Using a context familiar to you, such as Hong Kong, please describe the concept of empowerment by listing the challenges and feasible solutions to achieve gender educational equality in education enrolment, completion, and educational outcomes (contribution to women's socioeconomic status).
The gender inequality of education in Hong Kong has a huge effect on the socioeconomic status of women after leaving school. A US survey shows that 80% of female workers in Hong Kong believe that they are discriminated against because of their gender and it still generally accepted that sons are prioritised over daughters in terms of finance and inheritance. Whilst girls and boys are given equal opportunities within the education system, Parrenas presents us with the traditional view that a woman’s place is in the home, not at work. Therefore, whilst that opinion is held, the empowerment given to women through their education is insignificant when compared with the traditional view that it is preferred for women to stay at home and raise the family.
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Ehrenreich, B. & Hochschild, A. R. (2002). Global Woman. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
SIGI. (2010). Gender Equality and Social Institutions in Hong Kong, China. Retrieved from http://genderindex.org/country/hong-kong-china
Stromquist, N. P. (2002). Education In A Globalized World. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Ltd.
UNESCO. (2002). Less Than 40% Of Countries Provide Girls and Boys Equal Access to Education. Retrieved from http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=8118_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC
An early thesis about gender equality is Women in Development (WID) argued that the gender gap be eliminated with modernization and women's increasing participation in labor market. From a holistic view from the reading, please give a critical comment on this argument.
The view that the gender gap can be eliminated altogether is an untidy one which lacks basis. As discussed by Jane Kenway and Peter Kelly, gender is something which is often defined by the location of those concerned and is referred to as “the geography of gender.” (Kenway & Kelly, p176) Whilst this only discusses one tiny aspect of gender quality, it is a prime example of how there are many more extraneous factors than just modernization and women’s participation in labor market. Whilst modernization is an extremely vital factor in the promotion of gender equality, attitudes are likely to change from place to place. As it is an early thesis, presumably more recent studies have confirmed my view as being correct but arguably, despite a vast amount of modernization having taken place in the last several decades, there is still a long way to go for women to have gender equality with men.
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Kelly, P & Kenway, J. (2000). Local/Global Labor Markets and the Restructuring of Gender, Schooling and Work. In Monkman, K & Stromquist, N. P. (Eds.), Globalization and Integration: Integration and Contestation Across Cultures. (pp. 173 – 196). Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Ltd.
Please use the concept of masculinity and femininity, and the framework of interaction between gender, ethnicity, and class to analyze the immigrant workers in HK, who are mainly from South and Southeast Asian countries. You may use your own experiences and the materials in Parrenas's (2002) article.
Parrenas presents us with a view of femininity and masculinity through the eyes of migrant mothers: However developed the country is, it seems that in the Philippines, women are still desired to remain at home with their children, rather than seeking migrant employment. There seem to be two juxtaposed facts: migrant female workers have “caused the family to deteriorate” and 34 to 50 percent of the Philippine population is supported by remittances from migrant workers. So, they are faced with an issue where their families are divided but are supported by a mother who has found work in order to financially support her family. The unspoken question is most definitely, would this be the same problem if it were men going abroad to earn money? The answer is no, and this is acknowledged by Parrenas when it states: “The dominant gender ideology, after all, holds that a woman’s rightful place is in the home.” However, women are simply taking their feminine role of Mother and bringing home the bacon which in a masculine-driven society such as it is in Eastern cultures, is an understandable threat to the gender inequality.
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Ehrenreich, B. & Hochschild, A. R. (2002). Global Woman. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
In the global economy, some new jobs emerge while others disappear. Please use the concepts of globalization, locality, restructuring, de- and re-traditionalization, which are provided in Kenway and Kelly (2000), to analyze the possible causes and consequences of immigrant mothers from Philippines to Hong Kong and to the related key groups.
Globalization, by its very definition relates to the breaking down of barriers and borders, meaning that we live in a global community. This also means that often jobs are outsourced to other countries with workers who are offering their services for a lower cost. This could be the case with immigrant mothers from the Philippines working in Hong Kong. As previously discussed, these mothers are breaking down the traditional role of women and re-structuring the traditional idea by providing for their family financially at the expense of the traditional domestic setting. However, Kenway and Kelly still discuss the idea that “jobs traditionally filled by men are being downgraded and filled by women” while men are fulfilling female roles. (Kenway & Kelly, 2000, p 178) This suggests that concepts such as the traditional are no longer relevant in an economic climate where it’s all hands to the deck.
References
Kelly, P & Kenway, J. (2000). Local/Global Labor Markets and the Restructuring of Gender, Schooling and Work. In Monkman, K & Stromquist, N. P. (Eds.), Globalization and Integration: Integration and Contestation Across Cultures. (pp. 173 – 196). Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers Ltd.
