The popular perception of globalisation is rooted in its image of dissolving senses of distance and boundaries. It is so preoccupied with the technology that enables globalisation that little attention is paid to questions of ‘how’ and ‘where’ the circuits of globalisation actually get realised. This book attempts a more nuanced view of globalisation by focusing on its less-explored, non-technological dimensions. It examines the transformation of the woman worker — from a rural woman to an urban one, from a dependent daughter, wife and mother to an earning member, and from a homemaker to a factory worker, and the attendant transformation of the home into a base for migrant workers. None of these transformations is absolute, as the woman worker continues to play the traditional roles of wife and mother at home alongside fulfilling her responsibilities at work. In the process of negotiating boundaries in the village, city, home, and global factory, she confronts a reality that she fears because of its unfamiliarity, coping with which necessarily entails falling back on her kin networks — institutions that are rarely seen as enablers of globalisation, although they play a critical role in determining how globalisation is sustained. Focusing on such workers in Bangalore, a city otherwise known for its IT industry, the book examines the global garment circuit, especially the institutions and processes outside the workplace that influence how the global circuit is completed. It will appeal to those in economics, sociology, gender studies, urban studies, as well as to those interested in issues relating to globalisation.

The popular perception of globalisation is rooted in its image of dissolving senses of distance and boundaries. It is so preoccupied with the technology that enables globalisation that little attention is paid to questions of ‘how’ and ‘where’ the circuits of globalisation actually get realised. This book attempts a more nuanced view of globalisation by focusing on its less-explored, non-technological dimensions. It examines the transformation of the woman worker — from a rural woman to an urban one, from a dependent daughter, wife and mother to an earning member, and from a homemaker to a factory worker, and the attendant transformation of the home into a base for migrant workers. None of these transformations is absolute, as the woman worker continues to play the traditional roles of wife and mother at home alongside fulfilling her responsibilities at work. In the process of negotiating boundaries in the village, city, home, and global factory, she confronts a reality that she fears because of its unfamiliarity, coping with which necessarily entails falling back on her kin networks — institutions that are rarely seen as enablers of globalisation, although they play a critical role in determining how globalisation is sustained. Focusing on such workers in Bangalore, a city otherwise known for its IT industry, the book examines the global garment circuit, especially the institutions and processes outside the workplace that influence how the global circuit is completed. It will appeal to those in economics, sociology, gender studies, urban studies, as well as to those interested in issues relating to globalisation.

The process of globalization has had a dramatic impact on the lives of women in developing countries in the past decade. They have been increasingly drawn into insecure flexible employment working for the world market. The feminisation of the labour market has increased the burdens on women, and the inability of men to access full-time well-remunerated employment has exacerbated the process of male out-migration and has left many families headed by women. At the same time the reduction in state services and welfare has increased the burdens placed on women. Nevertheless the consequences of globalization have been different for different women in different places. In some circumstances it has created opportunities for greater empowerment, whilst in others it has stimulated a reaction and increased the subordination of women. This book explores the experiences of women in diverse local contexts within different cultures and faiths, drawing on case studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America. It draws out the contradictory and fragmented impact of globalization at the local level on the lives of women in the developing world.

The challenges and consequences of globalization have been a significant point of discussion with different stakeholders in society. Along with it, much debate has been generated in terms of women's representation in the global economy. Nevertheless, there is a wider need to understand the scope where women fit in the larger scheme of today's global environment. This book - based on research conducted in India - contributes to the development of a feminist perspective on women and the related issues linked to their gender. The contributors provide insights from varied areas that impact women in their personal, social, and economic lives. The book is a reflection of the voices of women who, in spite of being a part of a growing world economy, are still languishing behind men. The issues are many: sexual orientation, striving for gender equality, economic empowerment, sound education, sexual harassment, exploration towards self-identity, and strong physical and mental health. The book is a springboard to a much larger platform for future debates in affirmative action for the holistic development of women.

Delia D. Aguilar and Anne E. Lacsamana have assembled a collection of articles showing the various ways in which the neoliberal agenda of globalization has drawn women into productive labor and in the process radically reshaped their lives in the reproductive sphere. Implemented primarily through the structural adjustment programs required by international financial agencies, neoliberalism has intensified women's exploitation on the assembly line and spawned an unprecedented diaspora of women as mail-order brides, domestic helpers, and workers in the sex trade. Many of the essays describe the appalling conditions that characterize these work sites. Not less important, they underscore the vitality of grassroots organizations where women collectively wage battles for better work lives and envision a system more humane than what currently exists.

Liberating Economics draws on central concepts from women's studies scholarship to construct a feminist understanding of the economic roles of families, caring labor, motherhood, paid and unpaid labor, poverty, the feminization of labor, and the consequences of globalization. Barker and Feiner consistently recognize the importance of social location -- gender, race, class, sexual identity, and nationality -- in economic processes shaping the home, paid employment, market relations, and the global economy. Throughout they connect women's economic status in the industrialized nations to the economic circumstances surrounding women in the global South. Rooted in the two disciplines, this book draws on the rich tradition of interdisciplinary work in feminist social science scholarship to construct a parallel between the notions that the "personal is political" and "the personal is economic." Drucilla K. Barker is Professor of Economics and Women's Studies, Hollins University. Susan F. Feiner is Associate Professor of Economics and Women's Studies, University of Southern Maine.

As 'globalization' moves rapidly from buzzword to cliche, evaluating the claims of neoliberal capitalism to empower and enrich remains urgently important. The authors in this volume employ feminist, ethnographic methods to examine what free trade and export processing zones, economic liberalization, and currency reform mean to women in Argentina, Sri Lanka, Mexico, Ghana, the United States, India, Jamaica, and many other places. Heralded as agents of prosperity and liberation neoliberal economic policies have all too often refigured and redoubled the burdens of gender, race, caste, class, and regional subordination that women bear.