For further discussions of globalization and its effects on women's work and health, please read pages 198 to 206 of chapter eight of the text. We also have a video of Violeta Krasnić of the Global Fund for Women commenting on economics and women's work. I started working against the gender based violence over there at about 20 something years ago, it was even before we called this issues violations of women's human rights. My parents are of different nationalities. I studied psychology, I found my political refuge, my political stronghold, the place where I developed my political views and perspective at the Economist Women's Center which was a feminist organization at the beginning of the 90s, actually a guarantee of the Global Fund for Women. And so, for seven or eight years during the 90s throughout the 90s, I work against violence, militarism, nationalism. Anything and everything that goes wrong and is wrong with Serbia and the Balkans. I've been in the States for 15 years. I came here to continue my education. I was in New York for 12 years, now in San Francisco for three. The other day somebody runs into me and says, "What's happening with your country?" I'm like, "what's happening with my country?" He says, "the war." And I'm like you know, "Serbia is a little bit of a crazy country. It starts wars on a moment's notice," am like, "I'm reading the news, I don't know. " He says, "You know, the bombing of the hospital and all the children killed," and am like "Syria, not Serbia." So just to distinguish on those two points, I'm from Serbia but because then also wanted me to talk about these various regions that oversee, I started at the Global Fund for women three years ago as the program director for Europe and Central Asia. And then earlier this year, they asked me to add the portfolio of the Middle East and North Africa. At which point I said that's double, they say," it's doable." I said, "you're spelling it wrong." And so, now I'm really having extraordinary great pleasure to oversee a grant making in our programs to advance women's rights in these two regions, so I will be drawing on those experiences and others while I'm talking to you today about women in economy and I invite you to draw on your experience. We always talk about prospect of collaboration in Armenia, to bring in your views on these topics. The topics today, even though we say women in economy, are really about resources which then means it's really about the power. And If I am to summarize the whole lecture in one phrase, ending poverty or lifting women out of poverty or supporting them to overcome poverty really means empowering them, empowering them for where they sit and who they are as well as for the various roles that they have in their communities. That's part one. Ending poverty is about empowerment. Part two is, there is no cookie cutter approach to empowerment. There is no magic wand. Had there been one, I hope people have discovered by now there are various forces that shape on a timeline and in geographic areas that shape women's circumstances in terms of access to resources and the ability to exercise economic opportunities. So, empowerment does not come in one single package, we are going to be talking about the forces that shape the circumstances of women when it comes to the economy and we're are going to be talking about the activities of various actors, including for instance, non-governmental organizations. To enable women to live life in peace, and dignity and in justice, also when it comes to money and livelihood. So, just to contextualize a little bit exactly what I have just said, if you imagine that my name is Munira and that I am born as a Roma girl, also known as gypsies in Roma communities in Europe is actually the largest ethnic or cultural minority. If I'm born as a Roma girl in a ghetto somewhere on the outskirts of many towns throughout central, south, western or eastern Europe, chances are that my health would be really poor. Because first and foremost, the unsanitary conditions that my family lives in, probably very small and very dirty room without heat and electricity very often. Which is due to the segregation of Romani communities, which is due to the stigma and hatred. And if my health is poor, that also means that my family is not in position to access health care for themselves. But even if there is access, it's probably going to be female members of the household that do not have a chance to go to the primary health care or any specialists. If they end up, if my mother end up going to OB/GYN and I actually after finding money to pay for it, chances are that she might be actually advised or even forcibly sterilized. I might be the last child in my family because once my mother gave birth to me as a Roma girl, she might have been forcefully forced to, I mean she might have been sterilized unknown to her. Just because she's Roma, just because she's the "other" in Europe. If I'm Munira and I'm a Roma girl and I'm about 10 years old, just like my daughter, chances are I would be nearing the end of my education. It would be the expectations for me to get out of the school pretty much by sixth or seventh grade and take care of the of the extended family. Extended family also because my mother didn't have access, or for that matter, information about contraception or money to pay for those. I would be expected to marry early, I would be expected to bear a lot of children myself. If I would try to work outside of the community, I would not be given a job. I could call and say, "hey do you need a cleaner?" And they would say, "yeah come" and I would show up and my skin would be dark in comparison to the skins of the color of the majority community and I would not be given that job even that low paid informal economy and all the things that we're going to be talking about job. If, for instance, my name is Maria and I'm the member of that majority community, chances are that for instance if I have two older brothers, I would probably go to primary and secondary maybe even farther, maybe even to college maybe even to you know, to master's degree. But the thing is that, there is likelihood that I would end up having a degree in education or you know, be a teacher which is a beautiful profession, but because for instance two of my older brothers ended up doing medicine or law or whatever, there would be an expectation for a girl to go into one particular only one particular career path which is more, “ suitable to women. ” Which then usually means lower wages. Even with my master's in education, if I can, when I get the job I would be paid less. And suppose that I overcome all those various challenges and impediments, you know, there is not a very high likelihood that I would be expected to be a director of my firm and even if I get there, there would not be any documentation to be on the boards. Any sorts of boards, corporate boards, educational boards, because those two stories that am telling you and the third one and I'm going to tell you right now, is about resources but more also about the power. If my name is Mariam and I'm an elderly Jordanian woman somewhere in the village close by Amman, if I'm in my 60s, chances are I would not have healthcare, social welfare or pension because even though for my whole life I've worked at the family farm, and cared for all of my children and all of the family members. And right now, I'm actually taking care of the little ones so that other women in the family can go work. In my 60s, I most likely would not have all those benefits because I was never employed and I never worked. And that would put me in another vulnerable position. So these are the stories, as I just mentioned to tell you, that power to your economy is about resources but it's also about power and in sense of solving it is about empowerment. In a way, even though it might have come across as a story of never ending dead ends, the first sentence that, you know, the first item am starting with is that women's role and place in economy is defined by discrimination and gender equality, creating impediments for full realization of women's potentials, opportunities and rights in almost every aspect and at every stage of their lives. Over 1.7 billion people live in absolute poverty, that means without access to water, sanitation, transportation etc. And 70 percent of those people are women. If it's only about poverty in terms of access to resources, then it should have been 50/50. It must be that there is something else in play, not just access or other liability. Women work two thirds of the world's working hours. Again, it should be at least 50/50. Now at play we have various gender role expectations and some of those I highlighted in my stories. As you saw from your readings, is that it's not only about the working hours in the formal economy or in the wage economy, it's also about the labor that sustains life; growing food, cooking, raising children, caring for the elderly, maintaining a house, hauling water, majority of that, almost all of that is done by women. And, the same time this has recorded almost no pay or low pay in those states. Women earn only 10 percent of the world income, now we are getting into this real area of injustice and inequality. And just in comparison of an unrelated point that I wanted to share with you, is that women owned less than one percent of the world's property. So, if you start from you know, who lives in poverty and how many hours of work is spent and what's the income for you know, for the trajectory as such then it's not a surprise at the end of the day women were first of all, not entering the markets with property and at the end of the day, not being able to actually gain property. And it's not just, It's astonishing statistics but even at that level, you know, you can connect it to so many different aspects of women's lives because there is analysis thesis that says, the women who own their own houses are one twentieth. That would be like five, only five percent likely in comparison to women who don't own houses to be victims of intimate partner violence.
