth that men are the main breadwinners of the world".  

Women Situation and Condition in Indonesia 

In the eyes of Indonesian law, women have the same rights to men, but in practice it shows that women are still seen, considered and treated as a compliment to men, although once Indonesia was lead by the very first woman president, Megawati Soekarno Putri.  

Everywhere in Indonesia, women being abused and exploited in all aspects of life, so I think it is important to make link between violence against women and their social and economic rights, because Indonesian women faced additional restrictions derived from systematic discrimination, and implicit, non-written rules imposed by society and by family members. 

Women Migrant Workers in Indonesia 

One of the many obvious examples of violence against women is the existence of Indonesian women migrant workers. For the nation’s economy contribution, Indonesian women migrant workers are not counted. Their contribution to economic and social life is invisible and hence ignored, because their work is not reflected in national statistic. They are invisible, but their contribution into the society is needed badly. 

According to one of Human Development reports, ‘women work longer hours than men in nearly every country. Of the total burden of paid and unpaid work, women bear an average of 53% in developing countries and 51% in industrial countries’. This condition absolutely applies and suits to Indonesia. 

The male dominant culture all over Indonesia helps to make Indonesian law on women migrant workers do  not address the very sensitive and the importance of women's concerns, but in fact it even just views women migrant workers’ rights through men's eyes. Specific women's issues were lost in the process. Women migrant worker’s rights is placed on the agenda implicitly only, and that makes Indonesia as the resource of women migrant workers, not pro active in the debate to overcome violence against its women migrant workers all over the world, in particular the ones in Arabic countries, Malaysia, Singapore and Hongkong. 

In one report it says that through out 2001 there were many violence against Indonesian migrant workers rights cases to 2,239,566 Indonesian migrant workers (Tempo Interaktif, 2004), and most victims are women migrant workers. 

Discrimination to Indonesian women migrant workers take place everywhere: in their own nation, Indonesia, they are treated as second class citizens, in other countries, they are treated as slaves and receive low wages compare to men migrant workers. All of these happened for many reasons:

1. Indonesia has no specific law or policy to protect its migrant workers

2. Women migrant workers are not well equipped enough with the skill needed for their work

3. They are poor of knowledge on their rights

4. Most of Indonesian migrant workers are coming from villages, and that working abroad is one of the last choice because of the lack of work placements and low wages in Indonesia, and that make them fragile to violence, sexual abuses, even rapes and murders

5. Lastly but not less important is, the Indonesian government is so ignorant on the issue of migrant workers especially for the women. They are not seen as one of the contributors towards Indonesian economic growth.

(Compare these to Indonesian neighboring country: the Philippines) 

So what to do to lessen the problem? 

I think the most important thing for Indonesian government to do are: 

1. To recognise the existence of its migrant workers, specifically the women ones,

2. Then definitely it has to be followed with written law/policy to protect the migrant workers’ rights and seriously control the roles of the agencies which send workers abroad

3. To admit explicitly that the migrant workers contribute something towards Indonesian economic growth,

4. It should not stop there only, but the government has to take pro active action when there are cases on violence against its migrant workers,

5. While at the same time, a serious evaluation has to be taken on policy of the working destination countries.

On the other side, the migrant workers themselves have to be more aware and pro active in preparing themselves with skills needed for their work and they have to fight for their rights progressively. 

All of these have to be taken into consideration seriously by all parties because as the 1995 Human Development Report said: “This undervaluation of women's work not only undermines women's purchasing power, but it also reduces women's already low social status in many countries” 

Indonesian government is entitled to equip its migrant workers especially the women because they are most fragile in all aspects compare to men, before letting them go to work abroad, for "Investing in women's capabilities and empowering them to exercise their choices is not only valuable in itself, it is also the surest way to contribute to economic growth and overall development," (James Gustave Speth, UNDP Administrator) 

Hope for the Future 

I strongly believe that a combination of economic and social factors, as well as the implicit image of girls and boys, which had led most parents in Indonesia to the paradigm of giving the priority of education to their sons, has to be changed, and that government has to play a serious leading role to eliminate this non constructive stigmatisation. 

I’d like to close this article by again quoting the 1998 UN report:

“All legal and regulatory frameworks have to be changed in order to promote real equality in the relation of [humankind]. Women must set themselves free by changing their awareness and self-image, by knowing their rights and claiming those rights. Men needed to perceive the benefit of gender equality as well, leading to the creation of a society that was less violent. Women's human rights could not flourish without the creation of an enabling environment”. (UN Report, 5 March 1998 Press Release OBV/37, WOM/1039)