Gender and Economic Development

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Maternal Death in Developing Countries: Preventable?

In a developed country like the U.S., maternal death is rarely the first thought that comes to mind when a woman announces she is pregnant. Nor is it the biggest worry when she goes into labor; more often family members are worried about how much pain the woman is in and what the baby will look like. For most in the United States, having a baby is an exciting experience full of celebrations and preparations. This is not the case in developing countries like those in Africa, where thousands of women die every year from preventable pregnancy complications. According to a documentary by EveryWoman, most deaths are caused by infection, bleeding, and obstructed labor. All of these complications are preventable if caught early enough and if someone knowledgeable is around to help the mother. Yet in countries where higher education is most often reserved for the elite and male citizens, midwives and doctors with thorough knowledge of birth and how to treat complications are hard to come by. Typically, women’s education is not valued nearly as highly as men’s, and yet in many cultures birth is taboo and to be handled by the women. Therein lies the source of the problem. 

EveryWoman and other documentaries have listed countries finding solutions to this epidemic. Many governments allot a certain amount of spending towards a program which trains midwives to handle common birthing issues. These programs would not qualify the midwives or doctors to work outside of their country, thus keeping the knowledge base where it is needed. While this may sound unfair to the workers, many of these women would be unable to attain a higher education applicable in other countries to begin with. Thus the women are being given economic and educational opportunities while helping others to have healthy, successful births. 

I think such a program could be implemented elsewhere in healthcare as well as infrastructure. Men and women could receive training and education in basic knowledge of architecture, modern farming techniques, common illnesses and treatments, etc. and then take the knowledge back to their villages to improve the standard of living for the community on multiple levels. These programs would raise the standard of living while also offering economic and educational opportunities otherwise unavailable to the poorer population.

Sources:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zD533COME4A

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Changing dialects in response to changing surroundings

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf’s ability and execution of changing accents depending on her audience in Madame President struck a chord with me. Sirleaf described how she would often use sing-song Liberian English when addressing her country’s people, but would switch to full English when addressing foreigners, typically representatives of countries (i.e. U.S. Congress). As someone from the southern United States, I relate to Sirleaf’s swapping of accents. Many northerners and corporations associate the “southern drawl” with a lack of education, sophistication, and self-discipline. Even negative terms are applied to people with a strong southern accent: rednecks, trailer-park trash, hick, etc. Yet to rural populations with strong southern accents, an outsider lacking such an accent will often be called a Yankee or a libtard and will be asked why they think they are so high and mighty. I have witnessed such reactions in my hometown (a rural, southern town) to outsiders as well as the reactions of outsiders to my hometown. 

Yet having grown up in such a place only to move away towards more urban areas, I learned to drop my southern accent in most situations, particularly during interactions with strangers whose opinions of me mattered (employers, teachers, government officials, etc.). Since I am a minority in terms of gender and sexuality, I know I must alter my physicality where I can to parallel societal desires. I began to pick up an accent not particularly from anywhere, and have been asked if I am Dutch, Northern, Californian, or from another English-speaking country. Every time the questioner refuses to believe I grew up in the rural South and have not lived anywhere but the South, and on occasion I have been complimented as intelligent simply for my accent lacking that “southern drawl”. However, I know when I visit my hometown, I must return to my original accent if I wish to fit in and not be criticized. To describe my family’s phonics, my grandmother refers to canines as “dawgs” and people as “all y’all”. My mother pronounces the nearest large city as “Burmy-ham”. Were I to use the grammar approved and dictated by most of society, “Bur-ming-am” would sound foreign to my family, and I would be told I was sounding like “them city folk”. Thus I have learned to drop my accent around everyone I wish to view me in a positive light, and pick it up when I return home. I have used it so little I must actually put effort into conforming with my hometown while visiting. 

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Micro-credit and Empowerment: Negative Peace or Positive Peace?

http://www.fao.org/docrep/x4400e/x4400e06.htm

Microcredit has been around for a long time, but only recently has become a big phenomenon. Microcredit refers to small loans given to people (most often women) in poor or rural areas. The loans are given to groups of women who must hold each other accountable for repayments, or else no one from the group may borrow until the loan is repaid. Microcredit is helping to give women more independence and hold developing nations’ economies where they are typically uneducated and reliant completely on their husband’s income or what they can make from carrying items to a market. These small loans allow women to make investments in their own businesses and work towards growing them into a sustainable source of income. 

One woman recounts how she used microcredit to purchase two piglets for $52 and then fed them on table scraps and garden produce while making small payments on the loan until she was able to sell the fattened pigs for $104 each months later. Thus the woman had a source of income she would not have been able to achieve without the help of microcredit. Furthermore, now with a bit more money, she may return to ask for a higher loan to make more money off of, and so the cycle continues until she is able to sustain herself without loans. To ensure the women understand how interest and payments work, classes are voluntary or mandated by the organization providing the loans, which offers them an education on finances otherwise inaccessible. 

Monetary value aside, there is a psychological effect on the women who are able to create a business from microcredit. Women who make their own money can develop a sense of independence, as telling a woman where to go and what to do when she makes half or most of the income for the household will not sit as well as when she was entirely dependent on the husband. Women have an opportunity to take part in the economy in a meaningful way. Also, women can take pride in creating something on their own through hard work and determination. Finally, ensuring a better flow of income, women will be able to send their children to school to educate future generations of women, an opportunity otherwise not possible. 

Microcredit offers an individual approach to poverty not possible through the IMF and World Bank. Microcredit ensures the population still has control over natural resources and land and the money generated by investments from microcredit circulates in the local economy. Furthermore, small loans on a personal level allow individuals to work towards sending their children to school and achieving a better standard of living, and the individuals who receive microcredit are often those who need help the most and will not see any positive effects from the IMF or World Bank’s loans or structural adjustment. Microcredit is a step towards positive peace in terms of poverty, as it strives to create fair social conditions and focuses on raising up the lower classes in developing countries. While big differences will take generations to appear, microcredit is a long-term solution for rural populations and developing countries as a whole, and a method opposite that of structural adjustment.

Sources:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/x4400e/x4400e06.htm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrUQKuvsmvw

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Structural Adjustment and Madame President

In Madame President, we see Ellen Johnson Sirleaf desperately try to bring her country back from the depths of chaos after years of civil war and harsh rulers. Because of previous rulers’ lack of understanding and concern for Liberia’s debt, Sirleaf runs into difficulties receiving funding from any lender, including the World Bank, IMF, and United States. For years before the war, readers can see the effects of structural adjustment by the IMF on Liberia. One example which stuck out to me due to its foreign name was the Firestone factory mentioned, which used Liberia’s natural resource of rubber to make tires. Firestone is a brand based in the United States, so for there to be a factory in Liberia using the country’s natural resources, I knew there must be privatization of land and the exportation of Liberia’s resources through a foreign company. Such is one of the prescriptions of structural adjustment, both the privatization of land (and the factory is described as being enormous) and the use of natural resources. Furthermore, Sirleaf briefly mentions how one could find work tapping rubber for Firestone if not making market when there were no other jobs, meaning Firestone could easily pay the desperate workers less for their labor. 

Another issue with the IMF and structural adjustment comes in the form of state control and choices regarding the country. With the IMF having certain restrictions for a country to qualify, the government has little choice but to give in to pay off the debt. This limits what the government can do, such as when Sirleaf makes the harsh decision to force the market women to move their stalls from the streets so foreign investors are not deterred, as the IMF emphasizes a developing country’s ability to attract foreign investors. There is a consequence to this method however, as the IMF creates only short-term solutions to the debt at hand, but adjustment plans often cause the government to spend more on debt and sell off land and natural resources, which create economic complications in the long run. More spending on debt means less funding for education, health facilities, infrastructure, and other areas key to an independent and healthy economy, and selling off natural resources and land means once the country can stand on its own feet, there is less to export for a higher price. A lack of healthcare and childcare means women are more likely to die during childbirth or be able to work, thus forcing them to either work and take care of the children, or depend entirely on their husband, who is making much less working for a foreign company. 

 Also, since the people in developing countries are less educated in economics and dependency on foreign funds, they tend to point their finger at the visible authority they blame for a decrease in the quality of living: the government. This can be seen when Sirleaf, unsure how to react but desperate to not lose foreign investors for the sake of the country’s standing with the IMF and World Bank, quarantines an entire section of citizens exposed to Ebola. The population cries in outrage and blames her, unaware of the bigger powers she is having to try and appease. Such unrest can lead to coups and more civil war.

In conclusion, the structural adjustment plan’s negative effects are evident throughout Madame President and appear to be a form of negative peace. While the IMF and World Bank are not trying to stop violence per say, they are attempting to stop poverty. Personal interests of the organizations aside, their solutions are effective, immediate, and government-induced (negative peace), but do not work towards fair social conditions which eliminate poverty in developing countries (positive peace). Rather, such organizations promote only the absence or reduction of debt by restricting government spending and coercing the nation’s government to privatize land and natural resources, which will then be unavailable to the country as it tries to grow. 

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“Activists say brands like Tommy Hilfiger and the Gap and those sold by Walmart need to take responsibility for the working conditions in Bangladeshi factories that produce their clothes”

The Bangladeshi garment factory fires echo a similar tragedy in the rapidly industrializing U.S. in the 1900′s, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. However, measures are not being taken to prevent such fires from happening again in Bangladesh, such as the one shown above where over 100 workers were killed. Reports indicate most factory fires could easily be prevented if safety measures were followed. Most of the factory workers are women, and the average salary is $37 a month. 

We typically think of economic development and industrialization as positive movements, but in other countries, such “advancement” is often at the cost of the indigenous people. Factories use up a country’s natural resources and land, forcing more citizens to travel to cities to work for the same factories. Local businesses cannot compete with the corporate, typically foreign, funding and move or shut down completely, leaving the factories as the main source for jobs, especially for those uneducated. In such cultures where women generally stay at home to take care of children and be a “good wife”, they are less likely to receive an education, so when the family needs money, factory jobs are the only option besides selling items at a market. Yet if there is no farm land, growing food to sell is also impossible.Thus, women must turn to the factories, where they are paid less than a dollar an hour, regularly work 15 hour shifts, and are not allowed to talk and have minimal breaks for eating or using the restroom. On top of this workload, the cultural values of older women as homemakers do not cease to exist, and women are still expected to come home and care for children, cook, and clean after work. In this way, the cycle of industrialization at the expense of the indigenous peoples and particularly women begins. 

One may ask why consumers do not simply stop supporting these companies, but then we must look at their circumstances. In the U.S., the minimum wage creates a salary much higher than $37 a month, but still not enough for the cost of living. In Georgia, an annual salary of  $47,946 is needed for the cost of living, but the federal minimum wage is $7.25, amounting to only $15,080 a year, with women receiving less pay for equal work than men, making them even more likely to be impoverished. How can we expect consumers, most of whom are struggling to get by, to pay more for clothing when they do not make enough themselves? Thus the cycle continues, with the government holding the ultimate power to break it, but they receive incentives from companies to let it go. 

On the contrary, there is research which points to positive effects of factory work on Bangladeshi women, particularly young girls. If a factory opens nearby or girls 12-18 work for one, they are more likely to stay in school and less likely to marry or get pregnant early in life. Furthermore, they are more likely to continue working outside of the home after marriage, giving them some independence. Still, there are many improvements which need to be made to make factory work more beneficial than harmful for all women.

Sources: 

(https://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/26/world/asia/bangladesh-fire-kills-more-than-100-and-injures-many.html)

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/05/what-a-living-wage-would-be-in-every-us-state.html

https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2008/10/08/5103/the-straight-facts-on-women-in-poverty/

https://www.washington.edu/news/2015/02/17/study-manufacturing-growth-can-benefit-bangladeshi-women-workers/

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Fleeing from war, political instability, famine, etc. is always a traumatic experience. As learned in class, most refugees are displaced for an average of 17 years, which is almost as long as i have been alive. In Tears of the Desert, Halima recounts how the social workers treated her when she escaped to Great Britain to seek asylum; she describes how they seemed apathetic, suspicious, and impatient, with her first interviewer claiming she could not actually be married if she had no certificate and no idea as to where her husband was located. While most classmates were quick to accuse the workers of being too unsympathetic and demeaning, I looked at the situation from a psychological perspective. 

I am not defending the actions of the workers, and I do believe refugee workers need culturally sensitive training, but there is reasoning behind why Halima’s interviewers were emotionless. In psychology, vicarious trauma is an unfortunate experience common in social work where workers are regularly in contact with trauma survivors. Vicarious traumatization symptoms mirror trauma symptoms, though they are usually less extreme. Oftentimes VT occurs alongside burnout, an overwhelming exhaustion and hopelessness caused by continued stress (usually from a job). Given the amount of refugees pouring in from the Middle East, revealed by the lengthy Halima describes, the social workers are probably overworked, understaffed, and underpaid. Having to ask and listen to one horrific refugee story after another for hours on end takes a toll on the human mind, and empathy may shut down as a coping mechanism. 

Furthermore, properly training and vetting refugee workers takes time, and wars do not wait for other countries to be prepared for those who flee the area. This means the workers may not have received enough training or have access to mental health resources to ensure they can offer the help, empathy, and advice refugees desperately seek and need after escaping violence. 

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I have noticed an interesting and saddening trend in the pet hospitals I see while visiting other stores or working at my PetSmart. All client services coordinators (receptionists) are female. I have noticed this not at just my store, but every store I have visited or worked at. Yet around 1/3 to 1/2 of all veterinarian assistants are male, and most veterinarians are male. I have yet to see a male receptionist and have only seen one female veterinarian for the five male vets I have witnessed. This vertical segregation is noticeable in all healthcare fields involving humans, and I was disappointed but not surprised to see it continued in animal healthcare organizations.

Even when I was a child I remember being confused as to why nearly all nurses or dental hygienists were female, but almost if not all doctors or dentists were male. The only female doctors I knew of for a long time were my mother’s OB/GYN and my pediatrician. This trend carries over to corporations as well, where nearly all CEOs are male, and it makes me think of the hierarchy of my own college, where not only are most teachers female, but we are a women’s college, and yet the president, provost, and most other administrative officers are male. 

Nowadays nearly every female enters the workforce, and yet one only needs to look at the makeup of the company to see how hard it is for a female to climb. More women work at lower levels in companies even though they make up almost half of the workforce and have more college and graduate degrees than men; furthermore, in 2016 women earned 80.5 cents for every dollar a man earned (https://iwpr.org/issue/employment-education-economic-change/pay-equity-discrimination/). These inequalities compound into the disproportionate amount of women we see in poverty today, and the consequences affect more than women, as many families have children with a single mother as the sole breadwinner. With the minimum wage often prescribed for manual labor being less than half of what is necessary for the cost of living, and women having difficulties trying to climb in companies, vertical job segregation forces more women into poverty.

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In A Quiet Place directed by John Krasinki, the audience follows a family attempting to survive after predatory creatures took over Earth, having arrived on a meteorite. The creatures hunt solely by sound and are completely blind with little sense of smell. The smallest sound alerts them of possible prey, and they blindly attack any source of noise. Yet the new environment does not affect everyone the same, and I believe the mother had the hardest circumstances out of the entire family. While the dad had to learn to hunt, set traps, fish, etc. the mother learned new ways of doing laundry and cooking without making noise. But she had a situation specific to women: she was pregnant. Giving birth silently with no pain medication and then keeping the baby silent is impossible. 

Yet her situation is similar to so many refugee women, who are forced to give birth in unsafe conditions often with little to no help and no pain medication. In class we learned of how many women stopped to give birth while fleeing their home country, and as soon as the baby was born, they had to keep walking. Displacement affects each gender differently, and arguably hurts women more because of pregnancy and menstruation needs. I must wonder what this mother will do after she begins menstruating again. Like refugees, she cannot go to a store and buy pads or tampons, and other resources like toilet paper and washcloths are limited as well. 

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On September 11th, 2001, al-Qaeda militants hijacked passenger planes and flew them into the United States’ World Trade Center towers. Though the attack happened almost 17 years ago, the effects can still be felt, particularly in American culture. Islamic peoples are regularly seen as a threat, and have even been dragged off of airplanes and subjected to public harassment. These hate crimes have worsened in recent years due to ISIS’s terrorist attacks on nations worldwide. Similar to the sexual assaults in Germany on New Year’s Eve by a group of immigrants, these attacks caused a cultural shift towards the ethnic group the attackers are a part of. Right-wing groups emerged in both countries, calling for a halt on immigration to protect the nation. President Trump himself tried to ban Muslim immigrants from coming to the U.S. 

In the case of minorities (those who are not Anglo-Saxon, cisgender, heterosexual, male, or Christian), when one or a few members commit an act society finds unacceptable, the majority tend to deem the entire minority to be a menace to civilization. This does not happen when members of the majority commit an unacceptable act. Consider the amount of white, cis-het males involved in mass shootings; yet no one has declared white, cis-het males dangerous, because they are the majority and those in power.

That is not to say prejudice against a minority doesn’t have a basis in science. Psychologically, we categorize objects and people based on their attributes, and one can easily make the leap that a few brown-skinned males in turbans massacred people, therefore all brown-skinned males are bad. When humans were not at the top of the food chain, this thinking kept us alive. If we saw someone murdered by a furry, four-legged, snarling creature with a tail, we would then avoid all creatures like that. Rationalizing in this way becomes a problem when it is applied to humans and taken to an extreme. A cheetah’s instincts are to attack threats or prey, and that goes for all cheetahs. However, not all Muslims support ISIS and want to bomb countries. In fact, it’s quite the opposite, with most Muslims despising ISIS and other Islamic extremist groups. Yet much of society treats all Muslims as though they are terrorists, to the point of harassment and murder.

We also do not consider that perhaps the wars we start and the industries we dominate in the Middle East create resentment and a lack of jobs in the indigenous people’s communities, which may push them to join extremist groups for revenge or even simply food and shelter. This especially goes for males in the society who may feel emasculated by being unable to provide for their families.