Hippert Christine
Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA.
Health Care Women Int. 2002 Dec;23(8):861-9. doi: 10.1080/07399330290107476.
Presently, globalization and the world economy maintain power relations that hamper the economic integrity and the political autonomy of the developing world. My paper addresses specific economic conditions that perpetuate poverty and poor health. I examine multinational corporations and their effects on women's health, particularly in Mexico and parts of Asia. The advent of multinational corporate business in Mexico, Malaysia, Philippines, India, and Indonesia has led to increased poverty and human rights abuses. Women bear the brunt of this because of specific international economic arrangements and their low social status, both locally and globally. As a result, their physical, mental, and emotional health is suffering. Solutions to these health problems have been proposed on multiple levels: international top-down approaches (i.e., employing international protectionist regulatory standards, exposing multinationals who infringe on their workers' human rights), as well as local grassroots organizational campaigns (i.e., conducting informational human rights workshops for factory workers). Ultimately, the answers lie in holding corporations accountable to their laborers while developing countries maintain their comparative advantage; this is the only way women's health will improve and the developing world can entice corporate investment.
当前，全球化和世界经济所维持的权力关系阻碍了发展中世界的经济完整性和政治自主性。我的论文探讨了使贫困和健康状况不佳长期存在的具体经济状况。我研究了跨国公司及其对妇女健康的影响，特别是在墨西哥和亚洲部分地区。跨国公司在墨西哥、马来西亚、菲律宾、印度和印度尼西亚开展业务，导致贫困加剧和人权受到侵犯。由于特定的国际经济安排以及她们在本地和全球的社会地位低下，妇女首当其冲。结果，她们的身心健康和情感健康都受到了影响。针对这些健康问题，已在多个层面提出了解决方案：国际层面自上而下的方法（即采用国际保护主义监管标准，揭露侵犯工人人权的跨国公司），以及地方基层组织运动（即为工厂工人举办人权信息讲习班）。最终，答案在于让企业为其劳动者负责，同时发展中国家保持其比较优势；这是改善妇女健康、发展中世界吸引企业投资的唯一途径。
