day 8 meeting #5

Second quarter! We began our discussion with a conversation about the final presidential debate. We were both interested in how Hillary Clinton was more vocal this debate than before. Also... Trump didn't change his elementary behavior, but no one is really surprised there. 

From politics we turned back to Magnificent Seven, which I saw with my brother earlier this week. I found that much of what Mrs. Lawson had told me stood out to me while watching the movie. The female character was strong and well-developed; I was pleasantly surprised with her lack of romantic involvement with one of the seven mercenaries. Overall, Mrs. Lawson and I would give the film a positive review for representation of many different people in a very specific genre (Mrs. Lawson brought up a great point: old Westerns are really some of the worst things - morally - that Hollywood has ever produced). 

Over the break, I had researched Joan Wallach Scott's Gender, as well as the effect of globalization on gender/women's relative position. For Gender, I would say that the phrase "politicians and policymakers used the language of gender to defend their own manhood and diminish that of their rivals" sums up the review I read nicely. As we discussed Scott, Mrs. Lawson mentioned the conservative feminist Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, who I plan to research a bit this weekend. 

As for globalization and gender, I had read a World Report that included more statistics than words - but the words it did include were quite useful. The report stated three positive effects of globalization:

• First, trade openness and the diffusion of new information and communication technologies (ICTs) have translated into more jobs and stronger connections to markets for many women, increasing their access to economic opportunities.
• Second, gender inequality has more costs in an integrated world. It can diminish countries’ ability to compete internationally—particularly for countries with export potential in goods and services with high female employment.
• Third, greater access to information has allowed many in developing countries to learn about life and mores in other parts of the world, including those pertaining to the role of women, possibly affecting attitudes and behaviors. A shift toward more egalitarian gender roles and norms has also been facilitated and, in some cases, reinforced by women’s economic empowerment.

As for the negatives, this report mentioned four:

• First, gender differences in education have limited women’s access to new employment opportunities.
• Gender differences in care responsibilities can prevent women from seizing new agricultural and wage opportunities in the export sector if no other household members can take on their duties. That is particularly true when new opportunities arise in large farms or the formal sector, where a premium is placed on longer work hours and a fixed schedule.
• Women’s weaker property rights in land and limited access to productive inputs also constrain their capacity to benefit from trade openness.
• Conservative gender norms for mobility and women’s role in the economic sphere can disproportionately affect women’s access to technology (including ICTs) and more broadly to information. At home, men often regulate the family radio, mobile phone, or television, controlling when and how other family members can use them.

I would argue that these negative "effects" are not really effects at all. All of these issues may have been exacerbated by globalization, but they were present before widespread globalization. The positives, however, are direct effects of globalization. Therefore, I say globalization has been a "good thing". 

But here's a catch (that I didn't think about) we discussed: the porn industry. The exploitation of women and children has only exponentially increased because of globalization/greater access to technology. I'm kind of stuck on this point, because it's very clear that the porn industry is dangerous and growing... but I'm not really sure how to "fix it", per se. And the easy access to the Internet: lucrative.

From there, we discussed the decriminalization of prostitution and drugs. This discussion was a bit heavier than what we usually talk about, but I don't think it's any less important. It is much more urgent/"real world" than theoretical discussions. Finally, we ended by talking about language: what makes a word "bad"? We decided that I should do a little surveying around the school, asking people what words make them uncomfortable and why they should/shouldn't say certain things. I'm really interested and excited to test the people I am around on this!

We finally got around to talking about language! Next meeting, we will probably delve a little deeper into language around discrimination.