Globalization, Gender, and Work: Perspectives on Global Regulation

This article proposes a working definition of globalization, which, although recognizing power asymmetries and risks, focuses on the changing options of actors. I link globalization to the options of diverse actors such as feminist networks and supranational and state institutions and enterprises. These options are related to resources, power, and capacities. The United Nations Decades of Women provided a dramatically opening opportunity structure for the global women's movement that could enlarge and diversify their options. They had developed a common charter while respecting differences and capacities for global orientation. Finally, I illustrate the argument by looking at processes of feminist regulations, which were negotiated by women's movements in Japan and Germany. Both cases suggest that negotiations and regulations in the global context are possible from an asymmetric position and that innovative capacities for transnational and global orientation and horizontal organization are crucial. Further research is necessary on innovative and egalitarian forms of regulation in globalization. Copyright 2003 by The Policy Studies Organization.