Gender Equality in a Globalized World

Globalization presents both challenges and opportunities for the achievement of gender equality. The purview of this reflection paper is to explore the positive gains that have been noted with the rise of globalization. Research on the impact of globalization on gendered discourses and equality is well established. The effects of globalization on education and the career development of women will be exposited in this essay.  Upon the proclamation of the fact that women rights constitute human rights, the rise of gender equality has been almost as fast as the growth in globalization. Globalization
has made the world smaller and compact, meaning that it is possible for societies and interest groups to coalesce to champion the rights of women.
The most notable developments in the realm of gender equality have been in the field of education and career growth. The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to a teenage girl hailing from Afghanistan, one of the countries that had the least respect for gender rights. Malala Yousafzai, a Nobel Laureate, shot to fame thanks to her passion to champion for the right of the girl-child in Afghanistan to education, actions which led to her attack and subsequent nomination and award of the Nobel Peace Prize (Wejnert, 2014). The example of Malala is important in the sense that it would not have been possible for her to achieve such fame and recognition without the medium of globalization. Globalization made it possible for the world to empathize with her cause and recruit more soldiers to her cause.
In a report published by the World Bank in 2000 titled Shaping the 21st Century. World Development Report (1999/2000) (Inglehart & Norris, 2003), the impact of globalization on the gender equality movement is recognized. The report asserts that globalization has had a positive and detrimental effect on the gender discourse but points out that the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. Women are now being increasingly employed in non-traditional sectors of the economy, increasing their ability to earn a living.  Even though there remain vast discrepancies in wages and level of skills, it is true that through globalization, women are increasingly finding gainful employment in industries that would not have employed them in the 1980s. In developed countries, women have made great strides in growing their careers (Black & Breinard, 2004). The developing world still presents bottlenecks in the course of women empowerment, leading to their exploitation (poor working conditions in sweatshops-especially in Asia). As the world becomes more integrated, trade opportunities are opening up for women. In most trade negotiations such as those conducted under the auspices of GATT/WTO, the role of women in generating wealth is increasingly being recognized and supported.
The growth of communication networks such as the use of cell phones has increased the ability of women to access high-quality information that facilitates knowledge acquisition. It also increases the ability of women to access markets for their goods and services, a situation that helps them put more food on their tables. As most industries open up in Asian countries, the demand for female workers increases. Since most industries located in Asia are labor intensive, women are the preferred workers since the industries rely on skills that are generic to women (dexterity of the hands). In South Korea, women working in industries accounted for only 6 percent of all workers. In the 1990s, the figure had shot to 30 percent. It is worth remembering that the 1990s witnessed a technology bubble, which increased the rate of globalization. As at 2007, the manufacturing industry employed ten times as many employees (female) as it did in the 1960s (Black & Breinard, 2004).
ICT powered call centers in countries such as India employ as many as a million employees. A significant proportion of this figure is occupied by women. In fact, women outnumber male employees in these types of jobs. For most women in the Arab world, the benefits of globalization are yet to be realized. Countries such as Saudi Arabia continue to deny women the right to drive their cars. In countries such as Afghanistan, women still face steep hurdles to achieving education, globalization notwithstanding. In countries such as Kenya and South Africa, women are heavily represented in the education sector. In Kenya, where the government offers free primary education (guaranteed under the Constitution), women are almost on an equal footing with men in terms of school enrollments. The only exception is in the nomadic pastoralist communities that still deny women the right to education.
 A few pockets of instability hinder the efforts of women to achieve education, with most of the hindrances being courtesy of terrorist and belligerent activities (Boko Haram and the LRA under Kony still kidnap girls to act as wives for their soldiers). The actions of feminists all over the world (Malala Yousafzai is a perfect example) to champion for the rights of women have created international solidarity and highlighted the plight most girls go through to achieve an education. As a result, the international community has become more proactive in protecting and guaranteeing gender equality.
 In countries that have welcome globalization (mostly in Europe, Americas, the Asian tigers and some parts of Africa), women have made great strides in realizing significant gains in education and career development (Inglehart & Norris, 2003). Those countries that stifle globalization (most oil-producing countries in the Middle East and North Africa) have recorded the lowest rates of female employment and the education of the girl-child. From the preceding argument, it is apt to state that globalization has resulted in the promotion of gender equality.

References
Black, S. E., & Brainerd, E. (2004). Importing equality? The impact of globalization on gender discrimination. Industrial & Labor Relations Review,57(4), 540-559.
Inglehart, R., & Norris, P. (2003). Rising tide: Gender equality and cultural change around the world. Cambridge University Press.
Wejnert, B. (2014). Reflections on the impact of globalization: Diffusion, equality, and opportunities. Research in Political Sociology (Research in Political Sociology, Volume 21) Emerald Group Publishing Limited, 21, 255-261.