The current global financial crisis is still unfolding. The developing Asia-Pacific region started to feel its impact deeply from the third quarter of 2008. It is still too early to comprehend the full social implications of the crisis. The following emerging trends, however, indicate that women could be affected significantly.
Labour intensive sectors early casualties: Low-skilled labour intensive manufacturing exports (the female-dominated industries) have been hit hard. Exports are declining rapidly in textiles, apparel and clothing, footwear, and electronics—an emerging trend across Asia. Other female dominated sectors, tourism and related services, are also affected. The burden is borne not only by women. Male-dominated industries, car and auto parts, and construction, have been equally hard hit. Several countries have experienced layoffs in financial services, information and communication technology (ICT)-based back-office services, and telemarketing. The gender composition of these sectors is fairly equal. As observed during other crises, the main casualty is the “flexible” labour force—low-skill, temporary, casual workers. Women constitute the majority of these workers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Impacts on migrant workers sector-specific: Overseas migrant workers are often hired as temporary workers, so they get dismissed first during economic downturns. Sufficient data is not available to discern clear trends. But press reports and other evidence lead to conclude that impacts would depend on the sector. Women workers are mostly engaged in skilled health care and education related activities; and low-skill intensive domestic care services and tourism. Since there is a conscious effort to protect social spending, especially the health budgets, in developed countries and the Middle East, job losses in these categories are expected to be low. But those engaged by private firms, private institutions and as domestic help would be more at risk.
Impacts on micro-credit still unfolding: Poor, in general, and women, in particular, are considered “subprime” borrowers by commercial banks. Having shunned by the formal banking sector, poor women largely rely on micro-credit facilities for financing their businesses and smoothing consumption during difficult times. Micro-credit institutions are largely funded by commercial banks and through aid. Commercial banks in most developing countries, faced with a global liquidity crisis, have significantly cut down on lending across the board. And there is early evidence from South Asia that the impacts are already felt on microfinance programs. Aid is expected to decline, and may exacerbate the problem.
High food prices add to the burden: While food prices have come down from the historical peaks observed in early-2008, the prices of many staples remain higher than the pre-food-price-crisis levels. This means that the poor face a “twin” crisis—high cost of food on which they spend around 60-80 per cent of their incomes; and the threat to their livelihoods from the still unfolding global financial crisis. Women, who have the responsibility to put food on the table, bear the brunt of the burden.
Excerpt from a statement by Shamika Sirimanne, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific for the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, Fifty-third session, New York, 2 – 13 March 2009
