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Globalization is Sexist : The Women's Forum is the Proof!
Québec City. Tuesday, April 17, 2001. - Gathered at Salle Ex Machina on April 16, 2001, for an all-day forum on women and globalization, 250 women from the Americas rapidly made the following observation: globalization is unjust because it encourages the concentration of wealth; it is racist because it exploits the people in the global South in particular; and it is sexist because its negative effects are felt by women above all, to say nothing of their children.
Close to 40 Latin American women spoke at length about their working and living conditions: the infernal pace and sexual harassment in the maquidaloras; rising unemployment in small businesses where women are the majority; major obstacles to unionization; and virtually sole responsibility for children and the family, resulting in long days of invisible and unpaid work. Food insecurity; budget cuts in education-posing additional barriers to the education of girls-and in health-reducing accessibility to women and families in particular-an increase in sex trafficking of women and girls. . . . the list of globalization's impact on women and children is very long.
The participants in the women's forum are particularly opposed to the commercialization of the lives and bodies of women and of all human beings. The trend toward commercialization of everything that lives, breathes, feels and thinks is deplorable. It alienates human beings, deprives them of freedom and justice and places them at the mercy of all the unscrupulous businessmen who are multiplying in an ever more voracious market. Women denounce with equal vigour the arms merchants whose proliferation is encouraging the eruption of conflict that otherwise could be resolved through dialogue. Finally, they are alert to the situation of Indigenous peoples who have too often been stripped of their lands, traditions and rights.
Consequently, the participants in the women's forum call on the leaders at the Summit of the Americas to respond favourably to the repeated demands of women for a veritable dialogue to take place between leaders and the people they say they represent. Women demand to take active part in this dialogue and refuse to be treated as second class citizens by heads of State. They will be active and vigilant throughout the Peoples' Summit to ensure that their voices are heard and the final statement of the Summit reflects their concerns.
Women of the Americas are intimately concerned with the well-being of the populations affected by the free-trade agreements. Their voices are strong, thoughtful and combative. They deserve to be heard.
Women's Committee of the Hemispheric Social Alliance
Latin American Women's Network for Economic Transformation
Gender and Free Trade Network
World March of Women in the Americas
World March of Women team
Last modified 2006-04-11 04:18 PM
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