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poor, undeveloped, underdeveloped, developing, and dependent countries) in the ‘core’ (the rich,
developed countries). This central position of dependency theory is that the poor (underdeveloped)
countries get poorer and the rich (developed) are getting rich with the fact that they get integrated into
the global economic system. He argues that poverty, political instability and underdevelopment of the
South is the result of historical processes set up by the Northern countries and it has resulted in the
economic dependence of developing countries. Whilst the modernization theory implies that
development occurs when separate modern sector is established with a particular society and
gradually integrates the traditional sector in to it, the dependency theory argues that the integration
leads to exploitation and dependency.
World System Theory: World systems Theory propounded by Immanuel Wallerstein takes the
above argument further. He is explaining institutional change that focuses on whole inter-societal
systems rather than single societies. Wallerstein proposed that the nations states exists within a broad
political, economic and legal framework which he calls the ‘world system’. As per the world system
theory the current international division of labor divides the world into core countries, semi-periphery
countries and the periphery countries. The semi periphery is composed of large and powerful states in
the third world for example Mexico, Brazil, India and South Africa that have intermediate levels of
economic development while the core is composed of hegemonic states such as United States and
Britain. The core countries have integrated economies with primary, secondary and tertiary sector.
While the periphery are those countries that produce raw materials without the manufacture sector.
For example, Burundi, Zambia, Namibia and most of the third world countries.
The World Systems is driven primarily by capitalist accumulation and geopolitics in which the
business institutions fought for power and wealth. As capitalist’s system penetrate in the developing
countries the capitalist exploitation also expands.
Impact on Women and the Economy: As per these theories based on Marxist understanding of
the society, women’s economic role and status have deteriorated with the market-based capitalists’
economy. In pre-class societies, women and men were sharing the responsibilities of producing
socially useful goods. The household was also a site of production and not just consumption. With the
separation of workplace form, the household women’s work in the household became non-productive.
Work, which does not have any value in the market. In fact, this unpaid household work is integral
part of the capitalist’s economy.
Without this work the economy cannot get workers and future generation of workers to be exploited
by capital in the process of production.
Women’s role in the domestic sphere does not prevent women from entering the paid employment.
However, it limits the kind of work women get in the labor market. The segregation of labor market in
the culturally determined definition of men’s and women’s job restricts women’s access to better
paying, high status occupations. Women tend to ‘ghettoized’ in the jobs involving personal services,
textile, food processing or other activities that are extension of their domestic duties.
Women laborers play other important role for the capitalist system i.e. a distinct kind of reserve army
of labor. The role of the ‘reserve army of labor’ is to prevent real wages growing as fast as labor
productivity. Workers would thus spend an increasing proportion of working time producing profits
for capitalists - a falling share for labor or a rising rate of exploitation, in Marx’s terminology. Women
are a reserve of workers which can be brought in to the labor market as and when the capitalist system
require their labor and sent back to domestic spear in case of recession without much social
implications. The function of the reserve army is to keep the This marginalization of women labor is
much more exacerbated in the Third world or periphery economies of the world capitalist system
where the demand for labor is low due to variety of factors. The dependency of the developing
countries leads to underdevelopment of infrastructure, shortage of capital etc. forced them to go for
EPZ and make them vulnerable to the international market. Women’s employment options are
particularly restricted in Third world nations, where demographic and economic conditions work to
gather to limit the economy’s demand for labor relative to the numbers of men and women seeking
work.
Comparison of Various Theories: Let us sum up the discussion by comparing the explanation
provided by various theoretical perspectives given above.