Martha Nussbaum, "Feminism and International Development" (Summary)

• Women worldwide face significant challenges including lack of support for fundamental functions, poor health, vulnerability to violence and sexual abuse, and lack of literacy.
• Women face obstacles in the workplace such as intimidation, sex discrimination, and sexual harassment, often without effective legal recourse.
• Women are not full equals under the law, with no property rights, contract rights, association rights, mobility, and religious liberty.
• Emotionally, women have fewer opportunities to live free from fear and enjoy rewarding love, especially when they are married without choice in childhood and have no recourse from bad marriages.
• Unequal social and political circumstances give women unequal human capabilities, with their instrumental value sometimes being positive or negative.

Human Development Report 1997
• Developing countries present urgent problems such as gender inequality, poverty, and discrimination against females.
• Countries ranking lowest in the gender-adjusted development index (GDI) and Human Poverty Index (HPI) include low life expectancy, deprivation in education, malnutrition, and lack of access to safe water and health services.

The Capabilities Approach
• The project focuses on feminist political philosophy, particularly in developing countries, and argues that it should increasingly address the urgent needs and interests of women in these countries.
• The capabilities approach, pioneered by Amartya Sen in development economics, is based on functioning and capability.
• Both Nussbaum and Sen agree on the importance of political liberties and the value of each person's capability.

The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)
• A resistance movement that has helped female workers in the informal sector improve their living conditions through credit, education, and a labor union for over twenty years.

Women's Challenges in India and the Developing World

• Vasanti and Jayamma, two women from different backgrounds in India and the developing world, face sex discrimination and limited opportunities due to sex stratification in the brick industry.
• Both women are confined to domestic tasks and provide financial support for their families.
• The lack of education and sex discrimination limits their opportunities for formal education and skill development.
• Women worldwide face similar challenges, including a desire for independence, economic self-sufficiency, and control over their lives.
• India's complex legal system combines common-law tradition with written constitution constraints, with the Supreme Court often using U.S. constitutional jurisprudence as a precedent.
• India's unique code of civil law makes it difficult for individuals to avail of rights once classified in one of these systems.
• India ranks 138 out of 175 nations on the Human Development Index of the 1997 Human Development Report, with an average life expectancy at birth of 61.334 and high infant mortality.
• India has done extremely poorly in basic education, especially for women, far worse than China.
• Child labor is a significant issue in India, particularly in rural areas where many families rely on their children's work.
• Addressing women's situation in India requires understanding not only universal compulsory primary education but also addressing economic realities.