Abstracts
Women’s/Gender Issues
Panel: Displacement, Livelihoods and Rights: Gendered Experiences
Session II
 Examining the bio-politics of the ‘export of labor’
Robina Bhatti*
This paper examines the productive and reproductive economies of South Asia through the livelihoods of migrants. It specifically seeks to understand how South Asian states have variously become ‘exporters of people’ rather than of goods and services. Examining the bio-politics of the ‘export of labor’ helps us to understand not only transnational interconnections that are gendered, but also uncover the class, racial, ethnic, and in some cases, religious features embedded in social relations in our hierarchical world economy and South Asian region. Additionally, it brings attention to reproductive economies that are the foundation of a productive global economy as there is an increasing demand for migrant women of South Asia to alleviate reproductive labor in the rest of Asia. The paper seeks to understand and explain three specific aspects of mutually-constituted productive and reproductive and economies of South Asia by examining migrant lives in the light of:
- Engendered and racialized government policies and practice that sustain productive and reproductive economies;
- Challenges to such engendered labor policies and practices; and
- Emancipatory knowledge produced through self-understanding of migrant livelihoods and lives.
The paper is an outcome of a Council of American Overseas Research Centers funded study that examines the labor force participation of women, particularly migrants to their various national economies in South Asia. Fieldwork for the project was conducted in Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Summer 2005, and further fieldwork in India and Bangladesh in Winter 2005-06 will complete this project.
* Robina Bhatti is the founding faculty member and Director of Global Studies program at California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB). She teaches Global Political Economy, Ecological Economics, Introduction to Global Studies (called Pro-Seminar) and Senior Capstone (thesis) for GlobalStudies.
Women, state and displacement: Some perspectives from Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh
Ameena Mohsin*
A major paradox of modern state and the nationalist ideology upon which the state premises itself is the exclusion of the ‘other’ in its attempt to include them. The state and nation constructs its ‘other’. This is true of communities ethnically, linguistically, ones that are religiously different from the dominant, and the majority. Women, it is submitted, suffer doubly. The nationalist ideology itself marginalizes women, while the women of the ethnic communities suffer due to their gender as well ethnicity. The paper takes the insurgency in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh into account and through narratives of Hill women attempts to examine the marginalization as well as agency of women in displacements.
* Ameena Mohsin teaches International Relations at the Department of International Relations, Dhaka University, Bangladesh.
Engendering Politics and Political Institutions in Pakistan
Farwa Zafar*
Pakistan’s overall track record in promoting and delivering gender equality has remained weak. However, more recently a number of initiatives have been taken by the government to support women’s participation in the formal political, legislative and decision-making structures with the aim of increasing platforms for women’s rights. This is just one step forward in the struggle for women’s advancement and empowerment.
This paper attempts to examine the gender face of politics in Pakistan, looking at the extent and nature of women’s political participation as voters, candidates and elected representatives. The significance of women’s presence and participation in legislative and decision-making bodies lies in the potential they offer to change the nature of politics in Pakistan. Women’s effective participation is seen as crucial for improving their status as well as for mainstreaming women’s concerns in public policy. Thus, women’s participation goes beyond their mere presence but encompasses actual participation along with their male counterparts. Despite progress made so far, gaps still remain with new challenges emerging with evolving realities. The paper highlights these gaps and outlines the challenges that lie ahead.
* Farwa Zafar is Director of The Development Group and has been working as a development practitioner for over twenty years. Her work over these years has focused on providing strategic planning and public policy support to social development programs focusing on gender-responsive governance and a rights-based approach to human development. |
