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ID: 19811
Date Added: 2003-07-10 Date Modified: 2003-07-10
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Assignment #1 Book Report A few years ago, a friend of mine lent me a video. It had quite an impact on my life. I was going through some drastic crises and questioning my worth not just as a person, but also being a woman. After watching the video I thought quite differently with regards to, well, just about everything; my self worth, social values, ethics and life itself. The video was: “Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies & Global Economics” (5). With my ‘new perspectives’ I gathered some self-respect and was able to trudge forward to heal and grow as a person. Marilyn started her ‘work’ as a young woman in New Zealand. “In 1975, when she was just 22 years old, she was elected to the New Zealand parliament. She was re-elected three times and eventually brought down the government on the issue of making New Zealand a nuclear free zone. “(1) Beginning in her ‘home’ community, she became infamous for her perfection of “the art of the dumb question”. (2) Her questions led her on a quest throughout the rest of the world. “In 1975 Dr. Marilyn Waring became the youngest member in the Aotearoa/New Zealand Parliament. At the age of 24 she became Chairperson of the Public Expenditures Committee. She traveled to over 35 countries in this capacity and discovered that the rules that governed the finances of her own country were operating worldwide…Marilyn also discovered that our international accounting systems do not count many things - notably the work of women and the cost of environmental damage. ” (4) Marilyn helped put ‘political lingo’ into terms that most people could understand. “Waring argues passionately, powerfully, and convincingly for the urgency of rethinking basic economic concepts such as gross domestic product in ways that take community well being into account.” (2) She was able to find diverse solutions for many diverse problems: “there is not only one way to run an economy. Every country has its own deeply held and specific cultures. Economics likes to overlook this because it claims to provide a 'scientific' theory of economic behaviours that is culture independent…Things aren't working out the way they were supposed to when the grand design was outlined. There is a bit more humility and a greater willingness to accept that those who have been warning about the nasty side effects of one size fits all might have a point. There a tremendous tension between culture and the market. We can not quantify culture. There have certainly been efforts to quantify the market value of culture: the Creative Industries exercise undertaken by the first Blair government is a case in point… so much is always left out of the equation.”(4) As Marilyn, a feminist, “work(ing) from a human rights perspective” (2), began exploring “how economic orthodoxies exclude most of women's productive and reproductive work, rendering half of the world's population invisible” (2), she was able to help society in so many ways: "With persistence and wit she has succeeded in drawing attention to the fact that GDP has no negative side to its accounts--such as damage to the environment--and completely ignores the unpaid work of women. "Why is the market economy all that counts?" Ms. Waring asks. “(1) “Since 1988 when the book was first published, there have been some changes. For example, in 1993 the boundary of production for the purposes of national accounts was moved with the instruction that all women's subsistence agriculture and activities such as carrying water and collecting fuel wood should now be counted in the main production accounts.” “…in Alberta, they might be able to raise the question of the exploitation of women's unpaid work as a human rights issue against the provincial government, because of the devolution of responsibilities to women without assistance from the current government. I understand that's going ahead.” “Also, we are using human rights instruments to challenge the number of women in our parliament, claiming that the words "on equal terms with men," which guarantee women's access to public and political office, mean that we have to have half the seats in parliament.“ (2) As Gloria Steinem said, Marilyn “will forever change your perception of justice(and) economics” (1); she certainly shifted my perceptions. I admire the integrity and passion she utilizes to express her values and principles. She doesn’t appear to need to oppress other ‘groups’ in order to express her feminism. She places her values into a simple context “… labour to the marketplace—traditionally dominated by men—to public policy and public decision making. Waring: I think it does, it forms a different value basis. Aurora: It changes the value from money or market to time? Waring: Yes. Time is the one commodity we all have. We might not all have as much discretion as we'd like about what we do with it, but you can't make more time, and you can't take it away.“ (2) Marilyn sees the planet’s inter-connectedness with the spirits living on it; different but equal. “It (Marilyn’s book) penetrates to the heart of the global, ecological, and social crisis that afflicts the world." Dr. David Suzuki” (1) ”Waring explores the interconnections between equality, work, and human rights…We know that "community" is usually mom or daughter or aunty or neighbour or some other woman who already works 16 to 18 hours a day. Sometimes she's in the paid work force; sometimes not. Waring: Yes, there is a fundamental question in economics about what we value and how we value it. It's a fundamental ideological question. If you ask people what they value most in life, they will say my children, my partner, my health, my religion. Usually, it's something that can't be bought. At the same time, we're invited to believe the Chicago School rhetoric that market pressure determines value… So you have that difference. That's one part of the huge question; and in that answer, women's work has no value.I wrote If Women Counted and tried to demystify economics. Then I whipped around the corner and came at it from international human rights. Now I've whipped round the next corner. I'm trying to find out whether in the kind of development assistance given by CIDA or New Zealand there is any way the citizenry of Canada or New Zealand can use their international human rights obligation either to change the nature of that development assistance, or to force the country to withdraw. These are all inter-linked.” (2) Marilyn is still quite active, farming in New Zealand she is also “a national and international consultant, and a senior lecturer in social policy and social work at the Albany Campus in New Zealand. Marilyn Waring's publications include If Women Counted, published in 1988 by Macmillan, and Three Masquerades: Essays on Equality, Work and Human Rights, published in 1996 by Auckland University Press/Bridget Williams Books, Auckland. Dr Waring received an Honours BA in Political Science and International Politics from Victoria University of Wellington in 1973. In 1989, she was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Economy.” (3) Her latest project in her own words: “In New Zealand, we are about to embark nationwide on the most sophisticated time-use survey carried out anywhere in the world . Once I read the rules and the national accounts, I was profoundly disturbed by what they meant, not just for women, but for the planet . The old system[ [as evidenced in the UN national accounts] worked by holding power—the power of definition (who works and who doesn't, what's in and what's out), and the power of value (even if it doesn't enter the market, we'll work out whether it's in or it's out). Enormous power and control; and the most unbelievable lack of imagination.” (2) This assignment has given me the privileged opportunity to explore Marilyn’s thoughts, values and beliefs to a different level. I love how she points out that everything is connected. I hope I may aspire to, and utilize many of her philosophies. I truly see her as a remarkable woman. She has uncovered so many questions that have sparked many changes, making an impact on so many lives, especially (I say with gratitude) mine. REFERENCES: (1) http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/who.html (2) http://aurora.icaap.org/talks/waring.htm (3) http://www.idrc.ca/books/reports/1997/25-02e.html (4 ) http://www.ispa.org/ideas/waring.html (5) Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex, Lies & Global Economics US -Release Date: 1996, Copyright Date: 1995, Produced by The National Film Board of Canada, Study/Discussion/Resource/Action Guide by The Who's Counting Project |
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