Digital Document (pdf, doc, ppt, txt, etc.)

Globalization encompasses the dynamic processes of international trade and finance that interconnect and increasingly integrate national economies. These global processes have an impact on local labour markets – on employment structures and relationships, wages and working conditions, opportunities for women and men and their labour force participation. Globalization has given countries access to a bigger workforce across the world. Looking at the gender dimensions of globalization is essential for promoting a “fair globalization”, one that, according to the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, creates opportunities for all, does not exacerbate existing problems of inequality within and between nations, and enables men and women to meet their aspirations for democratic participation and material prosperity. The most obvious reason for addressing gender issues is that women workers make up the overwhelming majority of the workforces of labour-intensive, export industries in developing countries, dominate the international migration of care services workers, and tend to be concentrated in the most vulnerable jobs of global production systems.

Any assessment of the benefits and costs of globalization would thus be insufficient if it does not differentiate the outcomes for female and male workers.

A second, perhaps less obvious, reason is that failure to take into account gender- based differences in economic behaviour and labour market outcomes could lead to the formulation of ineffective and inefficient strategies. Women and men are differently, often unequally, positioned in the economy, perform different socially determined responsibilities, and face different constraints; thus, they are unlikely to respond in the same way to policies and market signals.

Third, gender equality with respect to opportunity and treatment in the global economy is essential for achieving equity and social justice, which are integral to achieving decent work for all.

A critical consideration for understanding gender dimensions is the interdependence between the market, “paid” economy (the recognized focus of economic policy and corporate actors) and the non-market, “unpaid” care economy (the private sphere). Unpaid caring services, which are provided directly to household members as well as the wider community, are vital to individual socialization and the reproduction and maintenance of human capabilities upon which economic life depends. It is women’s time that is mainly stretched between work in the unpaid care economy and paid economy. State-provided services (e.g. health care, childcare, education, water supply) and any service that can be bought privately in the market assist or alleviate unpaid care work. Measures that favour the market paid economy at the expense of the unpaid care economy will have gender-differentiated effects, with women bearing the heavier burden.  

Artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) is a global reality. It represents a longstanding and important livelihood for more than 100 million men and women around the world. In some places, communities have practiced it for generations; in other places, the prospect of new mineral finds draws large numbers of people suddenly to mining areas. Whether newly begun or long established, ASM has the potential to help men and women out of poverty when conducted in an informed and responsible way. In different communities, different techniques are used, and men and women share different divisions of labor, risks, and opportunities. ASM assessments, and the recommendations for action arising from these, are critical to the objectives of every ASM stakeholder, whether the large-scale mining (LSM) company seeking to improve the outcomes of its corporate social responsibility programs, a government agency or nongovernmental organization (NGO) seeking to fulfill its policy mandate, a microfinance organization promoting small and medium enterprise development in mining areas, or an association of miners seeking to formalize its activities. The toolkit is comprised of six components: introduction to gender and ASM; the gender and ASM framework; gender and ASM tools; the toolkit in practice; resources; and supplemental CD-ROM.

This issue of PRISM, “Women, Peace, and Inclusive Security,” represents an innovative public-private partnership between the Center for Complex Operations at National Defense University, the Institute for Inclusive Security, and the National Defense University Foundation. 

Terrorism, transnational crime, drug trafficking, cyber threats, hybrid warfare, climate change, mass migration and more have complicated the security environment in unprecedented ways. Whether these constitute an existential threat to the U.S. is debatable. While the gravity of these threats is contested, some believe that, “ISIS and al-Qaeda pose an existential threat because they accelerate the collapse of world order..."  Director of National Intelligence James Clapper recently stated, “In my 50-plus years in intelligence, I don’t know if we’ve been beset by a more diverse array of challenges and crises around the world.” We can say with certainty that the accumulation of new threat vectors, compounded by more traditional dangers has thrown the national security community into disarray. Faced with such diverse challenges, the U.S. and its allies must step up with a response equally diverse, flexible, and adaptive. 

Sixteen years have elapsed since the passage of the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on “Women, Peace, and Security” (UNSCR 1325). That resolution “called for women’s equal participation with men and their full involvement in all efforts for the maintenance and promotion of peace and security.” 

Women play and have played critical roles in today’s security institutions, both in combat, in support, in policy, and in leadership. Today, a cohort of female generals and admirals have already set a high standard for the over 200,000 women in the U.S. Armed Forces who follow in their footsteps.

Despite progress, integration of women in military operations worldwide has not been without challenges. Sexual abuse within armed forces in and out of conflict areas, as well as in peacekeeping operations is a serious issue and is the subject of intense examination and contentious debate. This is an important subject, and its ongoing scrutiny is vital, but it should not detract from the larger issue—the security of the United States and the American people. 

The Global Gender and Environment Outlook (GGEO) occupies a unique space in the landscape of global assessments, highlighting a new framework with which to look at social and economic development. The pur- pose of the GGEO is not simply to “add women to the environment and stir”. It makes use of gender-based assessment frameworks along with the more traditional environmental assessment approach of the Driv- ers-Pressures-State-Impacts-Responses (DPSIR) methodology (UNEP 2012), thus requiring new questions and new methods.

Much economic growth in recent decades has been driven by the rapid expansion of natural resource use, especially in developing and emerging economies, and by the processing and consumption of fossil fuels. This has led to a concentration of environmental pressures in some parts of the world (UNEP 2016). Many environmental problems have been compounded by the risks and impacts of extreme weather and climate events, which disproportionately affect the world’s poorest populations (UNEP 2016, IPCC 2014).

The drivers of environmental change are also differentiated by gender. Whether environmental changeis acute or slow and chronic, it has specific differentiated impacts on women and girls or on men and boys. Moreover, austerity measures and public spending cuts in recent years have exacerbated gender inequalities and increasingly shifted the burden of ensuring the survival of individuals and households onto the shoulders of women and girls (including through their use of natural resources), adding to their unpaid domestic and care work and time poverty (UN Women 2014). Using a gender-specific approach is an appropriate way to investigate the dynamic relationships between environmental change and gender equality, as well as between environmental sustainablity and the realization of women’s rights and empowerment (Leach 2015; Seager 2014a).

Growing recognition of the impacts of human activity on the environment is taking place at the same time as global policy and advocacy efforts to achieve gender equality together with equality for class/ income, race/ ethnicity and other differences) are gaining traction. As demonstrated in the GGEO, the push for gender equality is shaping a better understanding of the environment, while notions of gender equality are also shaped by environmental imperatives including the need for equal access to – and sharing of – the benefits of using and protecting ecosystems and natural resources (UN Women 2014, MA 2005).