Importance of Policies Transformation
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 Men and women cannot interact positively with globalization, if the society has the proper economic, social, cultural and political policies.
 
► A positive and creative strategic interaction of gender and globalization is needed.
 
► Continuous and just economic growth stimulation policy is required.
 
► Promoting Social Dialogue on Macroeconomic Policy
 
► Mainstreaming gender in economic analysis and  economic governance.
 
►  Participation of more women  in discussions of economic analysis and policy design.
 
► Formulation of economic policy (UNIFEM  2000)
 
 

Towards Engendering National Economic Policy (Transforming Policies)
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 To promote different, more gender-sensitive approaches to economic policy: improving the economic literacy of women’s advocacy groups.
► Securing more participation by women in economic policy processes.
 
► Advocating a gender-sensitive approach to the design of economic recovery programs; training policy-makers to look at economic issues from a gender perspective.
 
► Undertaking research on the gendered impacts of macroeconomic policy at the local level
 
► Finding ways to “engender” macro economic analysis in a global economy
 
►  To have a women-led economic agenda focusing on economic self-sufficiency for women and men, equal opportunities in entrepreneurship, affordable health care for all and better ways of supporting people in combining family and work responsibilities
 
► Economic recovery programs should be designed in ways that directly support women’s incomes
 
 

Social Policies Proposed to Confront the Impact of Globalization
► Alleviating the negative impact on the poor and some of the more vulnerable groups, such as poor women, unemployed new graduates, those missed by the educational system, the elderly and the disabled, in addition to groups negatively affected by the privatization of public projects
 
► For short term policies, there must be an alleviation of the deprivation and poverty from which the most affected groups suffer, requiring recourse to social safety nets as among the fastest means to provide the minimum of life’s necessities and facilitating the process of bringing into being jobs suitable to the limited skills.
 
► In the medium term, social policies may focus on raising the capabilities and skills of the unemployed through training programs specially designed to address the new and changing requirements of the labor markets
 
► In the long term, social policies must be adopted that seek to put an end to the causes of the socio-economic imbalances and differences, whose acuteness is becoming more serious as a result of globalization (EL Khawaga, L. 1999: 18).
 
 
 

Continuous and just Economic Growth Stimulation Policy
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 The pursuit of economic policies that strive to achieve high rates of economic growth has become an urgent need in order to confront the negative consequences in each state.
► The more important issue is the “character” and the “content” of this growth and how to distribute its fruits in a just way that reduces the severity of the imbalances in the currently prevailing income distribution pattern.
 
 

A Policy Package to Achieve Equity
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 Policies should include a balanced social development that takes into account the wider social, cultural and political aspects, including cultural diversity to stimulate learning and innovation
► Development in the broadest sense also requires an enabling political environment. All individuals must be able to have a say in the decisions affecting their lives
 
► Domestic policies should can have a strong bearing on the relationship between globalization and social progress
 
► Linking growth to human development requires a massive political restructuring of economic and political power.
 
► Expansion in human choices may require massive redistribution of income and wealth programs, bank credit to the poor, a major expansion of universal social services ,and equalization of access and opportunities.
 
►  People should be moved to center stage of development and progress
 
► Equity, sustainability, democracy, productivity and empowerment are the paradigms to be used for evaluating the implications of globalization.
 
► Equitable access of opportunities is needed

Increasing productivity is an essential component of the human development paradigm.
 
 

Social Safety Nets
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 A well-functioning social safety net serves two complementary purposes to ensure the fair distribution of the gains and costs associated with globalization and economic restructuring to strengthen worker's support for the reform process
 
► In the absence of a social safety net, workers' opposition to economic restructuring is strong social safety net that can include unemployment benefits, training programs for displaced workers and public assistance schemes in the form of family allowances and cash transfers
 
► Government action is needed to improve the efficiency of social safety nets and welfare programs through improved targeting to the poor
 
 
 

Gender Equality
► Equality under the law, equality of opportunity and equality of voice
 
► Improving gender equality to empower women and to release their vast under-used energy and creativity is priority
 
► Action is needed for setting a firm timetable to end legal discrimination and establishing a framework for the promotion of legal equality; implementing key programs for universal female education, improved reproductive health and more credit for women and mobilizing national and international efforts to target programs that enable men and women to gain greater access to economic and political opportunities.
 
► Measures that increase women's voice in politics and policymaking can have far-reaching implications for gender equality. (UNIFEM  2000)
 
 
 

More Resources
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 Black, E. Sandra and Elizabeth Brainerd (2002) "Importing Equality? The Impact of Globalization on Gender Discrimination"  (Massachusetts: National Bureau of Economic Research)
► El-Khawaga, Leila Ahmed (2000) "Globalization, Social Policies and Labor Markets in Arab Countries: Concepts and Correlations" Paper presented as part of the The Special Unit for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (SU/TCDC), UNDP initiative:" Managing the Risks of Globalization: A South-South Exchange on the Role of Social Policies" It was first presented at a workshop co-organized by the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS)  held in Beirut 9-10 October, 2000
 
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Köhler, Horst (2003) Toward a Better Globalization Inaugural Lecture on the Occasion of the Honorary Professorship Award at the Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen. (Tübingen: Eberhard Karls University)
 
► Benería, Lourdes (1995) Toward a Greater Integration of Gender in Economics in World Development 23:11, pp.1839-1850