Barricades to Gender Equity in the International Financial Architecture

Abstract

Two areas in the international economic and financial architecture that impede the realization of developmental objectives and gender equity are briefly focused on, and include the contractionary macroeconomic policy framework espoused by the International Monetary Fund, the trend of financial liberalization and the volatility of capital flows and problems caused by it. The international financial architecture's exclusive concern with the monetized financial and commodity economy overlooks numerous adverse impacts on women and girls, in large part because it is based on fundamental gender biases. Bhumika Muchhala recalls from feminist economics literature three systemic gender biases in a liberalized and financialized world economy, which work against the goals of gender equity and women's rights. These three biases are the ‘deflationary bias’, the ‘male breadwinner bias’ and the ‘commodification or privatization bias’. She argues that a feminist discourse of global capitalism challenges the rigidity of boundaries segregating productive and reproductive activities.