Introductory description

The module will consider the ways in which gender relations interact with economic and social relations in an era of globalisation. We will consider the ways in which approaches to global trade affect the relationship between women and men as more women are being drawn into labour markets across the world. Why do men and women have different access to labour markets? Does paid work improve women’s position within society and within the family? Does globalisation offer new opportunities for women? Are all women particularly vulnerable to exploitation within the work place or do other factors such as ethnicity and class play a part? How and in what ways can legal regulation contribute to greater and more equal access and protection for women?

Both men and women migrate in increasing numbers to survive and to find work. How does immigration and employment regulation affect gender relations? Do those who migrate for transnational family formation face similar or different issues to those who migrate in order to work?

The increasingly global market with its extended supply chains produces new challenges for gender justice issues. Are the female (and male) consumers purchasing flowers prepared and packed by predominately female workers in Kenya or grapes prepared and packed by female (and male) workers in Chile and South Africa contributing to gender inequality? Migrant women are filling the demand for paid care as working women and men across the world try to balance work and care responsibilities. What are the implications of these extended care chains? There has been a huge increase in the market for sexual (and body related) services. The sex industry now operates on a global scale. Does this industry require different forms of regulation? What measures are available to regulate the international trade in women’s bodies for sex? To what extent can we use the framework of global value chains to understand transnational family formation?

We will consider the ways in which gender issues are understood in global trade discourses and within the key institutions such as the World Trade Organisation, the International Labour Office and the regional bodies such as the European Union. We will consider the question: who do we care about? If we care about distant others, how do we do this? Through the discourses of labour/human rights, corporate social responsibility including ethical codes of practice, fair trade initiatives?

Module web page

Module aims

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

The global economic and governance context from a gendered perspective: economic justice and gender justice

Introduction of the key concepts: relationship between households, state and market, work and care, formal and informal labour, recognition and redistribution, capabilities and functioning

Introduction to regulatory discourses and frameworks: international, regional, state and local normative frameworks and forms of regulation including human rights, international criminal law, state based legal strategies and private law initiatives. Gendered analyses of justice including ethics of care and rights.

Case Study 1: fruit, flowers and vegetables – a study of agribusiness in sub-Saharan Africa

Case Study 2: care and bodies at work - a study of gendered migration and welfare states

Case Study 3: trading bodies – a study of the global sex industry

Case Study 4: transnational family formation – trading values

Conclusions - striving for gendered economic justice, analyses and strategies for caring for distant others

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Work effectively in groups, taking account of expressed opinions and dealing with them effectively, work with sensitivity, recognising different perspectives
• Demonstrate substantial knowledge of the debates relating to the interaction between gender relations and globalisation particularly the contribution of law to these processes.
• Understand the ways in which global trade relates to economic and social inequality
• Demonstrate an ability to identify and critically analyse the gender implications of global community/value chains and networks.
• Demonstrate an advanced ability to deliver effective written work and oral presentations
• Demonstrate critical analysis of current research in the area of gender, law and trade policy
• Identify, and use appropriately interdisciplinary materials, including international policy documents and empirical research findings
• Critically evaluate the potential for and limitations of legal regulation of aspects of global trade which particularly affect gender relations
• Demonstrate high quality research, interpretation and drafting skills in relation to the presentation of global value/commodity chains and networks

Indicative reading list

Stewart, A, (2011) Gender, Law and Justice in a Global Market (Cambridge University Press 2011
UNRISD (2005) Gender Equality: Striving for Justice in an Unequal World. Geneva: UNRISD – a key
source document for the whole module.
Kelsey, J. (2008) Servicing Whose Interests: The Political Economy of Trade in Service Agreements
London: Routledge Cavendish.
Stewart, A. (2007) 'Globalising gender justice' Law, Social Justice and Global Development LGD vol
1 www.go.warwick.ac.uk/lgd/2007_1
Stewart, A. (2007) Who do we care about? Reflections on gender justice in a global market’
Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Volume 58 number 3 pp 358-374.
Ehrenreich, Barbara & Hochschild, Arlie Russell (eds) (2003) Global Woman: Nannies, Maids and
Sex Workers in the New Economy, London: Granta. (pp 1- 54)
Williams, Mariama (2003) Gender Mainstreaming in the Multilateral Trading System London:
Commonwealth Secretariat
Rai, S. (2002) Gender and the Political Economy of Development, Cambridge: Polity Press
Molyneux, M. & Razavi, M. (eds) (2002) Gender Justice, Development and Rights, Oxford: OUP.
Afshar, H. & Barrientos, S. (eds) (1998) Women, Globalization and Fragmentation in the
Developing World London: McMillan
Rittich, Kerry (2002) Recharacterizing Restructuring, Hague: Kluwer.
Conaghan, Joanne et al (eds) (2002) Labour Law in an Era of Globalization Oxford: OUP.
Anker van den Christien L. & Doonmernik Jeroen (eds) (2006) Trafficking and Women’s Rights
Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan
Barrientos, Stephanie and Dolan Catherine (eds) 2006 Ethical Sourcing in the Global Food System:
Challenges and Opportunities to Fair Trade and the Environment London: Earthscan.

Subject specific skills

Subject knowledge and understanding

Demonstrate substantial knowledge of the debates
relating to the interaction between gender relations
and globalisation particularly the contribution of law to
these processes. Understand the ways in which global
trade relates to economic and social inequality
Demonstrate an ability to identify and critically analyse
the gender implications of global community/value
chains and networks.
Cognitive Skills

Identify, and use appropriately interdisciplinary
materials, including international policy documents and
empirical research findings
Critically evaluate the potential for and limitations of
legal regulation of aspects of global trade which
particularly affect gender relations
Subject-Specific/Professional Skills

Demonstrate high quality research, interpretation and
drafting skills in relation to the presentation of global
value/commodity chains and networks

Transferable skills

Key Skills

Work effectively in groups, taking account of expressed
opinions and dealing with them effectively, work with
sensitivity, recognising different perspectives

Demonstrate an advanced ability to deliver effective
written work and oral presentations

Demonstrate critical analysis of current research in the
area of gender, law and trade policy