Globalisation, place and gender

Abstract

Current processes linking different parts of the world together economically and culturally are referred to asglobalisation. Though this term has gained immense popularity within a short time, critics have argued that it is hard to find empirical evidence that the world is becoming ‘one’. A crucial question is thenhow to look for such evidence. In many studies of globalisation, the general view taken is that of ‘global’, meaning that one searches for a global overview, or outlook, which is situated at no specific place. The present paper argues for a shift of focus, reasoning that to understand what is global we have to start with the local. The experiences of the global take place in particular local places, and to study such processes of change we need to situate our study in such a way that we can study the relationships between the local and the global. The particular place where our study takes place is rural Malaysia. Changes related to industrialisation are often spoken of in rather deterministic terms, in the sense that the local population are ‘victims’ of a global shift, whereas we argue for an alternative approach, analysing women workers as agents of change within their local community. Globalisation also mainly refers to external forces imposed on local actors, whereas we find the local to be imperative for the strategies of industrialists, as well as for the present processes of change.