Measuring Globalization: You’ve Come a Long Way, Maybe

Levels of globalization vs. women's well-being.

578019_091029_ComeLongWay5.jpg
578019_091029_ComeLongWay5.jpg

Some commentators suggest that women, by and large, benefit from globalization, as economic integration creates new job opportunities and higher salaries, often in foreign-owned firms. Others suggest that globalization creates mostly low-paid textile jobs for women in the developing world while pushing women out of increasingly competitive job markets in advanced economies. What is the real story?

Some commentators suggest that women, by and large, benefit from globalization, as economic integration creates new job opportunities and higher salaries, often in foreign-owned firms. Others suggest that globalization creates mostly low-paid textile jobs for women in the developing world while pushing women out of increasingly competitive job markets in advanced economies. What is the real story?

We compared results from the Globalization Index with the latest U.N. rankings in the Gender-related Development Index, which measures women’s well-being across a range of indicators, including health, literacy, access to education, and earned income, all adjusted to account for inequalities between men and women. The results show that, overall, women tend to be better off in countries that are the most globally integrated.

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