Global Social Policy

Since December 1999 all countries wishing to access concessional lending from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank are required to prepare a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP). The vast majority of PRSP incorporate an analysis of the current level and profile of poverty that relies on the unitary model of the household. This article argues that by doing so, policy analysts may receive a distorted view of the relationship between gender and poverty. Using the 2003 Tajikistan Living Standard Survey the article shows how, by modifying the assumption of equal sharing of household resources, gender differentials in the experience of poverty may vary. The article also illustrates how those gender analyses that simply use a dichotomy based on the gender of the head of household may also be misleading. The findings have implications for mainstreaming gender into the PRSP process, and for the priority of policy and programme interventions supported under national Poverty Reduction Strategies.

Worldwide, many social security administrations, and their respective programmes and policies, show signs of adapting positively to evolving and new challenges. To better articulate and promote these developments, the International Social Security Association (ISSA) is fostering an innovative conceptual framework: Dynamic Social Security (DSS). This article investigates, first, some of the potential wider implications for the common understanding of social security arising from the ISSA's decision to foster DSS and, second, the feasibility for ISSA member organizations generally of implementing policies and practices inspired by DSS.

Human rights of various sorts are now seen as central to the development process. We argue that rights claims can sometimes be effective in advocacy campaigns for some rights if those campaigns can find a way to resonate with the predominately liberal ideas that shape the global political economy. But this is not always possible and many `rights', especially economic rights or claims made by or on behalf of some social groups, are difficult to put onto the agenda of states. We suggest as a consequence that there is a need to be wary of an unreflective embrace of rights discourses and that other arguments for development and justice are also required, alongside sustained theoretical reflection on and engagement with the state.

This article sets out to examine ways in which a living wage might be implemented in the global apparel sector. We argue that an increase in the unit labour cost element of the free on board price paid by brands by a factor equivalent to the difference between the existing wage and a nationally determined living wage figure would not impact in any serious way upon retailer/brand-owner's (or supplier's) bottom line. However, the existence of fragmented and outsourced manufacturing, accompanied by aggressive buying practices, militates against `aspirational' code provisions in this area. Limited progress is possible only through substantial brand collaboration, an acceptance of collective bargaining through trade unions in supplier factories and, longer term, moves by brands and retailers to own and control their own manufacturing capacity.