Liberation from Liberalization: Gender and Globalization in South East Asia

Roksana Bahramitash lectures on gender and environment at Concordia University, Montreal. She has considerable experience of counselling and advocacy work with women in Iran, which she left as a refugee in 1991 to finish her PhD in Canada.

This book focuses on Southeast Asia and the role the state has played in the economies of Taiwan, Indonesia and the Philippines. While showing that the role of women in the economy has contributed significantly to economic growth, limiting the role of the state under the influence of neo-liberal globalization, particularly with welfare state reduction, has been responsible for growing poverty, especially among women. The book argues in favor of a system that incorporates women's groups into the decision-making process of the state while making sure the state remains both transparent and subject to the political advocacy of its citizens

1. Market Fundamentalism The Post World War II Development Effort The Rise of Neo-liberalism Alternatives to Market Fundamentalism 2. Who pays for market fundamentalism? Theories of Gender & Development Women's Work as Defined by the Market: Neo-liberalism and Increasing Women's Employment Women's Invisible Contributions The Interventionist State versus Market Fundamentalism 3. Taiwan: Neo-Liberalism or Developmentalist State? Colonial History Modern Taiwan Women's Role in Taiwan's Economic Success 4. Indonesia: Paper Tiger, Asian Crisis Colonial History State Structure and Political Economy of Women's Role in the Economy 5. The Philippines: Exporting Women Is Good For Growth Colonial History Modern Filipino State Structure and Development Strategy Conclusion: Liberalization in Crisis Challenging Neo-Liberalist Assumptions APEC and the Unholy Marriage of Neo-Liberalism and Neo-Conservatism Neo-Liberalism in Crisis: Looking Into the Future Select Reading Index