Wednesday, February 8, 2012
The Economic Aspect of Women's Agency
One key aspect of the reading that stood out to me was the relationship between economic growth and the development of women's agency. As Pierce and Evan wrote, cultural and social institutions are critical in creating an environment where women can contribute successfully. These institutions include more than just a paradigm shift in which men treat women better and allow them their own freedoms; merely having women contribute to the income of the family and the financial well-being of herself and others around her is instrumental in securing a place for women in the society. I think this notion is integral in thinking about how women's agency enables women to be, as Sen describes, "the dynamic promoters of social transformations that can alter the lives of both women and men" (184). What I found most interesting about the relationship between economic contributions to the society and women's agency was the nuances involved in the instutions to which Pierce and Evan referred. As Sen says, "how 'contributions' and 'productivity' are to be assessed may rarely be discussed explicitly," yet "the perception of who is doing how much 'productive' work, or who is 'contributing' how much to the family's prosperity, can be very influential" (186). This begs the question: how can we develop these perceptions when they are rarely discussed? I think that this is where the paradox of social change resides; in order to acknowledge the financial contributions of women, the sexist biases of society must change. However, as Sen says, "this antifemale bias seems to be influenced by the social standing and economic power of women in general" (187). I think solving this paradox is the key to spurring social change in these societies.
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While this may seem like a chicken-and-egg problem (how do you improve the position of women in families when that depends on the social standing of women), I think the readings had an answer: if women have greater economic opportunity (and thus a more obvious contribution to the family's income), they are more likely to be able to affect family decision-making and thus gain a measure of equality within the home. Of course, one could counter that economic opportunities are more likely to be available for women if there is greater equality between the sexes. However, it seemed like policies consciously pursued by governments or NGOs to provide credit to women (like microcredit from the Grameen Bank) can provide that chance to make an economic contribution -- social norms can be bent by economic incentives.
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