By Sana Rehman
The rise of NGOs in the 21st century has changed the role that women in Pakistan now play in globalization. Several organizations all over the world have been created to protect the rights of women, and globalization offers women abundant opportunities besides new and unique challenges.
One such concern is gender inequality which has many causes and is difficult to determine which types of inequality are being eradicated by the impacts of globalization and which are intensified. Gender inequality also costs more in an incorporated world. Women have to work harder to get equal status in society, and so, globalization seems to have more of a negative impact on women.
In several cases, women play dual roles and are breadwinners but society does not want to accept this truth. Most people in Pakistan think that if a woman chooses to work, it will badly affect her family and children. However, this is not true in all cases. The truth is that globalization is giving a free rein to competition between women and men.
Women play dual roles as professionals and homemakers but their household duties have not been reduced. Women even work multiple jobs, working long hours as breadwinners along with cooking, cleaning, and taking care of their children at home, which hinders their performance and professional success. Even though some women like the freedom of delayed marriage but they realize in due time that this independence leads to the problem of not finding a good match as they age.
Moreover, women are subjugated by being paid lower wages as compared to men. They are also vulnerable to sexual harassment at work, which discourages them from pursuing professional goals.
Urban women seem to have a better lot than women in rural areas. Due to low literacy rates and lesser awareness, women in rural areas are more exploited as compared to women in urban areas. Surely globalization has paved many paths to progress for women. It has endorsed equality between the genders, but still left negative impacts on women specifically.
The increasing trend of globalization has not helped everybody. Gender differences in endowments, access to productive inputs, and agency have muted positive impacts and added to the inequalities between men and women. Low literacy rates have limited women’s access to new employment opportunities. Higher educational rates have a positive impact on productivity in the field of agriculture. It improves farmers’ ability to adopt new techniques to improve production.
On the flip side, low literacy rates cause female agrarians to experience more limitations in gaining access to international markets than males. If no family member supports them, women are prevented from seizing new opportunities in the commercial sector.
Women are also deprived of their property rights and have inadequate access to trade opportunities. Gender norms for freedom of movement and women’s role in the trade and industrial sphere can excessively have an emotional impact on women. Gender inequalities increase because women are paid less, and in some cases, they have to give all their earnings to their families.
In agricultural fields, the gender discrepancy impact on trade fluctuates according to the region. For example, in Asia and Latin America, women practically do not have any rights in the agricultural infrastructure. The farmer’s chance to move into the export sector leads to conflicts in the case of gender because the profits are constantly biased against women.
Export opportunities are also not open to all women all over the world. In some countries, women can move into the international market like men but women in other countries adjust slower than men to export opportunities.
Globalization has paved paths for easier means of alleviating those living in poverty and looking for better lives. It also has provided for dramatic developments in transportation and communications with which to enable the physical processing of persons. Within the last two decades, globalization has created a remarkable impact on the lives of women in developing nations.
Globalization has enhanced the living standards of Pakistani women, and the media and advertisement necessities of people have increased. Therefore, women need to work and contribute to their household incomes to afford better lifestyles. Several nonprofit organizations are working for the empowerment of women and have equipped women with the skills they need to progress, such as literacy and vocational skills.
Women for Women is an international organization that has empowered women around the world, particularly in Asia and Africa, through education, medical aid, and development. These women are encouraged to become community leaders, and they also encourage other women in their communities to raise their voices against wrongs.
NGOs are playing a vital role in educating women and producing many great leaders in our global society nowadays. Although women may feel empowered, their wages are low in comparison to their male counterparts. Just a small number of women work in stores, factories, and companies, and the rest work in the informal sector, which is very important for women. It has been estimated that around 90 percent of working women are involved in the informal sector. These jobs are unskilled and low-paying but the women still feel empowered.
Women have not only found their space in workplaces but also need it in governance. The voice of women is increasingly heard in parliament and courts. Women in the west fought for over a century to get particular basic rights, like the right to vote, but the Constitution of Pakistan gave women equal rights from the start. Unluckily, most women in this country are unaware of their rights because of the low literacy rate and oppressive traditions.
The media has also played an incredible role in the advancement of women’s standard of living and has allowed Pakistani women to become more fruitful locally in this age of globalization.
The author is a student of Gender Studies at the University of Punjab.