"Woman and Globalization" Conference

July 27-August 3, 2005, Center for Global Justice, San Miguel De Allende, Mexico

Co-Sponsored by the Radical Philosophy Association, the Global Studies
Association, and the Argentina Autonomista Project

Of all the social groups impacted by neo-liberal globalization,
perhaps none has felt it more severely than women, especially those in
countries in the global South.  Young women have been the main workforce
in maquiladora sweatshops.  Women must do more work to support families as
incomes decline.  Women have felt the brunt of violence as frustrated
husbands despair about not being able to provide for their families.
 Families have been pushed off the land, women have been left behind to
care for families, and men have gone north to find work. Some women have
also gone north, often as victims of coerced sex trafficking.

  Many
returning men have brought AIDS with them to infect their wives.  World
Bank and IMF-mandated cutbacks in state services have drastically cut
medical care, and public education now has user fees.  These cutbacks
particularly affect women and children, as more women die in childbirth
and children have to leave school at an early age to work.

Similarly,
women are also severely affected in the global North. In the US, welfare
restrictions, increased costs for health care and housing, and declining
state aid for education and other services have disproportionately hurt
women and children, particularly poor women, and have increased the
feminization of poverty. Thus, in both North and South, the social
pathologies engendered by globalization have affected women most
intensely. But women are not just victims of globalization.  They are also
subjects, acting individually and collectively against these conditions.
 Women are fighting back: creating economic cooperatives, alternative
health care, and support groups for victims of violence. They are
fighting along with men against privatization of water, land and other
natural resources, as well as against development projects and imports,
like genetically-modified food, that harm the environment. In Argentina,
women were the first to struggle for social justice in the road
blockades, when IMF policies rendered 26% of the population jobless. In
Chiapas, Mexico, Zapatista women have taken leadership roles in the
defense and construction of autonomous municipalities, self-governing
committees, health and education promotion, and the organization of
economic cooperatives.

These and related issues will be the focus of a Conference on Women
and Globalization to be held in San Miguel de Allende in central Mexico.
 Here, where North meets South, globalization's effects are intensified.
Conference participants will explore this reality not only through
discussion of presented papers, activist  workshops and artistic
performances, but also by meeting with local women's groups struggling to
create alternatives and by making site visits to observe concrete social
conditions.  Every effort will be made to have all activities be
translated into both Spanish and English.

Proposals for papers should be e-mailed to Ann Ferguson by March 15
 at Ferguson@philos.umass.edu. A program committee will read them and
papers will
be selected by May 1. Completed papers will be due by June 1 (firm
deadline), at least in one language, with the translation due by June 15
for those who can translate themselves.  The preferred length of papers is
no more than 10 pages (not counting references), since they will have to
be translated . Papers will be translated and posted on the Center website
(www.globaljusticecenter.org) in both English and Spanish well
before the conference.  This will enable all participants to read them
ahead of time, thus requiring only a brief oral summary at the
conference, and maximizing the time available for discussion.

The program of the conference will offer paper presentations,
activist workshops, plenaries and artistic presentations Weds. July
27-Friday July 29, activist workshops and weekend excursions on July 30
and 31 to nearby women's organizations and other sites, and another round
of paper discussions, workshops and plenaries Monday Aug 1-Weds. Aug 3.
Participants can come for all or part of the conference. 

San Miguel de
Allende is a beautiful small colonial town a few hours north of Mexico
City. Due to its altitude, it has very moderate temperatures in the
summer.  There are many interesting sites to visit both in the city and
outside in neighboring communities.  The conference will offer ample
opportunities for participants to enjoy San Miguel culture and to visit a
number of interesting places in the vicinity. Transportation and lodging
information is available upon request. Check the Center website or email info@globaljusticecenter.org.