Globalization Hits Home

Much work on globalization has focused on the disruption of local and national economies in the global south. Corporate globalization has powerful effects in the US as well. Women who are economically displaced by globalization migrate to the US where, as low-wage workers in informal and unregulated industries, they face exploitative, unsafe and often abusive working conditions. The ideology and practices of corporate globalization have direct parallels in national policies that cosset corporations while stripping the public sector, undermining health, housing, childcare, welfare and education. The hyper-militarism that serves as the enforcer of US global dominance distorts both the national budget and the national culture, underfunding programs for women and children while exposing women to heightened domestic and sexual violence. This presentation will address some of the effects of globalization on women in the US, with particular emphasis on women of color.