Institutions and Gender Empowerment in the Global Economy

The following sections are included:

• Preface

• Contents

• Foreword

• Institutional Affiliations of Contributors

• List of Tables

• List of Figures

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Development

• The Views of Young Marx on Development

• Gandhi's Ideas on Development

• Background to Understanding Sen's Development Philosophy

• Sen's Concept of Development

• The Link Between Young Marx, Gandhi, and Sen

• Institutional Implications of Sen's Theory of Development

• Sen's Theory of Exchange Entitlement, Endowment, and Poverty

• The Essence of the Theory

• Decomposition of the Theory of Exchange Entitlement

• Poverty and Gender Empowerment

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Access and Returns to Markets

• To Cope with Vulnerability

• Gender Empowerment: Discrimination Against Women

• Dowry and Women's Bargaining Power

• Theories of Household Economy

• The Institution of Marriage

• The Institution of Dowry

• Reasons for Dowry-Giving

• Women's Reproductive Decision

• Education, Health, and Employment
  • Education
  • Health
  • Employment
  • Vulnerability of female labor

• Ownership of Property

• Technological Development, Transfer, and Adoption

• Violence Against Women
  • Powerlessness, voicelessness, helplessness, and peacelessness
  • Physical violence against women

• Women's Participation in Political Governance

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• The State and its Institutions

• The Role of The State as the Formidable Institution

• The Demise of the Neo-Classical State

• The New Institutional Economics and Gender Empowerment

• Corruption Perception Index (CPI) and Institutional Non-Compliance Score (INCS)

• Deprivation Scores

• Enforcer of Gender Discrimination: Patriarch or Matriarch
  • Within the household
  • Outside the Household

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Property Rights, Economic Freedom, and Empowerment
  • Women's socio-economic status and land rights: Historical perspective
  • Issue of land rights in post-independence India
  • Women and the current state of inheritance rights
  • Women in the total population in need of land rights
  • Granting land ownership to landless women: Ground realities

• Women's Employment and Income
  • Other aspects of women's employment status
    • Nature of women's employment
    • India's labor market institutions
    • Caste-based stratification of women
  • Income and assets in household bargaining

• Dowry, Assets, and Violence against Women
  • Dowry-related torture and murder
  • Infanticide, abortion, and missing women
  • Vulnerability to other risks

• Gender-related Development Indicators and Deprivation Scores for Women

• The Constitution, Law, and the Indian State
  • Laws affecting women's property rights
  • Laws relating to the prohibition of dowry

• Recent State Actions forWomen's Empowerment

• Population Policy and Women's Health

• Piecemeal Approach to Women's Empowerment
  • Important variables in women's empowerment

• The Failure of the State in Empowering Women

• Recommendations and Conclusion

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Overview of Women's Status in China

• State Institutions and Women's Empowerment

• Women Organizing Independently

• Conclusion

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• The Conflicting Dynamics of Development for the Empowerment of Women

• Women and Development in Taiwan: Fairly Good General Outcomes

• The Impact of Social and Cultural Institutions on Women's Empowerment in Taiwan

• The Impact of Political Institutions on Women's Empowerment in Taiwan

• Institutions and Women's Empowerment in Taiwan

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Women's Contribution to Kenya's Economic and Social Development

• To Cope with Vulnerability

• Gender Empowerment: Discrimination against Women in Kenya
  • Second-class citizens
  • Citizenship

• Women's Bargaining Power in the Household Economy

• The Institution of Marriage and Dowry

• Women's Reproductive Decision

• Education, Health, and Employment
  • Education
  • Health
  • Employment

• Ownership of Property

• Technological Development, Transfer, and Adoption

• Violence Against Women

• Women's Participation in Political Governance

• The Demise of Neoclassical State and Women's Empowerment
  • The new institutional economics and gender empowerment

• Institutional Non-Compliance and Women's Deprivation Scores

• Policies and Programs for Women Empowerment in Kenya

• Summary, Conclusions, and Policy Recommendations

• References

Development orientations changed radically in Peru from 1990 to 2005 and institutional changes took place to move it toward a market-led economy. Do liberal institutions facilitate or hamper the empowerment of marginalized groups, such as the majority of women in Peru? Trends in the participation of Peruvian women in the economy and labor markets show ambivalent outcomes for women's empowerment. While the struggle for setting a market-led economy is producing an increasing pressure for women's labor, it does not necessarily translate into women's empowerment in all aspects and among all Peruvian women. In highly unequal societies like the Peruvian, women's empowerment seems differentiated as far as the institutional changes of the 1990's did not take into account the general unfavorable starting conditions for women's human capital formation and the particular exclusion of indigenous women. So far, liberal institutions in labor markets seem to have brought about the feminization of flexible, informal, lowly qualified, and hidden labor, tending to make working Peruvian women a “mass” of unorganized, low-wage, temporary workers without labor rights and with little choice and voice in labor markets.

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Political and Economic Status of Women in Fiji

• Institutions, Government Policies, and Programs
  • Legislative development

• Concluding Comments and Recommendations

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• The Conflicting Dynamics of Demographic Change

• Women and Education in Great Britain: Exceeding Expectations

• The Economic Status of British Women: Unrealized Potential

• Gender and Power: The Political Status of British Women

• The Status of Women in Great Britain

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• Background Conditions in the United States

• The Status of American Women in Comparative Perspective

• Expanding Opportunities for American Women in Education and the Economy

• Women's Continuing Problems with Poverty and Inequality

• Institutions and Women's Empowerment in the United States

• References

The following sections are included:

• Introduction

• The Importance of Women in Economic and Social Development in Greece

• Socio-economic Status vis-à-vis Men

• Indicators

• Decomposition of Exchange Entitlement Theory

• Types and Depth of Economic and Social Poverty that Affect Women in Greece

• Discrimination and the Law

• Summary of Findings and Recommendations for Action

• References

This volume has examined the degree of women's empowerment in the contemporary world. It argues that the institutions that exist in a society exercise a powerful and determining influence on the status and rights of women in a particular nation. This conclusion summarizes our major results. The first section provides the theoretical overview that was developed in Chapters 1 to 3, the second tests this model with the case studies in Chapters 4 through 12, and the last tries to draw the implications of these results for the dynamics of women's empowerment in the early 21st century.

The following sections are included:

• Index