Gender & Economy-Lecture Two

A Lecture at Department of Conflict, Peace and Development Studies,

TU

‘Changing Livelihood Strategies: Changing Labour Market Prospects’

Date: 23/05/2016

Lecture By Keshab Giri

Today’s Lecture Meaning of the Terminologies

Livelihood Strategies & Gender

Gender and Labour Market

Conclusion

Last Lecture Building Conceptual Framework: Startling Facts Unheard before

Status of Women in a State and Prosperity and Security of that State

Why Gender Equality is a must for Smart Economy? Some Statistics

and Stories

Supposed Drawbacks of Gender Equality & Women’s Employment

Gender Equality in Nepal

Conclusion

Meaning: Livelihood Strategy & Labour Market Prospects

Four dimensions of poverty according to Amartya Sen (1993):

(a) Lack of access to labour markets and employment opportunities and productive

resources;

(b) Lack of access to capabilities and public services as education and health;

(c) Vulnerability to economic risks and to public and domestic violence, as well as

constraints on mobility;

(d) Lack of representation/empowerment, being without voice and with- out power at

the household, community and national/international levels.

Meaning: Livelihood Strategy & Labour Market Prospects

Livelihood Strategy: Put narrowly- strategy to make a living. Regular source of income

counts as major strategy to make a living.

"A livelihood comprises the capabilities, resources (including both material and social

resources) and activities required for a means of living." (Robert Chambers and Gordon

Conway, 1991)

Labour Market Prospects: What kind of work/employment opportunities are prevalent in

the Labour Market to support people in their Livelihood?

Mutually Reinforcing Each Other.

Both are Dynamic Process.

A. Changing Livelihood Strategies Any strategy for livelihood that is adaptive to adverse changes (structural and micro)

and can maintain and enhance its resources, capabilities, and activities and that being

done without depletion of any resources, is Sustainable Livelihood Strategy.

Dynamics of Livelihood Strategies: People can combine more than one activities to

supplement and steady their livelihood. Example: Sherpas working as Porters on

mountain climbing season and working in Austria during off-season.

Changing Livelihood StrategiesLivelihood Strategies beyond Materialism: Livelihood can comprise both material and non-

material resources. Valdivia, et al, (2012)"Latino/a Wealth and Livelihood

Strategies in Rural Midwestern

Communities". Choices.

Quarter 1

Conway and Chambers (1991):

Capability, Equity, and

Sustainability for the Sustainable

Rural Livelihood.

Changing Livelihood Strategies Marsh, Robin (2003) Working with Local Institutions to Support Sustainable Livelihood. FAO (Rural Development Division).

Changing Livelihood Strategies Determinants of Livelihood (Strategies):

Policies: Government Plan, Rules, Provisions, etc.

Institutions: Government Institutions to implement Policies, Social Political

Organizations, Local Institutions, Governance, etc.

Access to Resources: Infrastructures, Human Resource, Social Resource, and

Natural Resource. Tangible Resources (resources And stores) Intangible Resources (Claim and Access) Chambers and Conway, 1991.

Livelihood Vulnerabilities: MacroSudden Change: Natural Disasters, Epidemic, War… Trends: Global Warming, Over Population, etc.Seasonality: Cyclical Trends: Winter Snow, Flooding… See Jane Corbett (1988) ‘Famine and Household Coping Strategies’

Livelihood Vulnerabilities: MicroSudden Change: Death, illness in Family Trends: Rising Health/Education Level Cycles: Changing Dependency LevelRead Agrawal (1990) who also likes to call them

‘idiosyncratic shocks’

Impacts of Livelihood Changes Women are more likely to be disproportionately affected

Impact depends upon Income Level/Economic Status

Impact is different to different occupation groups

Caste and Impact of Changes on Livelihood

Geographical Location

Gender, Livelihood Strategies and Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development: Fulfilling present development needs without

compromising the ability of future generation to meet their own needs (WCED, 1987: 8).

Sustainable Livelihood: It also goes beyond traditional approaches to poverty

eradication. Integrated approach and holistic perspective on poverty.

The sustainable livelihoods idea was first introduced by the Brundtland Commission on

Environment and Development as a way of linking socioeconomic and ecological

considerations in a cohesive, policy-relevant structure (Krantz, 2001).

But SL too puts minimal focus on intra-household inequality which can impact

sustainability of this approach (Ibid).

Gender, Livelihood Strategies and Sustainable Development

More women perceived that they have higher sensitivity and lower adaptive capacity - family decision making Providing adequate and predictable financing resources for gender equality is crucial to achieving existing goals and political commitments on sustainable development, including addressing climate change (Schalatek, Liane, 2012).“We also resolve to promote gender equality and the empowerment of women as effective ways to combat poverty, hunger and disease and to stimulate developmentthat is truly sustainable.” —UN Millennium Declaration, 2000International Day for Rural Women, to be commemorated on 15 October every year, beginning in 2008 as declared by UN General Assembly (UN, 2008). Also MDG Three.

B. Changing Labour Market ProspectsMajor Trends:Agro-Economy to Knowledge Economy.Globalization of Economy and Globalized Labour MarketOutsourcing: Offshore Western Factories in China, Indonesia, India, Bangladesh, etc.Mobility of unskilled, semi-skilled, skilled human resources.Distance Working

Women in Labour Market: A Glance

Women in Labour Market: A Glance 3 Major Characteristics of Women in Work Force:Predominantly Unpaid WorkEven when they work, they are more likely to work part-time compared to men who mostly work full-time.

Women in Labour Market: A Glance

Women in Labour Market: A GlanceUnequal Pay: Less pay even for comparable work.

Women in Labour Market: A Glance Unequal Pay : Wage gap in the World 23% (ILO, 2016), in OECD about 16% (Ghazala Azmat, 2015). It will take another 70 years to fill the wage gap (ILO, 2016).

Pakistan India Bangladesh Sri Lanka Bhutan Nepal0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

GDP Per Capita for Women Compared to Men in South Asia (Percentage)

Source: (Govind Kelkar, 2005)

Women in Labour Market: A GlanceSectoral and Occupational Segregation:

ILO Report, 2015 & 2016

Women in Labour Market: A GlanceSectoral and Occupational Segregation:

According to ILO Report 2015 & 2016-

More than Half of the women’s world population employed in Service Sector (61.5%).

In Higher income countries a third of women in Labour Force are in Health and

Education Sector, in Higher Middle Income Countries, they are in Retail Sector

(33.9%), in Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa 60% in Agriculture.

Women represent only 7% of Corporate Board Members of top 500 Companies and

Corporate Houses and only 3% of the top 500 CEOs (Hudson, et al, 2012).

Women in Labour Market: A Glance Impact on Efficiency of Manpower due to Segregation:

Market Distortion Effect (Klasen, 1999)

Overcrowding Model

Negative Feedback Loop & Greater Inequality: Further Deterred

Why Less Women at Work? Structural FactorsSocio-Cultural FactorState PoliciesInequality in Education and HealthInheritance and Ownership of Property/LandPatriarchy

Why Less Women at Work? Feminist Perspectives

Essentialism and Difference Feminism

Liberal Feminism

Constructivism

RecapPoverty, Livelihood, and Sustainable Livelihood Strategy

Tools and Determinants of Livelihood Strategy

Causes of Livelihood Change

Gender, Livelihood Strategy, and Sustainable Development

Changing Labour Market Perspectives

Women in Labour Market: Three Characteristics and Impact.

Reasons behind Fewer Women in Labour Market and Feminist Perspective

ConclusionLivelihood Strategy should be understood Holistically.

In spite of progressive approach on Development, SLA still fails to entail gender

perspective rigorously

Gender Equality, a prerequisite for Sustainable Development.

Pervasive Gender Inequality in Labour Market both in Developed and

Developing/Underdeveloped countries but very slow improvement.

Less women in Work force is a waste of human resource and costs are higher

Must address underlying causes of Gender Inequality in Labour Market.

Selected Bibliography• WCED (1987) Our Common Future. The Report of World Commission on Environment and Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Sen, Amartya (1987) The Standard of Living, The Tanner Lectures, Clare Hall, Cambridge 1985. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

•Sen, Amartya (1993) Capability and Well-being. In: Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen (eds), The Quality of Life. Clarendon: Oxford, UK.

•Chambers, R. and Conway, G. R. (1991) Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Practical Concepts for the 21st Century. IDS Discussion Paper 296.

•Marsh, R. (2003) Working with Local Institutions to Support Sustainable Livelihood. Rome: Rural Development Division, FAO.

•Collier, Paul (1998) Social Capital and Poverty. Washington, D.C.: World Bank.•DFID (1998) Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: What contribution can we make? ed. by Diana Carney. London: DFID.

•Krantz, L. (2001) The Sustainable Livelihood Approach to Poverty Reduction: An Introduction. Stockholm: Division for Policy and Socio-Economic Analysis, SIDA.

Selected Bibliography• ILO (2016) Women at Work: Trends 2016. Geneva: ILO Office.•Kelkar, Govind (2005) Development Effectiveness through Gender Mainstreaming: Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction in South Asia. Economic and Political Weekly, 40(44/45), pp. 4690-4699.

•Kabeer, Naila (2016) Gender Equality, Economic Growth, and Women’s Agency: the “Endless Variety” and “Monotonous Similarity” of Patriarchal Constraints. Feminist Economists, 22(1), pp. 295-321.

• UN (2008) Women 2000 and Beyond. New York: United Nations- Division for the Advancement of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs.

•Agarwal, Bina (1990) Social security and the family in rural India coping with seasonality and calamity, Journal of Peasant Studies, 17(3), pp. 341–412.

•Corbett, Jane (1988) Famine and household coping strategies, World Development, 16(9), pp. 1099–112.

•Kabeer, Naila (2015) Gender, Poverty, and Inequality: a brief history of feminist contributions in the field of international development. Gender and Development, 23(2), pp. 189-205.

•ILO and ADB (2011) Women and Labour Markets in Asia: Rebalancing towards Gender Equality in Labour Markets in Asia. Bangkok: ILO Regional Office for Asia and Pacific and ADB.

Question Time

Please introduce yourself before presenting your question.

Do try to make it brief and precise.

Next LectureWomen Participation in Labour Market

Thank you

Thank you for your Patience!