Globalization, Gender (IN) Equality and the Transnational Diffusion of Other Social Movements

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze how globalization has influenced the spread of different social movements, with a peculiar focus on gender issues, the Islamist expansion and the Gandhian nonviolence repertoire and self-immolation. These particular social movements were chosen due to their heterogeneity as they entail different contents (central claims being made) and repertoires (forms of manifestation).

If the Islamist movement, the Gandhian repertoire of nonviolence and self-immolation have reached a global level due to conscious actions undertaken by leaders and networks of followers spreading from the less developed to the more developed regions of the globalized world, the plight of gender equality seems to follow a different pattern. Many of the positive outcomes connected with the feminist movement (such as a better economic situation for women, better job market penetration, more equal wages) stem not necessarily from conscious and coordinated actions (although these were often organized and contributed) but can largely be seen as secondary outcomes (spill-overs) of FDI penetration and trade openness. In brief, once western companies relocated to new eastern/southern locations they required female labor force and were more inclined to offer more equal payment than local capitalist/companies. As such, the higher level of gender equality brought by globalization in the ‘poor South’ was largely an unintended effect or a positive externality of FDI penetration and the more gender inclusive labor practices of western companies.