Midterm

Question 1

What is gender ideology? Define gender norms.

Answer 1

Gender ideology is a system of thoughts and values that legitimize gender roles, statuses,
and behavior. (Foot binding, occupational segregation)
Gender norms splitting the world into male and female realms. Higher value to male
realm. Prescribes what is an appropriate behavior based on gender

Question 2

How is globalization defined?

Answer 2

Integration in all spheres (economic, political, cultural etc)

Question 3

Describe the key features of social provisioning?

Answer 3

Social provisioning highlights the interdependence or social embeddedness of economic
processes. All the economic activities occur in a social and institutional context - cultural
values, class/ power relations, norms, ideologies.
Human society is organized by both market and non-market activities.
draws attention toward notions of sustenance, cooperation, and support.
social provisioning emphasizes the importance of social norms in affecting both the
process and the outcome of economic processes

Question 4

What does it mean to say that human agency is important?

Answer 4

Recognition of power differences

Question 5

Why is the autonomy assumption problematic for feminist economists?
denies human connectedness such as empathy, altruism, benevolence in Adam Smith.

Answer 5

Agents can require both autonomy and connectedness

Question 6

What is the problem with the assumption that levels of utility cannot be compared across
individuals?

Answer 6

We can’t compare which of the two persons (or groups) gain more from a given
exchange. We can’t analyze redistribution policies.

Question 7

What is a soluble self?

Answer 7

characterized by connectedness, altruism, and emotion

Question 8

What is wrong with assuming that individuals make rational decisions?

Answer 8

Experimental economics demonstrate that humans often do not behave rationally.
People make heuristic decisions, and they lead to cognitive biases preventing people from
making rational decisions.
A broader conceptualization would be based on reasonableness (Adam Smith). It would
incorporate the role of emotions (Keynes- animal spirits)

Question 9

What is the critique of neo-classical methods by feminist economists?

Answer 9

Mathematics, and statistical methods are used.
These methods are assumed to presume “objectivity”.
Feminist view that use of formal tools on their own would not bring objectivity.

Question 10

Why is neutrality in science not possible?

Answer 10

Theories are value, interest and culture laden.

Question 11

What is wrong with the idea that methods make science neutral (objective)?

Answer 11

Method is supposed to operationalize neutrality and thus achieve objectivist standards.
* However, it comes into play after a problem is identified as a scientific one, a hypothesis
and a research design have already been selected.
* Culture-wide assumptions shape the design of the research and therefore the methods,
and what counts as important research.

Question 12

What are the sectors where women do more of the unpaid work? Explain

Answer 12

Subsistence, informal, household and volunteer.
Subsistence production: It includes activities such as such as cultivation of backyard
vegetables, forestry and fishing. These are marketable goods, that are not exchanged in the
markets.
Informal labor: It includes activities ranging from underground production of good and
services, to street vendors. Ranges from self-employment to contributing family workers in
small registered or unregistered enterprises.
Household work: “reproductive work”: reproducing present and future work force.
“care work”: set of activities and relations involved in meeting the physical and
emotional requirements of dependents and children.

Question 13

Why count?

Answer 13

• Unpaid care important contributor to building capabilities and promoting wellbeing over
  time.
• Creates disadvantages (costs) for caregiver-depletion of human capital
• Need to measure if to make the case for policy to reconcile paid and unpaid work (value
  it)
• Crucial for engendering macroeconomic policies and budgets.
• Improve labor force statistics.
• Enables us to understand shortfalls of well-being due to time poverty or intensification of
  work.
• GNP statistics

Question 14

What are the ways in which unpaid work has been measured so far?

Answer 14

Specialized, globalized substitute, opportunity cost.

Question 15

What are the objections to the accounting project? (theoretical, waste of time, care work is
qualitatively different)- explain each.

Answer 15

They are
Theoretical objections
Women regard their work as activities of love
Any imputation of monetary value is not consistent with modern economics-price is
established in markets.
A waste of time
There are methodological and practical problems.
Fear that once measured the results might not improve women’s lives-glorify the
housewife.
* Care work is qualitatively different
* It might not be the best way to appreciate women’s work.
* Imputing monetary value opens up caregiving to the norms of the markets-
* Quality of care given by different people might be different.
* Marketization (self-interest, individualism) not compatible with care-work (generous,
emotional)

Question 16

Explain global substation method.

Answer 16

Suppose you hire one domestic servant. Use her pay
rate and multiply the hours of unpaid work with that pay rate.

Question 17

In the article unfolding patterns, it is found that men do less unpaid work then women after
controlling for other variables. What is the interpretation of this?

Answer 17

Structural, institutional and cultural factors are behind the gender gap.

Question 18

There are two approaches to how women’s participation in the labor force affect violence
against her. What are they and what are the hypothesis of each?

Answer 18

a) Intrahousehold bargaining models. Having work economically empowers women and
shifts their threat points to tolerate less violence because they have less need for
financial support. Thus, having paid employment would decrease violence against
women.
b) Male backlash models. Men respond to women’s economic empowerment because
they see it as a threat to their power and masculinity. Thus, paid employment would
increase violence against women.

Question 19

What is gender inequality?

Answer 19

Power difference

Question 20

Why concern with gender inequality?

Answer 20

A. intrinsic, i.e. morally right. b) instrumental, fosters
child survival etc.

Question 21

What are the costs of inequality?

Answer 21

Short term: lower current levels of productivity
Next generation
Lack of/limited agency of women undermines improvements in institutions, policy
choices.

Question 22

What are the know factors that explain gender wage gap?

Answer 22

Occupation, industry, labor force
experience. Union, race/ethnicity. Education is a mitigating factor

Question 23

What are the factors that lead to gender gap in wealth?

Answer 23

Wage disparities,
Job segregation,
Caregiving burdens
Lower levels of financial knowledge
mortgage
Women owned business
Disadvantages of lower income women: not benefitting from saving and tax incentives, being
trapped in a cycle of dept

Question 24

Sen’s 7 inequalities

Answer 24

mortality, natality, basic facility, special opportunity, professional,
asset, household work, agency.

Question 25

Why does UNICEF, an organization that advocates for children, monitor women’s rights?

Answer 25

The intergenerational dividends of gender equality
gender equality is essential to creating a world of peace, equity, tolerance, security, freedom
and shared responsibility, which are essential for children

Question 26

According to the WB what would gender equality enhance?

Answer 26

a) Productivity gains
b) Improved outcomes for the next generation: Greater control over household resources by
women can enhance countries’ growth prospects by changing spending patterns in ways
that benefit children.
c) Improvements in women’s own education and health also have positive impacts on
children’s health and education, as well as brining additional benefits.

Question 27

How is agency defined?

Answer 27

Agency is about one’s ability to make choices— and to transform them into desired
actions and outcomes.

Question 28

State what each of the following indices focus on: Gender development index, Gender
inequality index, Global gender gap index, Social institutions and gender index, Gender
empowerment index

Answer 28

• Gender development index focuses on health education and income
• Gender inequality index focuses on health, political participation and labor force
  participation.
• Global gender gap index focuses on economic participation and opportunity, educational
  attainment, health, and political empowerment.
• Social institutions and gender index focus on things such as ownership, marriage patterns.
• Gender empowerment index focuses on political participation and income

Question 29

In order to assess whether there is a convergence of historical gender inequality index
among countries the following equation is estimated.

Answer 29

• Explained variable: Growth rate of HGEI:
  HGEI (decade)- HGEI (previous decade)/ HGEI (previous decade)
• Explanatory variables:
  HGEI (previous decade), GDP, political structure indicator, % education expenditure,
  participation in international gender-equity initiatives, religion variables, family structure
  variables, continent indicators, legal system indicators.
  The results show that
  The Coefficient estimate of lagged HGEI: -0.272
  Standard error of HGEI: 0.064
  a) What does this mean statistically?
  t statistic: absolute value of (-0.272/0.064) = 4.25
  Because it is greater than 2, the result is estimated statistically significantly.
  b) What is the interpretation of this finding in terms of HGEI?
  Once institutional and cultural variables are controlled for, conditional convergence is
  found.

Question 30

What are the assumptions of the neoclassical division of model?

Answer 30

Members make informed and rational decisions to maximize the economic well-being of the
family (i.e maximizing utility function).
Economic well- being is maximized by selecting a combination of commodities.
The commodities available can be produced at home or purchased in the markets by using the
time spent in doing market work.
Family members have given preferences, and preferences are the same for the members (ie.
There is only one utility function, the family utility function to be maximized). This eliminates
all potential conflict or power differences in the family.
Individuals in the family may be relatively better at producing either the house good or
producing to purchase market goods. This is given.

Question 31

What determines the DOL?

Answer 31

Comparative Advantage
3) What is an important limitation of this model?
There is no learning to change comparative advantage.

Question 32

What is symmetry?

Answer 32

Equal bargaining power.

Question 33

Without deriving the equations, write down the solution to the bargaining problem with
symmetric bargaining power and explain it intuitively.

Answer 33

W gets x = ½ (1 - VW – VM) + VW
M gets 1-x= ½ (1 - VW – VM) + VM
Intuition: The amount bargained over is (1 - VW – VM)
Recall that they are sharing 1 unit.
But each will have to get their fall back option no matter what.
It is divided equally because they have the same bargaining power.

Question 34

What determines that outcome when there is symmetry?

Answer 34

Fall back positions.

Question 35

When there no symmetry what determines the outcome

Answer 35

Bargaining power and fallback positions.

Question 36

What are Sen’s criticisms of the Nash bargaining assumptions? Explain

Answer 36

Well defined objective utility functions- well-being. Capabilities approach may be more helpful
and informative.
Individuals have clear and unambiguous perception of their interests. According to Sen, women,
especially in developing countries have limited perception of their well-being since they view
themselves as part of the family unit and their care for others leaves little room for having an
independent sense of their own interests, needs and well-being.
Perceived productive contribution of each member to the family is left out. Women’s
perceptions of their contributions to the household might be less visible to themselves and to
others around them compared to wage labor.

Question 37

What are feminist criticisms of Sen’s approach?

Answer 37

Agarwal (1997): factor affecting women’s bargaining position go beyond the household to
include norms market institutions community.
Women lacking self-interest (not perceiving their self-interest) is criticized.
Critics argued that paid work is important but may not be sufficient to give women a greater say
in the household.
participation of women in paid work does not necessarily ensure higher survival chances of
women.
The notion of the capitalist workplace as free of patriarchal relations with Sen’s emphasis on
gainful work outside the household has been challenged.
The trend in India’s sex ratio at birth also challenges Sen’s argument in favor of women’s
education as a tool for strengthening women’s agency and bargaining power within the
household.

Question 38

What is the impact of currency devaluations on women, why?

Answer 38

Currency devaluation makes domestic goods cheaper for foreigners increasing the demand for
domestic countries exports. Hence the country’s exports increase.
It makes foreign goods more expansive for the domestic economy. The increase in the price of
imported goods increases the average prices in the domestic economy.
Developing country exports are in sectors that rely on unskilled labor and hence women are
heavily employed in those sectors. When exports increase employment opportunities for women
increase.
Increases domestic prices leads to the production of some of those goods at home, thus the
burden of unpaid work by women increases.

Question 39

What is the source of gender inequality?

Answer 39

Power differences.

Question 40

How is inequality conceptualized?

Answer 40

Equality of opportunity or Equality of outcome

Question 41

Why are some people concerned with gender inequality? Give examples.

Answer 41

Intrinsic reasons, such as it is a human right. Instrumental reasons, such as gender equality leads
to economic growth.

Question 42

Compare feminist economics views with neoclassical views on the following:
what is considered economic activity, measure of economic success, human agency,
ethical judgments. How do feminist economists counter on homo economicus?

Answer 42

The household is a locus of economic activity. Versus only market activities
Measure of economic success: promotion of well-being of individuals. Versus efficiency
Human agency is important. This means questions of power, unequal access to power are part of
the analysis from the beginning. vs. atomistic agents interact only via price signals, none has
power over others in determining outcomes
Ethical judgments are valid, inescapable, and desirable. vs. economics is value free, values
contaminate economics
Gender-aware, but also class-, race-/ethnicity aware. Versus homo economicus

Question 43

nstitutionalist economists are in favor of imposing labor standards: include
prohibition of child labor, forced labor, and discrimination, union rights. What is their
rationale for it?

Answer 43

Economic rationale: increasing compliance with labor standards- improved labor productivity,
greater political stability.

Question 44

How do mainstream economics challenge imposition of labor standards? Give
one reason

Answer 44

labor market regulation will lead to job losses
raising wages will lead to a slowdown of employment growth
tapping into comparative advantage which would eventually bring better working condition and
would even help root out gender gaps

Question 45

It is argued that earnings of garment workers in EPZs compared with those in
alternative jobs are far superior the other earning in the local economy. How do feminists
challenge this view? Make 2 points

Answer 45

higher earnings of garment workers relative to other wage workers is due to extremely long
hours of garment workers. Long hours is not a choice, but due to necessities
Managers raise targets each time they are met. Workers fall behind, forced overtime.
Verbal and physical abuse if hourly production targets are not met
They get very few days off from work.
significant gender wage gap: 48-85%, and women’s wages are more likely to fall below
minimum wage.
Delayed payment of monthly earnings
Adverse health outcomes, greater stress

Question 46

The goal of a study is to analyze the impact of work, and time poverty on
mental health of men and women.

Answer 46

Mental health (MH) variable is created from underlying symptoms. The higher values of
mental health indicates worsening mental health.
There are two work variables, paid (PW) and unpaid work (UW) hours.
Time poverty (TP) is a dummy variable that takes the value of 1 if total work hours (paid
and unpaid total) exceeds 68 hours per week, and it is zero otherwise.
The estimated equation is as follows
MH= a1+ a2 (PW)+ a3 UW + a4 TP+ (other variables and an error term)
a’s indicate parameter to be estimated.
The equation is estimated separately for men and women. The results are as follows (The
standard error are reported in parenthesis.)
Women Men
Paid work 0.04
(0.01)
0.9
(0.2)
Unpaid work 0.329
(0.008)
0.01
(0.08)
Time poverty 0.5
(0.01)
0.2
(0.9)
Interpret the results statistically.
To do that we need to calculate the t-statistics, which is the absolute value of the division of the
coefficient estimate with the standard error. As a rule of thumb, if it is greater than 2, the
variable has a statistically significant impact on the explained variable.
t-statistic for women is greater than 2, meaning that TP worsens women’s MH. But TP does not
have a statistically significant impact on men’s MH.
All the variables are statistically significant for women, meaning that their mental health
deteriorates with their work burden and due to that having time poverty.
For men, only paid work is statistically significant.
Overall, the picture that emerges is that due to their unpaid work, women have a greater
workload deteriorating their mental health.

Question 47

What theoretical reasons are given for trade openness leading to feminization?

Answer 47

Neoclassical explanation- comparative advantage (Hecksher-Ohlin model). Less skill workers
are abundant, and women are less skilled.
Heterodox explanation-absolute advantage: firms compete for export market share based on unit
costs and prefer women because of their wages being low.

Question 48

Female share of employment is estimated as a function of
manufacturing value added/total manufacturing employment, among other variables.
The results are as follows: Coefficient: -.208, standard error: 0.019
What is the economic interpretation of this finding?

Answer 48

Manufacturing value added/total manufacturing employment measures labor productivity. The
result indicates that as labor productivity increases female share of employment decreases.
This negative relation implies that women are preferred for labor-intensive work (labor market
segmentation). It also implies that they lose out when production becomes more capital
intensive or when industries upgrade their products or processes.

Question 49

What are the feminist arguments for counting and valuing unpaid work? List
three.

Answer 49

Creates disadvantages (costs) for caregiver-depletion of human capital
Creates time poverty
Need to measure if to make the case for policy to reconcile paid and unpaid work (value it)
Crucial for engendering policy making
Improve participation in economic activity measurements.
Unpaid work is not measured in GNP statistics