Q.How has globalisation affected gender relations and the position of women workers?

Globalisation has reshaped gender relations and the position of women workers in several important ways.

On the positive side, globalisation has opened up new employment opportunities for women, especially in export-oriented industries like textiles, electronics, and services such as call centres. This has given many women access to paid work outside the home, increasing their economic independence and bargaining power within households. In some cases, it has also challenged traditional patriarchal norms by placing women in roles that were previously reserved for men. …

The story of globalisation and gender is not a simple one. When we talk about globalisation — the increasing integration of economies through trade, investment, and technology — we are really talking about a process that has reshaped the lives of millions of women workers, especially in developing countries like India. The effects have been both liberating and limiting, often at the same time.

On the positive side, globalisation has pulled large numbers of women into the formal workforce for the first time. The rise of export-oriented industries — garments, electronics assembly, food processing, call centres — has created a massive demand for cheap, flexible labour. Employers in these sectors have actively preferred women, believing them to be more "docile", "dexterous", and willing to accept lower wages than men. This has given millions of women, particularly from rural and lower-income backgrounds, a chance to earn an independent income, step outside the domestic sphere, and gain a measure of economic autonomy.

But here is where the picture gets complicated. The very same forces that opened doors also created new forms of exploitation. Women workers in global supply chains are overwhelmingly employed on casual, temporary, or contract terms — with no job security, no paid leave, no maternity benefits, and no union protection. They are the first to be laid off when demand falls, and the last to be promoted. The flexibility that global capital demands is almost always extracted from women's bodies and time.

Wage discrimination remains stubbornly entrenched. Even when women do the same work as men, they are paid less — often 30 to 50 per cent less in many export sectors. The justification given is that women are "secondary earners" whose income is supplementary to a male breadwinner — a myth that ignores the millions of women who are sole earners for their families.

The informal sector tells an even starker story. In India, over 90 per cent of women workers are in the unorganised sector — as home-based workers, street vendors, domestic workers, or agricultural labourers. Globalisation has expanded this informal workforce rather than shrinking it. Multinational corporations often subcontract production to small units or home-based workers, where labour laws are easily evaded. A woman stitching garments for a global brand from her home may earn just a few rupees per piece, with no minimum wage, no safety standards, and no recognition as a "worker" at all.

There is also a geographical dimension. Globalisation has accelerated rural-to-urban migration, and women often migrate alone or as part of female-only workforces in special economic zones. This can be empowering — freeing women from village patriarchy and caste hierarchies — but it also exposes them to new vulnerabilities: sexual harassment in workplaces and hostels, lack of safe housing, and social isolation. The 2013 Nirbhaya case in Delhi, while extreme, highlighted the broader crisis of safety that working women face in urban India. …