Review: Transforming Gender and Development in East Asia
| Published date | 01 December 2002 |
| Date | 01 December 2002 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070200205700415 |
| Subject Matter | Review |
Reviews
is
unlikely
to
lead
to any
significant
change
in
the
regime's
orientation.
Only
additional
pressure
from
governments
and non-governmental
organizations,
combined
with
the
local
democracy
movement,
can
convince
Burma's
military
to make
significant
changes
in the
way
it
governs
the
country.
TRANSFORMING
GENDER AND
DEVELOPMENT
IN
EAST
ASIA
Edited
by
Esther
Ngan-ling
Chow
New
York:
Routledge,
2002, 26 8
pp,
us$22.95,
ISBN
0-4159-2492-8
This
original
collection
of
articles explores
the
role
of
gender
in
shaping
contemporary
Asian
society
and
culture.
The
discussion
centres
on
the
People's
Republic
of
China
and
a
number
of
the
newly
industrializing
countries
(NICs)
of
Asia,
particularly
South
Korea,
Hong
Kong,
and
Taiwan.
Collectively,
the
articles
make
a
strong
case
for
examining
gen-
der dynamics
as
a
way
of
understanding
social
and
power relations
in
modern
Asia.
The
editor
begins
with
a
useful
overview
of
the
literature
on
economic
development
of
the
NICs.
Esther
Chow and Deanna
M.
Lyter
then
analyze
various
theoretical
perspectives
on
development
and
emphasize
that
'gender interests
and
subjectivities
should
be
recognized
as
a
central
and
integral
condition
of
human
development'
(p
51).
In
Part
II,
'The
Process
of
Industrialization:
Institutional Embed-
dedness,
Control,
and
Resistance,'
Yin-wah
Chu
compares how
women
workers
have
fared
in
Korea,
Taiwan,
Hong
Kong,
and
Singapore.
She
finds
that
patriarchy
remains
an
important
factor shap-
ing
women's
employment
opportunities,
but
that
state
policies have
also
helped
determine the
parameters
of
female
employment
in
Asia.
Esther
Chow
and
Ray-may
Hsung
argue
that
hiring,
promotion,
and
salary
policies
of
multinational
corporations
in
Taiwan
embody
a
form
of
corporate patriarchy.
Hyun
Mee
Kim
describes
how
Korean
women
workers
responded
to the
injustices associated
with
the
abrupt
closing
of
an American
transnational corporation
in
South
Korea.
Part
III
deals
with
the impact
of
economic
restructuring
on
the
fam-
ily
and on
employment
opportunities
for
women.
In
separate
articles,
Ting
Gong
and
Ping
Ping
discuss
the
disadvantages
experienced
by
Chinese women
as
a
result
of
changes
in
the economy
over
the
last
few
decades.
In
her
study
of
Hong
Kong
families,
Vivien
Hiu-tung
Leung
points
out
that
women's
employment
opportunities
are
influenced
by
family
strategies
as
well
as
labour
market structures.
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
Autumn
2002
657
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