Labour and gender in a global context: contestations and backlashes

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article provides an introduction to and overview of the current ‘state of affairs’ about the connections between globalization, gender, labour and resistance. Although feminist scholars, in particular, have addressed the gendered dimensions of globalization and its impact on labour markets since the late 1980s, this collection takes us beyond this early work and addresses what has happened in recent years. We suggest that, despite many efforts to improve women’s empowerment through increased access to (material) resources and remunerated activities, their situation on the labour market is in many cases still precarious. In addition, according to ILO statistics men’s position on the labour market has also worsened due to the continuing implementation of neoliberal economic policies and the economic and financial crises of 2008–2009. To better understand the implications of these developments the authors in this collection suggest that applying an intersectional approach is imperative, especially to reveal the multidimensional nature of the gender-labour-globalization nexus and women’s (and men’s) contestations to these transformations.