Not a feminist text

Women in the Age of Economic Transformation
Edited by Nahid Aslanbeigui, Steven Pressman & Gale Summerfield
Routledge, 1994, 232 pp.
Reviewed by Carla Gorton Does privatisation marginalise women? How are women affected by the development process? Are structural adjustment programs gender neutral? These are some of the questions which emblazon the back cover of Women in the Age of Economic Transformation. They are reasonable questions but are not adequately answered in this collection of articles. Women in the Age of Economic Transformation addresses the gender impact of economic reforms in Germany, Poland, Romania, Russia, Africa, China, Singapore, South Korea Chile, Mexico & Nicaragua. Despite it's emphasis on gender issues, this is not a feminist text. While the primary research results presented make this an interesting and useful resource, the assessment of women's status in society is, in most articles, very narrowly focused upon their work force participation. A number of articles claim that it is simply women's lack of sufficient credit or their lack of education which prevents them from taking advantage of the new opportunities created by the reforms. This explanation of women's position in paid work is broadly encompassed within "human capital" theory which asserts that women have acquired fewer skills and qualifications, and less labour market experience than men as a result of rational, freely made choices by women. Some contributors to this book do admit that structural constraints beyond the freely made choices of individuals do exist and that their theories do not adequately explain this level of discrimination. However, nowhere is the link between women's domestic inequality and their labour market position explored. This narrow economic focus leads many contributors to make outrageous claims. The essay on Chile, for example, argues that the economic reforms implemented under the Pinochet dictatorship have successfully placed Chile on the path to sustained economic growth. This totally ignores the social and political costs of Chile's so-called reforms and the fact that these costs impact particularly severely on the majority of women. One of the better articles, on women's health in Sub-Saharan Africa, outlines the devastation wrought by World Bank privatisation policies. The World Bank recommended that government health systems be privatised and decentralised to improve efficiency. However, in some countries, hospitals defray expenses by requiring patients to bring their own drugs, cotton, alcohol, surgical gloves and bandages. Given the chronic shortage of supplies, patients are making their purchases on the black market at costs far above what the government would have paid if it bought these supplies in bulk through international tender. Is this increasing efficiency? Some of the articles on Eastern Europe and Russia explore the worst aspects of massive unemployment in a gender segregated work force. In Russia from 1985-87, more than 80% of all labour cutbacks were made at the expense of female workers. In 1989 and 1990 women comprised approximately 60% of those who had lost their jobs. Sexual harassment is flourishing in these harsh economic conditions. According to one contributor, newspaper listings in Russia are filled with job advertisements seeking "young and pretty girls" as secretaries and personal assistants and which, on occasion, imply sexual relations with the boss. While some contributors to this book stress the need for women to organise and voice their needs through labour unions, political office and women's organisations, the history and current experiences of such organisation are precisely what is absent from this text.