Volume 4, No. 1, January 2003

Women’s empowerment became a common phrase for every one in recent times. Chandra-babu who is in the forefront of E-Propaganda is making loud claims about women’s empowerment and is making serious efforts to pose as a women’s savior. On the other side both the NDA government at the center and the Congress governments in various states are generating volumes of literature on women’s empowerment. In this high-pitched propaganda, the imperialist background, which brought the concept of women’s empowerment on to the stage, is left out. While the experiences of socialist revolutionary practice in the last century towards the real emancipation of women is ignored, the capitalist free market is coming forward to center stage on this issue. In fact the scriptwriter for this women empowerment is the World Bank. And the governments of various countries are just playing their role as actors. Unless we understand why there is so much sudden affection for women’s empowerment in World Bank policy and the free markets advocated by it, we can’t get clarity about their women-empowerment schemes, which are being implemented in under-developed countries throughout the world. And in this process we can understand why the World Bank is determined to violate women rights and demean them. (The propaganda and implementation of women’s empowerment in India and particularly in AP will not come under the purview of this article. Explaining the origins, its effects throughout the world, is the key aspect of this article).

By pressurizing various governments to reduce gender inequality and invest more capital on women to improve economic development, the World Bank turned into a supporter and savior for women. For understanding this process of World Bank transformation, we should go back seven years. In the fourth women’s conference of the United Nations at Beijing in 1995, the World Bank prepared two reports. They are 1. Gender equality and the role of government policy. 2. Progressive gender equality: From the concept to practice. The World Bank has started determined propaganda to encourage gender equality as part of social justice and enhancing women participation in economic development. The World Bank started this propaganda depicting the gender issue as the key aspect in economic development. However what is the real impact of World Bank policies on women rights in view of the World Bank’s understanding that free market would strengthen women empowerment is the debatable issue here.

Through its schemes of ‘Women in the development activities’, the World Bank has given direction for gender policy guidelines to all the under developed countries in the world. The World Bank suggested a market favourable approach on the gender issue. It added monetary value to gender equality. The schemes for supporting women are based on the opportunity cost. Even while recognising the possibility of the market’s inability (and the government’s intervention accordingly) on the one hand, the World Bank is arguing that the ‘free market’ will provide a broad basis for women’s empowerment and gender equality on the other hand. The key aspect here is when markets have failed in getting full results in society; governments are expected to provide leadership. Investing on women for achieving economic efficiency and growth is the important aspect.

By giving direction in the development of concepts, research methods and the information used in gender issue analysis, the World Bank is acting like a guardian for women. The women’s bureau and women affairs ministry including its administrative setup in every country are directed by the international ‘lender’s group’ at the World Bank. As the World Bank is the main source of funds, the national level women’s organisations in various countries, which are linked to the political power, generally have the same gender outlook proposed by the World Bank. Supporting the interests of international lenders and obstructing the national and local level movements are the objectives of these national women organisations.

Women’s empowerment under the protection of international financial institutions, will, in fact, be effected through the most common macro-economic methods like currency devaluation, austerity measures in the budget, recovery of govt. expenditure spent on education and health, liberalization of trade, removing controls in the food grain market, abolition of minimum wages Act etc. In other words, for violating women rights through macro World Bank schemes, micro women schemes, acceptable to the IMF and World Bank, will have as its basis compulsory support from ‘International Lenders’.

For example, to implement the name sake loan schemes meant for rural women under the World Bank’s macro level loan schemes, it is required that governments lift controls on monetary institutions, raise the interest rates and close down rural co-operative banks. The same is applicable to anti-poverty programs implemented by the World Bank. The above steps, which are required as a pre-condition for the macro-economic activities, will take the vast masses into serious levels of poverty. Anti-poverty programs implemented by the World Bank under the social security framework are targeted for weak and destitute groups like women without any resources, Adivasi women, women playing an active role in families (being the bread earners of the family), refugees, migrated women and socially weak women. However in all these schemes there is no scope for any analysis of the systemic causes for poverty and the role of economic reforms. Such investigations are rejected unequivocally.

In the name of ‘making every girl child study’, the World Bank is involved in everything from giving scholarships and providing subsidies to giving loans for the tuition fees (including text books and study material). But the World Bank will extend its help to the education sector only after complying with its pre-conditions like removing the teachers, cutting down the budget provision for education and introducing measures like double shift and multi-grading teaching methods, which will impose unbearable burdens on teachers. The World Bank loan agreement for the education sector will particularly direct the education ministry to remove teachers and increase the teacher-student ratio. As tuition and other fees are decided under the guidance of the World Bank, the number of children enrolling in schools is reducing considerably. On the one hand it is primarily concentrating on schemes that are working with the objective of recovering the expenditure spent on girl students, on the other hand the World Bank is demanding that the state administration withdraw its expenditure on primary education.

The schemes for recovering the expenditure by collecting a fee in the health and medical field under the supervision of World Bank are affecting women rights relating to their post-delivery health. The Structural Adjustment schemes of the World Bank are succeeding in abolishing the ongoing child and maternity health schemes. The recent rise in maternity and infant death rate is proving this. For example in Sub-Saharan and other African countries, the closing down of health schemes has resulted in the complete collapse of primary health care. The community health nurse system was replaced and in its place rural health services, traditional medical systems and spiritual healers came on to the stage. And the savings in the government treasury from this are diverted for the repayment of foreign loans. The World Bank is claiming that its informal health care schemes, which are introduced in place of the government’s formal and concrete schemes, are capable of generating revenues matching their expenditure and are more democratic as they are ‘empowering’ the local communities in running village based health centers on their own. In India and in AP, the invisible relationship between this ‘empowerment’ theory and sudden increased external loan repayment becomes clear from this. As part of absolving the government from its social responsibility towards citizens’ welfare and restricting the role of the government to the level of payer of the principal and interest payment loans taken from imperialist monetary institutions, these ‘empowerment’ and many other wrong policies are encircling the world.

The United Nations intentionally upholds the IMF-World Bank agenda including their gender outlook. In tune with this it didn’t entertain any criticism of the neo-liberal framework in the Beijing conference’s action plan; whereas the World Bank’s gender outlook was clearly visible in many sections of the ‘action plan’ formulated in the conference. Beijing’s action plan gave a call for removing the impact of Structural Adjustments on social development and for creating a conducive atmosphere for women to lead a stable life. But in fact this forum described only the World Bank’s loan action plan. Except for creating legitimacy for the World Bank agenda, it didn’t question the payments under the Structural Adjustment schemes.

Above all this, by seeing the violence on women and keeping women away from political power and the administrative machinery as the primary reasons for gender inequality, it noted that fundamental change in man-women relation ship is essential for resolving this. By declaring this, they distorted the role and impact of social conflicts in society. According to the World Bank’s gender framework, social existence of women will depend more on the man-woman relationship of the individuals in the family. This gender framework portrays that the free market is built on the premise that men and women are two individual entities. In this background, women will be recognised as a separate social section distinct from men. (The World Bank theorizes that man and woman belong to separate social classes and will remain as a separate social class). In other words, the World Bank’s framework declares that the conflict between man and woman is the primary source of social conflict. (There is no comparison between Engels formulation on this that the contradiction between man and woman and class exploitation started at same time in history, and that of the World Bank’s formulation. Marxist understanding is that change in work division towards private ownership has increased contradictions and hatred between man and woman and all the classes in society). Because of this outlook, centralization of power and corporate wealth in few hands will, not come under the purview of this gender analysis.

In this way, the World Bank argues that modernity and women’s empowerment through the market process is the means for achieving gender equality. Once women issue and women’s emancipation is defined in this manner, one can never question the world’s (imperialists’) economic and financal system. No serious discussion can take place on the impact of the world agencies, including the WTO and other Bretton-Wood agencies. In reality the world economic system, which is continuing by depending on cheap labor and the accumulation of private property is one of the primary obstacles for gender equality. In other words, this neo-liberal gender outlook under the protection of the imperialist lenders is determined to eliminate the combined struggle of men and women against the capitalist macro-economic framework by creating a divide in society. Unless we see the ‘women’s empowerment’ in this background, we can’t understand these new policies brought forward by the ruling classes in a proper manner.

If the definition of women’s empowerment is to make the women to have control over their lives economically, socially, politically and culturally then there is no comparison for this and the World Bank’s agenda. After the conclusion of the Uruguay round trade negotiations and with the formation of the WTO on January 1st 1995, the new policy of globalization came into existence. With this, a new era began in gender politics and gender issues. After the WTO and globalization came into existence all local and national issues, moral values, living standards, environment, eating habits, culture, knowledge and democracy, like this every thing came under the purview of the world economic system. All these came on to the stage as aspects related to "International Trade". In the same manner, the living conditions of women living in the remote areas of the third world countries and even their outlook came into direct contact with the outlook of those who are running world trade and the monetary institutions. As globalization primarily means abolition of national barriers for trade and investment, the gender analysis also crossed the domestic and national limitations and came on to the world stage. In accordance with this fact gender analysis is mostly confined to the aspect of how the world economic system is affecting women.

But what is happening under the garb of globalization? The family system and welfare is sidelined and exchange of commodities has been defined as the only economic practice. Economic values has been separated from human life, and redefined as commodity exchange and business. Every thing, which doesn’t come under the purview of business and commodity exchange doesn’t have any value. We are already seeing how ordinary water, which should have been available freely became a commodity of ‘Drinking Water’. In this way once everything, including water, has became commodity and essential goods and services have lost their importance. And even nature is being used as a commodity leading to its destruction. Though using nature as a commodity for business, instead of using it for needs, living for exchange instead of living for survival, are natural features of a capitalist system, this has reached a peak in the current imperialist globalization. This increase of business and money are leading to the destruction of nature and the social system. In this background, women’s empowerment and women’s development are nothing but hollow claims, and there is no truth in it.

What is happening under the garb of empowerment is the complete breakdown of the natural economic system, which is capable of reviving the natural environment and destruction of the life-giving economy and which can fulfill the people’s needs. For making the world market grow, globalization is destroying the above two in a systematic manner. All labor, which women are doing for their families, is no longer considered as work. Cooking, household work, collection of firewood etc., are not considered as work by the world economic system. They are non-remunerative and are traditionally undertaken by women for their family needs. Hence, there is no recognition for them in the market system. And also, the community work, which people do with mutual help and co-operation have also ceased to be considered as work, as they don’t fit into the exchange value laws.

Do you want to depend on your government and your own resources? In that case, what is the need for us? And what is the need for exchange of commodities? We supply everything you need and what you need. And what you should do is buy them. This is the World Bank’s agenda and this is the philosophy of globalization. Capitalism is continuing only by taking away nature’s creativity from nature and people’s creativity from people. Its nature has not changed. But only its form has changed.

Leaving aside women’s empowerment preached by the World Bank, its Structural Adjustment Programs have further deteriorated gender relations. And above all this, Structural Adjustment Schemes themselves are encouraging gender discrimination. This is visible in all countries of the world. But it is more prominent in the African continent. These Structural Adjustment Programs are nothing but the programs introduced by the IMF and World Bank in the early 1980s in African and Asian countries for reforming their economic and social conditions. These schemes are funded by the fixed loans sanctioned by the IMF and World Bank to prevent these countries from collapsing under neo-colonial exploitation. In the name of solving the problems like inflation, government’s budget deficit and external loan repayments these schemes have taken up steps to cut down the domestic demand both in private and public sector from the very beginning. Encouraging production and resource mobilization through exports, reforming the public sector, liberalizing the market and encouraging ‘structural reforms’ are the objectives of these adjustment schemes. These schemes are pressurizing various governments to decrease the government’s role in the economy, to encourage private sector activities and to make the economy dependent on market determined prices. But they are obstructing the process of market determination in the case of labor power. 34 countries in Africa have started implementing these programs from the early 1980s. As a result of complete control on labor wages, the real wages of workers in countries like Tanzania have fallen to 70%. By the middle of the 1980s mass agitations were started against these programs in many countries. Large-scale retrenchment of workers, severe price rise in commodities and social services and falling down of the real wages for workers have led to mass uprisings. With the assurances of the World Bank that the adjustment schemes will provide opportunities like new employment, earning of foreign exchange and expansion of markets, etc., proved to be a failure, people’s revolts erupted everywhere. And the World Bank’s condition for the governments to provide efficient administration resulted in bringing the most suppressive measures against people’s movements.

When the situation of ordinary people is like this then what about women? In many studies conducted in African countries it was proved that it was women who suffered the most in these adjustment schemes. It was found that more women lost their jobs, the difference in man and woman wages increased, the working conditions for women deteriorated and more and more women were forced to go into the unorganized sector. In countries like Tanzania and Nigeria poor and middle class women were forced out of the high wage organised sector. The commercial crops meant for export didn’t do any good for women. Though there was no clear demarcation between men’s commercial crops and women’s food crops, but as women in countries like Kenya and Zaire have concentrated mainly on food grains for their own consumption, they remain backward when compared to men. Women were also distanced from agricultural services and important investments in that field. Above this, gender inequalities continued to rise in many labor policies. With the removal of subsidies to social services women were confined to domestic work and non-remunerative jobs. One shouldn’t be surprised if we say that women constitute the majority among the poorest. And the adjustment schemes in the education and health sectors have seriously affected girl students and women. The increased dependency of women has lead to the increased level of domestic violence and stress on women. In the past 20 years the man-woman ratio has fallen in all African countries. In totality, it is the women who suffered most in social terms, because of these adjustment schemes.

Though macro-economic policies seem to be neutral, gender discrimination is continuing in many ways in these adjustment schemes. For example, encouraging export crops has shown serious impact on agricultural women. Because of this, women are forced to work hard in the fields, which don’t belong to them. With the emphasis given to mining, many agricultural lands were lost and consequently many women lost their livelihood. And the encouragement given to private capital and dilution of workers’ acts has affected the job protection of workers and working conditions. With these employment opportunities for women at the lower levels considerably declined. Above all this, adjustment schemes gained unlimited quantity of non-work time from women. Women became a resource for encouraging the efficiency of free market policies (in exploiting labor at cheap rates). These adjustment schemes didn’t lag behind in exploiting the gender inequality strongly rooted in society. The economic system is not an exception to this.

The traditional concept that ‘man will work out side and woman will sit inside the house’, is strongly rooted in Asian society even today. All Asian countries, including Japan and the Newly Industrialized countries, which are also known as Asian Tigers (though no longer after the crisis there), which claim to have moved close towards gender equality, other developing and backward countries in Asia have classified women’s labor as less skilled, less remunerative and suitable to fit only the lowest levels of employment. And most of Asian women’s work is on a part time basis. All these are obstructing women from getting proper benefits from economic development.

When the general condition of Asian women was like this, after the bursting of the economic crisis they were more seriously affected than men in terms of employment and wages. Particularly as a result of the crisis in South East Asia many women were thrown out of high wage jobs. For example in South Korea women’s employment dropped by 20% amongst regular workers. It was an indication of large-scale retrenchment of women workers. In the mean time only 6% men lost their jobs. In the Philippines, women unemployment increased by 15%. In Indonesia, though only 14% women lost their jobs compared to 27% of men, the income of women has fallen more than men both in rural and urban areas. According to an ILO report, large number of women lost their jobs in the organised sector and most of them have entered into the unorganized or agricultural sectors where they were subjected to low wages and high work burden. The report also noted that as a result of the crisis the quality of jobs available considerably declined. Many women lost their jobs in the organised sector and joined in temporary jobs. The poverty resulting from the crisis has affected women more than men and it has reduced the income of women the maximum in the agricultural sector. The fact that 67% women (44% men) in Pakistan, 79% women (71% men) in Cambodia, 91% women (75 % men) in Nepal and 78% women (54% men) in Bangladesh are working in agriculture is enough to prove who is going to be affected more by the crisis. With the IMF, debt trap and speculative capitalists being the important reasons for the Asian economic crisis it is not difficult to understand who is violating the human rights of women and girls, and who is demeaning women rights. Due to the absence of policies, which can stand by women in the loan schemes and agenda of the World Bank and IMF, men are prospering more during the economic development and women are more adversely affected during the economic crisis period. This is a truth.

As middle age cultural aspects are obstructing the social progress towards equality, and as the policies of equal distribution of the fruits of economic development, between men and women are missing, the capitalist type economic progress can never bring about gender equality. Abolition of private property and fight against patriarchy are compulsory pre-conditions for achieving gender equality. The World Bank agenda can never take this up. That is why it is contended with the magic of words, like chairperson in place of chairman and sex worker in place of prostitute. Women’s Empowerment is yet another masterpiece word that came from this magic of words.

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