As gender roles within labor markets continue to transform and worsen gender inequalities, this article draws on feminist political economy perspectives to highlight the military as a patriarchal institution. Building upon existing literature, our conceptual framework proposes two hypotheses: (1) militarization exacerbates employment gaps for women, and (2) restructures the gendered composition of the care economy. Our results show that militarization crowds out women from formal and informal feminized work and causes masculinization of the formal care occupation. These findings challenge the conventional analysis of feminized work and thus expose the intricacies at play between militarization, care work, and gendered labor market composition.
BanksNicola. 2013. Female employment in Dhaka, Bangladesh: Participation, perceptions, and pressures. Environment and Urbanization25 (1): 95–109.
2.
BayerMarkusRohlederPaul. 2022. Global Militarization Index 2022. Bonn: Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies. Accessed at: https://gmi.bicc.de/.
DildarYasemin. 2015. Patriarchal norms, religion, and female labor supply: Evidence from Turkey. World Development76: 40–61.
5.
DunneJ. Paul. 2011. Military Spending, Growth, Development, and Conflict. Department of Accounting, Economics, and Finance Working Paper no. 1105. Bristol: Bristol Business School, University of the West of England. Accessed at: https://ideas.repec.org/p/uwe/wpaper/1105.html.
6.
ElverenAdem Yavuz. 2023a. Does militarization hinder female labor income share?Peace Economics, Peace Science, and Public Policy29 (1): 1–15.
7.
ElverenAdem Yavuz. 2023b. Militarization, gender inequality, and growth: A feminist-Kaleckian model. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics46 (2): 1–18.
8.
ElverenAdem YavuzMoghadamValentine. 2022. Militarization and gender inequality: Exploring the impact. Journal of Women, Politics, & Policy43 (4): 427–45.
9.
ElverenAdem YavuzMoghadamValentineDuduSelda. 2022. Militarization, women’s labor force participation, and gender inequality: Evidence from global data. Women’s Studies International Forum94: 102621.
10.
EnloeCynthia. 1983. Does Khaki Become You? The Militarization of Women’s Lives. Boston, MA: South End Press.
HartmannHeidi. 1976. Capitalism, patriarchy, and job segregation by sex. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society1 (3 part 2): 137–69.
13.
HudsonValerieBowenDonna LeeNielsenPerpetua Lynne. 2020. The First Political Order: How Sex Shapes Governance and National Security Worldwide. New York: Columbia University Press.
IslamSyed. 2016. Feminization of employment and gender inequality of Bangladesh labor market: The case of garment industries. Developing Country Studies6 (2): 157–68.
18.
JacobsenJoyce. 2016. Gender and the economic impacts of war. In Handbook on Gender and War, ed. SaraFarris. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.
19.
MmakolaKgomotsoSitholeSibusiso. 2023. Women representation in the military: The case of the South African National Defense Force, Limpopo Province. International Journal of Social Science Research and Review6 (9): 67–82.
20.
NelsonJulie Ann. 1996. Feminism, Objectivity, and Economics. London: Routledge.
SjobergLauraViaSandra. 2010. Conclusion: The interrelationship between gender, war, and militarism. In Gender, War, and Militarism: Feminist Perspectives, eds. LauraSjobergViaSandra. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
UmSejin. 2023. The militarized workplace: How organizational culture perpetuates gender inequality in Korea. Gender, Work & Organization30 (5): 1676–93.
