Defining Globalization
What is globalization?
The increasing interconnectedness of economies, cultures, and societies across the world through trade, migration, media, and technology.
In which global industries are women most heavily represented?
Garment factories, electronics, agriculture, and service work.
What kind of work draws many women migrants across borders?
Domestic and care work.
Does globalization reduce gender inequality worldwide?
No, it can intensify existing inequalities.
How are women portrayed in global development discourse?
As victims in need of rescue.
Name two forces that drive globalization.
Trade, technology, migration, media, or multinational cooperations.
Why do cooperations prefer women workers in global factories?
They are perceived as docile, cheap, and less likely to organize.
What are remittances?
Money sent home by migrant workers to support families.
How does class affect women’s experiences of globalization?
Wealthier women often benefit while poorer women face exploitation.
Why is this portrayal (from 100) problematic?
It ignores womens abilities and reinforces stereotypes.
Why do anthropologists study globalization?
To understand how global systems effect everyday life, culture, power, and inequality.
What is the relationship between globalization and feminized labor?
Globalization increases demand for low-paid labor traditionally assigned to women.
What is meant by the “global care chain”?
A system where care labor is transferred from poorer women to wealthier households globally.
How does globalization affect women in the global south differently than those in the global north?
Women in the global south are more likely to experience labor exploitation.
What is a key critique feminist anthropologists make about globalization narratives?
They overlook women’s voices and lived experiences.
What does it mean to say globalization is uneven?
Its benefits and harms are distributed unequally across countries, classes, and genders.
How can factory work both empower and exploit women?
It provides income and independence while exposing women to poor conditions and low wages.
What social cost often accompanies women’s migration for work?
Family separation and emotional strain.
How do multinational cooperations contribute to gender inequality?
They rely on cheap, feminized labor with minimal regulation.
How do global media representations shape perceptions of women’s labor?
They normalize women’s exploitation as opportunity.
Why is globalization considered a gendered process rather than a neutral one?
Because it systematically shapes women’s labor, mobility, and social roles differently then men’s.
How does global labor challenge traditional gender roles while also reinforcing inequality?
women gain economic roles outside the home but remain confined to undervalued, insecure work.
Why is migrant care work both essential to globalization and largely invisible?
It sustains households and economies while remaining undervalued and unprotected.
How does globalization reproduce power imbalances between nations and genders simultaneously?
By exploring women’s labor in poorer countries to benefit wealthier economies.
Why is recognizing women’s agency essential to understanding globalization accurately?
It reveals resistance, adaption, and power within oppressive systems.