This is the minds on icon.

The gallery below shows contrasts of Chinese and Soviet propaganda posters from the early - mid 20th century with images of industrialization’s negative impacts, including starvation and genocide.



In Unit 3 you learned about Karl Marx’s idea of communism. In the 20th century, the Soviet Union (USSR) and China experimented with interpretations of Marxism on a massive scale, with mixed consequences. On the one hand, the USSR’s policies helped it avoid the worst elements of the Great Depression of the 1930s. On the other, grandiose policies of rapid industrialization and collectivization of agriculture created large urban centres starving for food.

You also learned about the social and economic impact of industrialization in the 19th century.  Both China and the USSR were examples of a command economy, a new model of economic and political systems that came out of the industrialization of the 19th century. A command economy is an economic system in which production, investment, prices, and incomes are determined centrally by a government. They are usually part of a communist political system, but not always. For example, China is still a communist political system but economically moving away from a command economy in the 21st century.

This is the discussion icon. Impacts of Industrialization and Ideology

What do these propaganda posters and images reveal about life in a 20th century communist dictatorship? What impacts did this form of industrialization have on these societies?

This is the action icon.

You have learned about the consequences of cultural exchanges and industrialization in various regions of the world. In this activity, you will learn about the impact of globalization and industrialization on the 20th century in selected topic areas.

  1. Globalization and the Arts
  2. USSR and China: Early Consequences of Industrialization
  3. USSR and the United States: Space Race
  4. China: Unintended Consequences of Industrialization and Globalization
  5. Women’s rights in a globalized world

For “Globalization and the Arts” and one other topic of your choice, answer the topic questions along with the following:

  • Is industrialization and globalization creating a better world?
  • Who is experiencing progress? Who is experiencing decline?
  • What policies are needed to address the issues created by globalization and industrialization?

Globalization and the Arts

Section 1: Introduction

Globalization is a term to describe the increased connections between countries around the world through trade, movement of money, and technology.

The world we live in now is so highly defined by globalization that many people have come to see it as the norm. We eat foods from other cultures, we communicate with people all over the world through social media, we buy products from many other countries, and our resources are shipped all around the world to power other countries’ development.

Section 2: The World Trade Organization

Proponents of globalization, such as the World Trade Organization (established in 1995), see trade as the key to prosperity. Here is an excerpt from the WTO’s self-description on their website in 2016:

“The system’s overriding purpose is to help trade flow as freely as possible — so long as there are no undesirable side-effects — because this is important for economic development and well-being. That partly means removing obstacles. It also means ensuring that individuals, companies and governments know what the trade rules are around the world, and giving them the confidence that there will be no sudden changes of policy. In other words, the rules have to be “transparent” and predictable.”

It is no wonder that China, isolated from the world economy during most of its twentieth century history under communism, rallied to join the organization in 2001.

Section 3: Globalization or appropriation?

Now that the world is so undeniably connected, for good or for bad, what does that do to culture? Living in Canada, it is very obvious that we are heavily influenced by American culture. This has happened to other countries, too, so we often hear of westernization, or Americanization. However, we are also influenced by other aspects of global culture.  Art forms that were once unique to a specific region now transcend national boundaries. For example, hip hop started in 1970s New York when DJ Kool Herc combined sounds from the Caribbean and disco, a popular genre at the time. Today, hip hop spans the globe, as demonstrated by artists like Drunken Tiger (Korea), Davido (Nigeria), and Reddnation (Canada - First Nations). Conversely, individual artists have been heavily influenced by their interactions with other cultures. Two of the most influential experiences for the Beatles occurred while they lived elsewhere: they developed their rock and roll personas by playing nightly in Hamburg, Germany, and completely re-imagined their sound on a long sojourn in India.

As with any major issue, there are different perspectives on the pros and cons of globalization. Chinese artist Ai Wei Wei has become famous for his interpretations of how global culture has affected Chinese culture. He often meshes together aspects of east and west in unexpected and provocative ways.

This 2015 video attempts to explain the difference between globalization, cultural influences and cultural appropriation. What are some of the hallmarks of good and bad cultural appropriation according to the author? The video is produced by Quartz, who, according to their website is “a digitally native news outlet, born in 2012, for business people in the new global economy.” How might their perspective influence their definitions? What other perspectives are possible?

This is the discussion icon. Globalization and the Arts

Find an example of globalization in the arts, from 1900 to the present. It could be a piece of art, music, film, drama, dance, visual art or fashion. Explain why it is considered globalized art, and explain what it reveals to us about the world at the time it was created.

For a more in-depth look at issues around cultural appropriation and globalization, please see this 2015 article from The Atlantic.

The following websites might be useful if you choose to conduct research about a genre or an artist:

This is a screenshot from a website, musicmap.info. It shows varying sizes of bars in the middle, each one labeled as a different genre of music. One bar, rock and roll, is sub-divided into categories such as contemporary alternative, punk, new wave, etc. Above the bars there are circles showing other categories such as utility, folk, classical, world.

Musicmap in an interactive database that visualizes the relationships between genres and sub-genres of modern music

this is a screen shot of a website, that shows names of bands, such as Queen, The Beach Boys, Bob Marley. It says that the closer the names of the artists are, the more likely the person is to like both. For instance, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin are very close together.

Music-Map provides an interactive, searchable web based on whichever artist the user enters.

this is a screenshot of a website called All Music. The headline article is titled “Jake Shimabakuro Embraces the Unknown on ‘Nashville Session.’” The picture shows a young man with a guitar case. The site also has icons for featured new releases.

Searching for an artist on AllMusic and then choosing “related” will allow you to see their influences. By continually viewing subsequent artists and their influences, viewers can see the connections between a current hip hop star and a 1920s blues performer.

USSR and China: Early Consequences of Industrialization

Section 1: Introduction

When Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were writing about communism as a political philosophy in the 1800s they could not predict how their writings would be implemented. They expected that revolutions would occur in places like England, due to its relatively homogeneous culture, urbanized population, and industrialized centres. Yet, communist revolutions occurred in Russia and China, two states with many ethnicities, rural populations, and limited industrialization. In both cases, however, authoritarian political systems quickly developed, putting all power in the hands of one political party.

It is somewhat ironic that even though industrialization developed in capitalist economies, it was taken to such extremes in communist, command economies. Joseph Stalin (leader of the Soviet Union from the 1930s to 1953) developed the Five Year Plan to achieve the dual goals of centralizing the economy under the Communist government and spreading industrialization. All aspects of the economy were under government control, largely facilitated by the abolition of private property. Mao Tse Tung followed the same plan in trying to industrialize China, though he was much less successful. In the Great Leap Forward (1958 to 1961), Mao was trying to get a largely rural population to contribute to China’s industrialization, often through the misguided practice of encouraging “backyard furnaces” to produce steel. These often failed. On a large scale, the policy of diverting food from the countryside led to a massive famine.

Steel-making furnaces that were installed in the yards of communes. People often lacked skills or fuel to produce steel in these furnaces, but were still expected to produce it for the state

Section 2: China’s Great Shame

This is an editorial on China’s famine by Yang Jisheng, journalist and author of Tombstone: The Great Chinese Famine, 1958-1962. Think about how economics, technology and ideology interact in this account.

THIRTY-SIX million people in China, including my uncle, who raised me like a father, starved to death between 1958 and 1962, during the man-made calamity known as the Great Famine. In thousands of cases, desperately hungry people resorted to cannibalism.

The toll was more than twice the number of fallen in World War I, and about six times the number of Ukrainians starved by Stalin in 1932-33 or the number of Jews murdered by Hitler during World War II.

After 50 years, the famine still cannot be freely discussed in the place where it happened. My book “Tombstone” could be published only in Hong Kong, Japan and the West. It remains banned in mainland China, where historical amnesia looms large and government control of information and expression has tightened during the Communist Party’s 18th National Congress, which began last week and will conclude with a once-in-a-decade leadership transition.

Those who deny that the famine happened, as an executive at the state-run newspaper People’s Daily recently did, enjoy freedom of speech, despite their fatuous claims about “three years of natural disasters.” But no plague, flood or earthquake ever wrought such horror during those years. One might wonder why the Chinese government won’t allow the true tale to be told, since Mao’s economic policies were abandoned in the late 1970s in favor of liberalization, and food has been plentiful ever since.

The reason is political: a full exposure of the Great Famine could undermine the legitimacy of a ruling party that clings to the political legacy of Mao, even though that legacy, a totalitarian Communist system, was the root cause of the famine. As the economist Amartya Sen has observed, no major famine has ever occurred in a democracy.

Section 3: The Holodomor

The people of Ukraine also suffered due to state-sponsored famine. Holodomor, or “Hunger-Extermination”, was the result of a USSR policy, which many historians believe was designed to punish Ukraine for resistance. While not every state recognizes Holodomor as genocide, the following excerpt from UNESCO’s 2007 General Conference outlines the world’s view:

In the former Soviet Union millions of men, women and children fell victims to the cruel actions and policies of the totalitarian regime. The Great Famine of 1932-1933 in Ukraine (Holodomor) took from 7 million to 10 million innocent lives and became a national tragedy for the Ukrainian people..

The following video provides staggering statistics about the loss of life during the Holodomor. Was this an impact of industrialization? Which groups progressed? Which declined?

This is the ePortfolio icon. 20th Century Technology, Economics and Ideology

China and the USSR started massive programs that were “new courses of action”, and that were also designed to bridge the gaps between each nation and its competitors. How were economics, technology and ideology interrelated factors in each nation’s actions?

USSR and the United States: Technology, Industrialization, and the Space Race

Section 1: Introduction

Industrialization, despite its human pitfalls, was not a failure in the Soviet Union. In 1957 the Soviet Union was the first country to launch an artificial satellite, Sputnik, that orbited the earth. The launch completely surprised the United States. The US administration tried to catch up by developing its own space program. The result was a space race that was technological in appearance but political in nature/motive. At the height of the Cold War, neither superpower wanted to appear weaker or less advanced than its enemy because such failures might be seen as validation of the enemy’s ideology.  

Section 2: The Moonshot Speech

When US president John F. Kennedy declared in 1961 that the United States would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade, it was a form of political posturing. The Soviets had already been the first to have a man in orbit (Yuri Gagarin, only a month before the famous “moonshot” speech).

Here is the text of JFK’s May 1961 speech. As you read the speech, consider what the speech reveals about Kennedy’s worldview and beliefs about the political and economic systems of the time. If you wish, you can watch part of the speech in this video:

Finally, if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take. Since early in my term, our efforts in space have been under review. With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides--time for a great new American enterprise--time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on earth.
I believe we possess all the resources and talents necessary. But the facts of the matter are that we have never made the national decisions or marshaled the national resources required for such leadership. We have never specified long-range goals on an urgent time schedule, or managed our resources and our time so as to insure their fulfillment.
Recognizing the head start obtained by the Soviets with their large rocket engines, which gives them many months of lead-time, and recognizing the likelihood that they will exploit this lead for some time to come in still more impressive successes, we nevertheless are required to make new efforts on our own. For while we cannot guarantee that we shall one day be first, we can guarantee that any failure to make this effort will make us last. We take an additional risk by making it in full view of the world, but as shown by the feat of astronaut Shepard, this very risk enhances our stature when we are successful. But this is not merely a race. Space is open to us now; and our eagerness to share its meaning is not governed by the efforts of others. We go into space because whatever mankind must undertake, free men must fully share.
I therefore ask the Congress, above and beyond the increases I have earlier requested for space activities, to provide the funds which are needed to meet the following national goals:
First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. We propose to develop alternate liquid and solid fuel boosters, much larger than any now being developed, until certain which is superior. We propose additional funds for other engine development and for unmanned explorations--explorations which are particularly important for one purpose which this nation will never overlook: the survival of the man who first makes this daring flight. But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon--if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of us must work to put him there.
Secondly, an additional 23 million dollars, together with 7 million dollars already available, will accelerate development of the Rover nuclear rocket. This gives promise of some day providing a means for even more exciting and ambitious exploration of space, perhaps beyond the moon, perhaps to the very end of the solar system itself.
Third, an additional 50 million dollars will make the most of our present leadership, by accelerating the use of space satellites for world-wide communications.
Fourth, an additional 75 million dollars--of which 53 million dollars is for the Weather Bureau--will help give us at the earliest possible time a satellite system for world-wide weather observation.
Let it be clear--and this is a judgment which the Members of the Congress must finally make--let it be clear that I am asking the Congress and the country to accept a firm commitment to a new course of action, a course which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs: 531 million dollars in fiscal '62--an estimated 7 to 9 billion dollars additional over the next five years. If we are to go only half way, or reduce our sights in the face of difficulty, in my judgment it would be better not to go at all.

Section 3: The Soviet Perspective: Sergei Krushchev

Following Kennedy’s speech, the United States embarked on an aggressive space program. Only eight years later, the Americans landed on the moon. Below is an excerpt from an interview with Sergei Khrushchev, son of former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev, who in power in the 1950 and early 1960s.  In this interview, Sergei explains Russian reaction to the 1969 moon landing by the United States.

How widely was the news of the moon landing disseminated in the Soviet Union in advance of the event?
Of course, you cannot have people land on the moon and just say nothing. It was published in all the newspapers. But if you remember [back then] when Americans spoke of the first man in space, they were always talking of "the first American in space" [not Yuri Gagarin]. The same feeling was prevalent in Russia. There were small articles when Apollo 11 was launched. Actually, there was a small article on the first page of Pravda and then three columns on page five. I looked it up again.

What was the mood in the Soviet space program when astronauts from Apollo 11 landed on the moon?
It was very similar to feeling among Americans when Gagarin went into orbit. Some of them tried to ignore it, some of them were insulted. But I don't think it had a strong popular effect. First of all, the Soviet propaganda did not play it up or give too much information. I remember I watched a documentary on this. It was not secret, but it was not shown to the public. The Russian people had many problems in day-to-day life, they were not too concerned about the first man on the moon.

Was Russia pretty close?
The Russians were not pretty close. I think Russia had no chance to be ahead of the Americans under Sergei Korolev and his successor, Vasili Mishin. [Sergei Korolev was the leader of the Russian space program who, with Mishin overseeing the development of the rocket, succeeded in launching Sputnik 1. He died in January 1966.—Editor's Note]

Korolev was not a scientist, not a designer: he was a brilliant manager. Korolev's problem was his mentality. His intent was to somehow use the launcher he had. [The launcher was called N1]. It was designed in 1958 for a different purpose and with a limited payload of about 70 tons.] His philosophy was, let's not work by stages [as is usual in spacecraft design], but let's assemble everything and then try it. And at last it will work. There were several attempts and failures with Lunnik [a series of unmanned Soviet moon probes]. Sending man to the moon is too complicated, too complex for such an approach. I think it was doomed from the very beginning.

Of course, you must understand that I am speaking from the point of a competitor. We worked with our own project, [at] the Chelomei design bureau. Maybe we were more realistic. But I don't think we would have been able to beat the Americans.

When talking about the Russian space program, there is a misconception in the West that it was centralized. In reality, it was more decentralized than in the United States, which had one focused Apollo program. In the Soviet Union, there were different designers who competed with one another.

What was your father's perspective on Apollo 11? Did you discuss with him the American moon landing over the years?
My father's reaction was he couldn't understand why Korolev failed in this race. And of course I gave him my opinion why. My father did not discuss [the moon landing] too much. He listened to me. He was very proud of Sputnik; he wrote about it in his memoirs.

What are your thoughts about renewed efforts to go to the moon?
The Apollo project was a political project. Now we are under very different circumstances. Also, a big difference is technological achievement. At that time, we were at the beginning of the age of [space] automation, discovery and research. Now we have all this, starting from the spectacular achievements of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Mars rovers, etc. I would give priority to automated vehicles, not manned spaceflight.

Source: Das, Saswato R. "The Moon Landing through Soviet Eyes: A Q&A with Sergei Khrushchev, Son of Former Premier Nikita Khrushchev." Scientific American. N.p., 16 July 2009. Web. 21 Oct. 2016.

This is the ePortfolio icon. Science, Technology and Impact

  1. What was the impact of the development of space technology on the United States?
  2.  Compare the two different accounts, from Kennedy and Kruschev. How do their perspectives and worldviews differ?
  3.  How does the Soviet perspective on the American program corroborate your understanding? Use evidence from Kennedy’s speech to support your response.

China: Case Studies in the Unintended Consequences of Industrialization and Globalization

Section 1: Case Study 1

China’s industrialization and production has changed the lives of millions of citizens. In particular, young Chinese women are becoming increasingly mobile, self-sufficient, and educated citizens. For instance, young women from the lower classes will work in factories for a few years to save enough to return home as members of the middle class. China, the most populous nation on the planet, introduced the one-child policy in 1979 in an attempt to control its birth rates. While some segments of the population were exempt from this policy, most were taxed heavily for having a second child. In the decades that followed, the birth rate declined dramatically. Some experts, however, argue that the birth rate was already in sharp decline in the 1970s, and that the decline in the 1980s was merely a continuation of this trend.  Still, the policy had an impact on numerous families. Couples who had more than one child in urban centres had their pay decreased, while some in rural settings claimed that corrupt officials took their personal property as penalty. China dropped this policy in 2016 because of the need for more workers to support an aging, male society.

The rise of the middle class, combined with the changing view of marriage brought about by the one-child policy, has changed the way young women view marriage. The following excerpt is from a 2016 New York Times article entitled: Marriage Falls in China, Transforming Finances and Families:

HONG KONG — Liu Zhenfeng got married at 25. The usual trappings of family life followed — a daughter, a home, furniture, toys.

That daughter, Song Zongpei, now 28, is taking a different path. Ms. Song shares a rented apartment in Beijing with two roommates and is focusing on her career and her finances. She does not see marriage or motherhood in her immediate future. “At this stage, the most important thing for me is personal development,” Ms. Song said.

Fewer Chinese people are getting married, a shift with profound implications for China’s economic and social life. The decline in marriages means a decline in the number of babies, and potentially less spending on homes, appliances and other family-related purchases — the kind of spending China needs to drive economic growth.

Already some businesses are thinking single. Jewelry makers are offering cheaper baubles for unmarried sweethearts. One appliance maker is selling smaller rice cookers. Foreign fertility services are advertising for Chinese women who want to freeze their eggs — a process that is prohibited for single women in China — to have children later. But the marriage slump — caused in large part by China’s aging population and the legacy of its harsh one-child policy — has a silver lining. It also stems from the rise of an educated population of women. Specialists in economics, demography and sociology say some of those women are delaying marriage to build careers and establish financial footing, resulting in a more empowered female population that no longer views marriage as the only route to security.

“Because they are highly educated, they hold well-paid jobs, they lose the financial incentive to get married,” says Zhang Xiaobo, a professor of economics at Peking University’s National School of Development.

China continues to emphasize marriage in its official media, entreating women not to wait for Mr. Right. But demographics and changing social mores make that a tough sell.

Last year, 12 million Chinese couples registered for marriage, making it the second consecutive year the number has declined. Divorces, which stem from some of the same trends, reached 3.8 million last year, more than twice the level of a decade ago.

Section 2: Case Study 2

Industrialization has had a tremendous impact on China. In the 1980s, industrialization raised the standard of living and the opportunity for prosperity. However, it also brought two unintended consequences: more opportunities for corruption, and a citizenry that wanted more freedom. The tension caused by these consequences resulted in a series of protests and demonstrations. The most famous occurred at Tiananmen Square, Beijing, in late May and early June of 1989. The protesters were originally seeking political reforms, but were eventually joined by protesters seeking social and economic reforms as well. At one point, over a million protesters filled the square, making it nearly impossible for Chinese authorities to disperse the protest. In response, the government declared martial law. On the night of June 3rd, the army moved on the protest, firing on citizens and, in some cases, crushing those who would not move. By June 5th, the protest was dispersed. The Chinese government stated that the death toll for the protest was 241, though other estimates are significantly higher.

This image was taken some distance from the street. It shows a man, holding a bag, standing in the middle of the road. His feet are planted, suggesting that he has no intention of moving. About 10 feet in front of him, four tanks are slowly rolling forward. A soldier’s head can be seen just above the first tank’s hatch. He appears to be looking directly at the man on the street. Aside from the lone man and the four tanks, the street is empty.

This photo, one of the most famous images of the 20th century, depicts a protester standing in front of a line of tanks during demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, June 5, 1989.
Source

Despite the authoritarianism of the Chinese government, some Chinese people stood up to protest the negative effects of industrialization. These negative effects include land grabs by local governments wishing to attract manufacturers looking to build factories, environmental degradation, and extreme economic inequality manifesting in an increasing gap between the rich and poor.

The following is an excerpt from a 2012 USA Today article entitled "China's Rapid Industrialization Fuels More Public Protests" by Calum MacLeod:

They won their fight.
The pipeline that residents fear will pollute their water will not be built, the government promised on the Qidong police micro-blog and the website of Nantong city, which oversees Qidong.
This apparent victory for residents follows another one this month when protesters in the southwest city of Shifang, in Sichuan province, forced officials to scrap a planned copper refinery. A large demonstration halted a petrochemicals plant in Dalian, in eastern China, last year.
Environmental experts cheer the growing rights awareness among China's citizens that forced the Qidong decision, but they caution that China will face many more such protests unless the government overhauls its opaque decision-making process and allows the public to participate.
As China keeps up its frenzied pace of industrialization and urbanization, more protests are inevitable as China continues to "deny the communities the right to be informed and participate," said Ma Jun of the Institute for Public and Environmental Affairs.

Section 3: Case Study 3

Even though China’s early industrialization attempts were less successful, after the death of Mao Tse Tung and the “loosening” of central controls over the economy, full scale industrialization once more put China at the centre of the world economy. This has been one of the world’s most successful social changes as some 500 million people have been raised out poverty. China became so successful at manufacturing that other developed countries moved their production there, causing the loss of manufacturing jobs at home. This is where China’s industrialization becomes a globalization issue for the world.

This is a map of Chinese provinces. The provinces are shown in different colours depending on their annual per capita income. The general trend shows that the eastern, coastal provinces have higher income than the western, inland provinces.

What trends and patterns in income inequality do you notice in this 2013 map?
Source

This is the ePortfolio icon. Unintended Consequences of Chinese Industrialization

Chinese industrialization was, at first, disastrous, and yet it has changed the lives of millions of citizens. Given these two realities and the case studies you have examined, can Chinese industrialization be labelled a success? What other evidence would you need to examine to be able to answer this question?

Who’s Counting? Women’s Rights in a Globalized World

Section 1: Introduction

You should notice that this area looks different from the rest. This is because its subject matter, women’s rights in a globalized world, transcends national boundaries. Issues that impact women in, for example, Korea, are not necessarily the same for women in Canada.  Women in one region of the world may enjoy high literacy rates, while women in another region are denied education altogether.  Furthermore, these differences are not easily accounted for; in fact, some regions where some women’s rights are restricted provide other opportunities that exceed those available to women in “free” societies.

In this area, you will be presented with evidence about women’s rights in industrialized, industrializing, and non-industrial nations. As you read each, decide whether it is an example of  progress or decline by dragging the evidence to the right (progress) or left (decline). Note that each piece of evidence will still be identified as industrialized, industrializing, or non-industrial; thus, when you are done, you will be able to quickly view larger trends for women across disparate regions of the world.

Section 2: Reproductive technology

Throughout history, various techniques had been used to limit the possibility of conception. Two key inventions--condoms made from vulcanized rubber in the 19th century and the birth control pill of the 20th century--had great impacts on social norms. In particular, the birth control pill has allowed millions of women to choose paths that were previously impossible for them.

Reproductive Technology: Industrialized Nations

In the United States there are now more women in professional work than any other sector. According to a 2010 Forbes article, numerous factors contributed to this shift:

It was a generation of college-educated women who rejected the prospect of following in the footsteps of their moms, spending their adult lives as housewives; it was companies that increasingly needed and sought women’s white-collar office skills and an economy that required both men and women to earn an income.

But it was also due to a tiny but powerful enabler no bigger than a pinky nail: the birth control pill.

Reproductive Technology: Non-Industrialized Nations

According to the New York Times in 2015, 867 million women in developing countries want to avoid pregnancy, but approximately 222 million cannot get access to birth control. Source

The United Nations Population Fund (UNPF) notes that most of these women are from the world’s poorest countries. Access to birth control not only limits the impact of births on poor families, but also provides women with an opportunity to work or to receive an education. According to the UNPF, “If all women with an unmet need for contraceptives were able to use modern methods, an additional 24 million abortions (14 million of which would be unsafe), 6 million miscarriages, 70,000 maternal deaths and 500,000 infant deaths would be prevented.” Source

The UNPF has had some success in increasing contraceptive use in Haiti and Burundi, where it serves more than 80 000 and 631 000 people respectively.

Two women are sitting in a medical office. A nurse is holding an IUD and showing the other woman how it works.

 A woman in Myanmar receives information about family planning. UNFPA Myanmar.
Source

Section 3: Issues in the industrializing world

Women in Industrialized Canada

Canadian women enjoy numerous rights under the law, and score very highly in secondary and postsecondary education. In 2008, 60% of university graduates in Canada were women. Of the major fields, only three have more male graduates than female; one of those, personal, protective, and transportation services, saw the percentage of women enrolled jump from 18.2% in 1992 to 44.9% in 2008.  Yet, Canadian women still encounter barriers. Some have encountered the “glass ceiling,” a metaphor used to describe invisible barriers that make it difficult for women to move into positions of power. In March 2016, only 18% of senior corporate positions were held by women.  In 2016, educated Canadian women were still paid less than their male counterparts. The 2006 Census of Population by Statistics Canada reveals that 30 to 34 year-old university-educated women have a median income that is $3000 to $15 000 lower than males, depending on the field. On average that works out to women earning 73 cents for every dollar that men earn. According to the World Economic Forum, Canada ranked 35th in the 2016 gender gap ranking. This ranking examines economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival and political empowerment. Source

Women in Industrializing Iran

Women in Iran do not enjoy the same rights as many women around the world. For example, Iranian lawyer Narges Mohammadi was sentenced to 16 years in prison as an activist pushing for more rights for women. She was found guilty of “gathering and conspiring with the aim of committing crimes against national security”. Source. Women are banned from a number of activities, including watching men’s sports in stadiums.  However, the rate of education for women in Iran is very high, with 62.2% of women who are 25 years or older having some post-secondary education.  On the other hand, women have a much lower participation rate in the economy and hold a fraction of the parliamentary seats.

Women in Non-Industrial Bangladesh

Even areas that have not fully industrialized have felt the impact of globalization. Bangladesh has a large garment factory sector. Almost all of the clothing is for export to Europe and North America for “fast fashion” stores such as H&M and Gap. The workers in this sector are 85% female. This industry provides many jobs and accounts for about 10% of the country’s GDP. However, the women are vulnerable in many ways: they are paid low wages, work in unsafe conditions, and have just gained access to unions, union leadership, and paid maternity leave.  In 2013, an eight-story building known as Rana Plaza, used for garment production and other commercial enterprises collapsed, killing 1 129 people. Women not only were the majority of those killed, but also are the majority of those still owed compensation for the collapse from international clothing brands.

This is a photograph taken from the air or a high building of the Rana Plaza, a large 8-storey factory collapsed in the middle. There is a huge pile or rubble, dust, debris and a large crowd gathered nearby.

2013 Savar building collapse, Bangladesh.
On Wednesday, 24 April 2013 in the Savar Upazila of Dhaka, Bangladesh where an eight-story commercial building named Rana Plaza collapsed. The search for the dead ended on 13 May 2013 with a death toll of 1,129.
Photo by rijans.
Source

Women in Non-Industrial Rwanda

Rwanda is one of the poorest countries in the world, yet it has the highest percentage of women in government. This change is in part due to the 1994 Rwandan Genocide, which decimated the male population, especially leaders. For example, of the 780 judges before the genocide, only 20 survived the bloodshed. Now, Rwandan law mandates that 30% of all parliamentary seats be reserved for women; in 2013, however, 64% of parliamentarians were female, meaning that the representation of women more than doubled the mandate. Source

This is a photograph of 5 Rwandan women sitting in the Rwandan parliament. One of the women has a modern laptop computer.

Rwanda's parliament – the first in the world where women hold a majority.
Photograph: The Washington Post/Washington Post/Getty Images

Female Genital Mutilation: Non-Industrialized Nations

Female Genital Mutilation, or FGM, is practiced in parts of Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. It is carried out on girls ranging from infancy to 15, and involves the damaging or removal of external female genitalia. It can cause severe bleeding and pain, and increases the likelihood of infection, cysts, problems at childbirth, and newborn deaths.  Over 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to FGM. According to the World Health Organization, FGM  “reflects deep-rooted inequality between the sexes, and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person's rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.” Source
In 2009, the government of Uganda passed a law banning female genital mutilation.  The punishments for breaking the law are significant: a person convicted can face ten years in prison, or life in prison if the practice causes disability, the spread of HIV/AIDS, or death.

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