76

5 | Global Population and Mobility

UNIT 5: GLOBAL POPULATION AND MOBILITY

 
 
5.0 Learning Outcomes

a. Identify the attributes of a global city;

b. Analyze how cities serve as engines of globalization;
c. Explain the theory of demographic transition as it affects global population;
d. Analyze the political, economic, cultural, and social factors underlying the
global movements of people;
e. Identify the role of women, the stereotyping of role appropriate to gender;
f. Critique existing policy that violates, label and discriminate women and the
LGBTQ community.

5.1 Introduction

If you had the chance, would you move to New York? Tokyo? How about
Sydney? Chances are many of you would like to move to these major cities. And if
not, you would probably visit them anyway. Some of you might have already
traveled to these cities as tourists or temporary residents. Or maybe you have heard
stories about them. You may have relative living there who have described buzzing
metropolises, with forests of skycrapers and train lines that zigzag on top of each
other. You may likewise have an idea of what these cities look like based on what
you have seen in movies or TV. Do you remember when the downtown in
Manhattan in New York was destroyed in a confrontation between the Avengers
(Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, the Hulk, etc.) and aliens?

Not all people have been to global cities, but most know about them. Their
influence extends even to one’s imagination. What are these places? Why do a lot of
people dream of living and working there? Are you one of them? Would you also
want to migrate in one of these global cities?

5.2 Discussion

5.2.1 Global City

A global city is a significant production point of specialized financial and producer

services that make the globalized economy run.

 Characteristics of Global City

 Population
- Global cities are places which take
advantage of globalization; places which

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 77
5 | Global Population and Mobility

can play a leading role in a globalized World; places that are most
populated (1 or 2 million inhabitants) although there are other more
criteria involved
 Wealth
- Global Cities are wealthy cities, example Paris and France. Thus Global
City is a concentration of people to make the economy grow. People
living in the global cities work in high added-value activities. So they
make the economy grow by working and consuming.
 Power
- Global City is also a place
of political power. It has
the most important
institutions. Example,
Washington City which
has around 7 million
inhabitants, obviously it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJekil09KA8

has all the political powers of the United

States. In New York City, it has the headquarters of the United Nations, so
it has international political power. Stock exchange also gives wealth and
power. New York City also ha economic power because it has the New
York stock exchange. In London, it has London stock exchange. Economic
powers also comes from the headquarters of big companies (TNC’s).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJekil09KA8

 Innovation
- Global City is very influential. It has the best universities that represent
the scientific powers. Thus a global city is a place for innovation. A place
where you invent what will influence the world in the future. New York
City is a place of cultural innovation. London is where the best artists
wants to be. Silicon Valley in San Francisco (Headquarters of Apple
Cuppertino) is where you also find the best technical innovation. A
global City is thus a leading center in an inter-dependent world
because it has power and innovation. Global Cities are the places which
play a role in this interdependent world because they have the power,
because they invent what will influence the future.
 Hub
- Global City is a Hub, a place where the different flows of the world can
meet. A place where there are different transport and communication
infrastructure. A global city is connected to the rest of the world.

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 78
5 | Global Population and Mobility

 Hinterland
- A global city is connected to its hinterland, an area which depends
directly on this city. For example, France is the hinterland of Paris because
Paris dominates all France. When you are in France and you want to go
abroad, you are often obliged to go through Paris. Paris masters the
communication of all France with the rest of the world. Thus, a global city
is a place connecting an important region to the rest of the world. A global
city is a kind of gate, of hub.

 Consequences of Global City

- These can explain the
dynamism of the global
cities

 Attractivity – Global cities

attracts a lot of investment and
economic activities.
Transnational corporations
would invest in these cities
because they are connected to
the rest of the world; they have https://wallpaperaccess.com/economics
innovations.
 Urban Sprawl – Global cities have important hinterlands and lots of
connections with these hinterlands. It grow larger and larger and extend the
area on which they lay. For example, Los Angeles is more than 100 kms. large.
 Metropolisation – So as a global city is wealthy, with a lot of economic
activities, as it is powerful, as it is attractive, there are more and more activities
and there are more and more population, the metropolis become also more
and more powerful.

 Other consequences
 Inequalities – This is a consequence of metropolisation. A lot of people can go
there because of businesses and important administration and other high type
of upper tertiary activities, but there are also millions of workers who have
come from the countryside because they hope to find a job to build the sky
scrapers. Example, In Dubai, there are also a very important proletariat of
very poor people who are exploited to make the city work and to make the
rest of the city become richer and richer. So a gobal city is where you find the
richest and poorest people.
 Congestion – As a consequence of
attractivity, global cities are
congested. Example, in Los
Angeles, it has the largest
motorway network and people
spend hours and hours of traffic
jams.

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 79
5 | Global Population and Mobility

 Environmental Challenges – https://www.cfr.org/article/economic-consequences-global-uncertainty

This is a consequence of urban
sprawl. Because cities are larger, it means more infrastructures, and people
have to move in longer ways from the house to the job. Pollution can be worse
and traffic jam can be worst. A lot of Global cities are polluted. Example, in
Los Angeles, sometimes you cannot see the sun because of the smog (smoke
and fog). Also in Indian and Chinese cities can also be polluted.

Thus, the global cities are cities which take advantage of globalization. These are the
places where you see what globalization produces best. Global cities are the places where
you can see the dynamism provoked and entailed by globalization. These are also the
places where you see the most important tensions which result from globalization.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJekil09KA8

Let’s pause and review:

1. What is a global city?
2. Can you name the characteristics of a global city?

5.2.2 Global Demography

Demographic Transition

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 80
5 | Global Population and Mobility

Beginning in the late 1700s, something remarkable happened: death rates declined.
With new technologies in agriculture and production, and advancements in health and
sanitation, a greater number of people lived through their adolescent years, increasing the
average life expectancy and creating a new trajectory for population growth. This sudden
change created a shift in understanding the correlation between birth and death rates,
which up to that point had both been relatively equal, regardless of location. Over the past
300 years, population demographics have continued to evolve as a result of the relationship
between the birth and death rates within a country. The observation and documentation of
this global phenomenon has produced a model, the Demographic Transition Model, which
helps explain and make sense of changes in population demographics. Using the
Demographic Transition Model, demographers can better understand a country’s current
population growth based on its placement within one of five stages and then pass on that
data to be used for addressing economic and social policies within a country and across
nations.

https://populationeducation.org/what-demographic-transition-model/

https://populationeducation.org/what-demographic-transition-model/

What is the Demographic Transition Model?

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 81
5 | Global Population and Mobility

The Demographic Transition Model (DTM) is based on historical population trends

of two demographic characteristics – birth rate and death rate – to suggest that a country’s
total population growth rate cycles through stages as that country develops economically.
Each stage is characterized by a specific relationship between birth rate (number of annual
births per one thousand people) and death rate (number of annual deaths per one thousand
people). As these rates change in relation to each other, their produced impact greatly
affects a country’s total population. Within the model, a country will progress over time
from one stage to the next as certain social and economic forces act upon the birth and
death rates. Every country can be placed within the DTM, but not every stage of the model
has a country that meets its specific definition. For example, there are currently no
countries in Stage 1, nor are there any countries in Stage 5, but the potential is there for

https://www.shutterstock.com/search/demography
movement in the future.

What are the stages of the Demographic Transition Model?

In Stage 1, which applied to most of the world before the Industrial Revolution, both
birth rates and death rates are high. As a result, population size remains fairly constant but
can have major swings with events such as wars or pandemics.

In Stage 2, the introduction of modern medicine lowers death rates, especially

among children, while birth rates remain high; the result is rapid population growth. Many
of the least developed countries today are in Stage 2.

In Stage 3, birth rates gradually decrease, usually as a result of improved economic

conditions, an increase in women’s status, and access to contraception. Population growth
continues, but at a lower rate. Most developing countries are in Stage 3.

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 82
5 | Global Population and Mobility

In Stage 4, birth and death rates are both low, stabilizing the population. These
countries tend to have stronger economies, higher levels of education, better healthcare, a
higher proportion of working women, and a fertility rate hovering around two children per
woman. Most developed countries are in Stage 4.

A possible Stage 5 would include countries in which fertility rates have fallen
significantly below replacement level (2 children) and the elderly population is greater than
the youthful population.

Limitations of the Demographic Transition Model

Like any model, there will be outliers and exceptions to the rule and the
Demographic Transition Model is no different. Additionally, there are things the DTM
cannot reveal: the impact of other demographic variables such as migration, are not
considered, nor does the model predict how long a country will be in each stage. But even
so, the relationship between birth rate and death rate is an important concept when
discussing population and any patterns, such as those provided by the DTM, that aid in
understanding are helpful.

Classic Demographic Transition

1. Mortality Decline
a. First Factor: reductions in contagious and infectious diseases that are spread
by air or water. Example: preventive medicine like small pox vaccine, public
health measures, quarantine measures, improvements in nutrition,
innovations in storage and transportation that permitted.
b. Second Factor: high income countries having the potential mortality
reductions due to reductions in infectious diseases and more explorations on
scientific advancements that could prolong life. Examples: Chronic abd
degenerative diseases, biomedical researches, stem cells, etc.
c. Third Factor: Low-income countries with historical standards or cultural
practices to follow to gain life expectancy rapidly. Examples: India and China

2. Fertility Transition/Decline
a. Economic theories: Couples wish to have a certain number of surviving
children, rather than births per se to invest more in the health and welfare of
a smaller number of children since bearing and rearing children is time
intensive and influenced by economic changes regarding the costs and
benefits of childbearing
b. Contraceptive technology: Coitus interruptus

3. Population Growth
a. The combination of fertility and mortality as determinants of population
growth
b. The projections are regularly prepared by the United Nations and the U.S.
Census Bureau by careful measurement and inspection if trends and current

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 83
5 | Global Population and Mobility

level and a distillation of historical patterns of decline for fertility and

mortality.
c. Developed countries population is nearly flat with population decrease like
in Europe and Japan
d. Less developed countries population is in increasingly fast pace.
e. Least developed countries population with the greatest proportional gains.

Some Consequences of the Demographic Transition

1. Families. Parents with fewer children are able to invest more in each child.
Reflecting the quality-quantity trade-off, which also maybe one of the reasons
parents reduced their fertility. Older people become more available for more
activities.
2. Health. Trends in health, vitality and disability are of enormous importance for the
economic and social consequences of aging and, indeed, for human welfare morae
broadly.
3. Economic Pressure. Increasing proportion of elderly are exacerbated in more
developed countries by dramatic declines in the age at retirement. In some countries
like the United States, population aging generates more intense finance pressures on
publicly funded health care systems than it does on pension systems. This would
also result to slow labor force growth.
4. Migration. As population growth has slowed or even turned negative in the more
developed countries, it is not surprising that international migration from third
world countries has accelerated.

Let’s pause and review:

1. What do you understand by global demography?
2. Can you explain the demographic transition?

5.2.3 Global Migration

Migration

Migration is traditionally governed

either by “push” factors such as political
persecution, economic depression, war, and
famine in the home country or by “pull”
factors such as favorable immigration policy, a
labor shortage, and a similarity of language
and culture in the country of destination
(Ritzer, 2015). Global factors which facilitate

https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/
10986/29806

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 84
5 | Global Population and Mobility

easy access to information about the country of destination, also exert a significant
influence.
Two types of Migration

1. Internal migration- which refers to people moving from one area to another within
one country.
2. International Migration – in which people cross borders of one country to another.

Here our focus will be on international migration because of its link to international
globalization. Migration tends to be regarded as problematic: something to be controlled
and even curved, because it may bring about unpredictable changes. And one way in
which states seek to improve control if the problems is by dividing up international
migrants into categories.

Categories of International Migrants

1. Temporary labour migrants

- This is also known as guest-workers or overseas contract workers. These are
men and women who migrate for a limited period in order to take up
employment and send money home.

2. Highly skilled and business migrants

- These are people with
qualifications as managers,
executives, professionals,
technicians, or similar, who
move within the internal labour
markets of transnational
corporations, or who seek
employment through
international labour markets for
scarce skills. Many countries
welcome such migrants and have
special “skilled and business
migration” programmes to
https://www.iom.int/migrantsday
encourage them to come.

3. Irregular migrants
- This is also known as undocumented or illegal migrants. These are people
who enter a country, usually in search of employment, without the necessary
documents and permits. Many labour migration flows consist of
predominantly undocumented migrants.

4. Refuges
- According to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees. “a refugee is a person residing outside his or her country of

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 85
5 | Global Population and Mobility

nationality, who is unable or unwilling to return because of a well-founded

fear of persecution on account of the race, religion, nationality membership
in a particular social group, or political opinion.” Signatories of convention
undertake to protect refugees by allowing them to enter and granting
temporary or permanent residence status.

5. Asylum Seekers
- These are people who move across borders in search of protection, but who
may not fulfil the strict criteria laid down by the 1951 Convention.

6. Forced migration
- This includes not only refugees and asylum seekers but also people forced
to move by environmental catastrophes or development projects (such as
new factories, roads, or dams).

7. Family members
- This is also known as family reunion or family reunification migrants. A
form of migration to join people who have already entered an immigration
country under one of the above categories.

8. Return immigrants
- These are people who return to their countries of origin after a period in
another country. They are often looked on favorably as they may bring
with them capital, skills and experience useful for economic development.
Many countries have special schemes to make use of this ‘development
potential’. However, some governments view returnees with suspicion
since they may act as agents of cultural or political change.

Causes of Migration

The most obvious cause of migration is the disparity levels in income, employment,
and social well-being between different areas. Differences in demographic patterns with
regard to fertility, mortality age structure and labour force growth are also important.

1. Individual’s efforts to maximize their income

2. Chances of some secure employment
3. Availability for entrepreneurial activity – business activities and demands differ
from one country to another
4. Family strategy for survival chances
5. Educational opportunities
6. Recruitment for military service

Let’s pause and review:

1. What is migration? What are its types?
2. Can you discuss the categories of international migrants?

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 86
5 | Global Population and Mobility

5.2.4 Women and Globalisation

(https://www.longdom.org/articles/impact-of-globalization-on-women.pdf)

The current wave of

globalization has greatly improved
the lives of women worldwide,
particularly the lives of those women
in the developing world.
Nevertheless, women remain
disadvantaged in many areas of life
including education, employment,
health and civil rights. In particular
https://medium.com/all-about-women/tagged/globalization
care for women during maternity is
still lacking in many parts of the world.
Approximately 529000 women die annually during pregnancy and childbirth (Gender
statistics 2010). Countries with the lowest maternal mortality rate (deaths per 100000 live
births) includes Estonia (2), Singapore (3) and Greece (3) while the highest mortality rates
can be found in Chad (1100), Somalia (1000) and sierra Leone (890) (CIA world fact book ).
To help remedy worldwide gender disparities, the UN’s millennium development goals
prioritize gender equality and empowerment of women. Politicians and scientists stress the
opportunities of an international division of labor in order to increase the prosperity of
nations and of individuals (Lafontaine 1997). Are, however opportunities distributed
equally along gender lines?

In the industrialized countries, the process of globalization bears a different impact

on women than on women. Nevertheless, they are not affected as a group, but in different
ways according to their class and ethnicity. More women than men belong to temporary
staff. Those, who drop out of gainful employment, are also predominantly women. Already
in seventies, the international division of labor was accelerated by transferring labor
intensive steps of production of the clothing and electronic industries from the industrial
nations of the north to the countries of south. Thus, cost of wages and additional wage costs
were reduced step by step in the highly industrialized countries. This happened already at
the expense of jobs for women, as labor intensive production was and still is performed
predominantly by the female gender. Often this is called “remaining work” that could not
yet be replaced by machines, at least not more cost effectively than women do. Women
work in “low wage countries” for a lower wage, as the name already points out, local
companies lead by these low wages. They are also interested in saving additional wage
costs and taxes. And in the “low wage countries” women work more willingly because
only few of them are union members. Corporations prefer female labor over male labor
because women are considered to be “docile” workers, who are willing to obey production
demands at any price. In developing nations, certain types of work, such as garment
assembly is considered to be an extension of female household roles.

Therefore, cultural influences in developing nations also impacts employment

stratification. Bringing a high demand of employment opportunities for women in
developing nations creates an expeditious change within the social structure of these
societies. Although the demand for female employment brings about an array of

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 87
5 | Global Population and Mobility

opportunities and sense of independence, the glass ceiling continues to exist with the
“feminization of poverty” (Moghadam 1999).
(copied from G.J.C.M.P., Vol.7(2):41-44, DOI:10.24105/gjcmp.7.2.1807 42/
https://www.longdom.org/articles/impact-of-globalization-on-women.pdf)

POSITIVE IMPACT OF GLOBALIZATION ON WOMEN

(https://www.longdom.org/articles/impact-of-globalization-on-women.pdf)

Globalization has increased the exports of different countries and wages in export
sectors are much higher than other sectors and in many cases women get higher wages
than men in formal industrial sectors. So globalization has increase average wages of
women, also the bigger portion of wages
goes to women. With globalization,
women’s employment opportunities have
increase, and now they are also
contributing in family expenses which
support the creation of new resources and
raise the level of income of family. Along
with increase in family income, with the
help of globalization, social choices of
women has increased. Women do lot of
family work without any wages, at the
same time that all women’s work all over
https://samesoulsblog.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/positive-effects-of-
the world is not valued or undervalued the
paid work has increased women’s social choices and life choices, in addition to giving them
self-confidence and increasing their morale. More and more countries participate in
international economy through exports, creates new employment opportunities. Many
countries, especially low income countries, have increased its participation in international
trade.

If the agricultural work is done with traditional methods, this trend has very serious
gender implications. In small farms where crops are grown in traditional way, the demand
for women’s work is very high, but their wages are low. The increase of profitability of cash
crops in the international markets increases the independence of women. Because of
globalization, there are structural changes in agricultural production. Many countries
started manufacturing of agricultural products to increase their export values and it is
especially for women, who got benefitted from this because these activities are a good
source of high wages than working in their family farms. Women health conditions are also
improved by working in companies rather than farms. By working in family farms, women
paid nothing or very low wages but women get higher wages while working in companies
especially in export industries.

While talking about impact of globalization on women, we cannot ignore the impact
of service sector. At present time, service sector is the most important sector. It will not be
wrong to say; service sector is equally important to industrial sector. Some service sectors
like communication & information technology are achieving the same progress achieved by

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 88
5 | Global Population and Mobility

industrial sector. In terms of output, this sector is considered to be largest sector of all the
economic sectors in terms of output and the employment opportunities which is provides
in many countries. By working in informal sector, especially small business is considered
the most important income source for the poor women (Dr. Hooda Sobhy). In some of the
fastest growing service sectors, demand for female employment is increasing like data
processing sector, industrial export sector, airlines, railways, banks and insurance
companies. In developed countries due to expansion in the service sector, women get
plenty of quality work.
Multinational companies offer job without discriminating between men and women
because they work in competitive environment and choose the best employees regardless
of their gender. It motivates more women to get the jobs. Globalization has opened up
many ways for men and women in India. As India was a restricted economy before 1991.
After launching of “liberalization”, ”globalization”, ”privatization” policy, many
opportunities in the form of new jobs are available for women. With globalization women
are getting higher wages, which raises self-
(copied from G.J.C.M.P., Vol.7(2):41-44, DOI:10.24105/gjcmp.7.2.1807 42/
https://www.longdom.org/articles/impact-of-globalization-on-women.pdf)

GLOBALIZATION’S IMPACT ON GENDER EQUALITY

(https://gsdrc.org/document-library/globalizations-impact-on-gender-equality-whats-happened-and-whats-needed/)

What impact has globalisation

had on gender equality? This study
examines the impacts of economic
integration, technical change and
access to information on gender
inequality. It argues that not everyone
is benefiting from globalisation.
Women, for whom existing
constraints are most binding, are often
left behind. While the forces
unleashed by globalisation have lifted
some of the barriers to greater gender
equality, public action is needed to lift
these further. In particular, public
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-positive-and-negative-effects-of-globalization-on-
policy needs to address gender gaps in women-in-INDIA
endowments, agency, and access to
economic opportunities.

The world has

witnessed an
enormous economic
transformation over
the past three

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 89
5 | Global Population and Mobility

decades, fostered by increasing global flows of goods and services, technology and
information. These changes have transformed the way domestic and global markets and
institutions function, and have thus changed the economic landscape for individuals,
households, firms, and governments.

Globalisation has brought increased access to economic opportunities. Trade

openness and the spread of information and communication technologies (ICTs) have
increased women’s access to economic opportunities and in some cases increased their
wages relative to men’s. Growth in export and ICT-enabled sectors, together with a decline
in the importance of physical strength and a rise in the importance of cognitive skills, has
increased the demand for female labour. ICT has also increased access to markets among
female farmers and entrepreneurs by easing time and mobility constraints.

Several factors associated with a more global world strengthen the incentives for
action toward greater gender equality:

Gender inequality is more costly in an integrated world because it diminishes a

country’s ability to compete internationally—particularly if the country specializes in
female-intensive goods and services. International peer pressure has also led more
countries than ever to ratify treaties against discrimination. Growing media exposure and
consumers’ demands for better treatment of workers has pushed multinationals toward
fairer wages and better working conditions for women.

Globalisation is shifting gender roles and norms:

 Increased access to information, primarily through television and the Internet,

allows countries to learn about social mores in other places, which can change
perceptions and promote the adoption of more egalitarian attitudes.

 Economic empowerment for women reinforces this process by promoting

changes in gender roles and allowing women to influence time allocation,
shift relative power within the household and exercise agency more broadly.
Globalisation has the potential to contribute to greater gender equality.

However, in the absence of public policy, globalisation alone cannot end gender
inequality. Despite significant increases in agency and in access to economic opportunities
for many women in many countries, large gender gaps remain in some areas. Public action
is needed to close gender gaps in endowments, agency, and access to economic
opportunities. Only then will countries be able to capitalize on the potential of globalisation
as a force for greater gender equality.

Let’s pause and review:

1. What is the impact of globalisation to women?
2. What is the impact of globalisation to gender quality?

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 90
5 | Global Population and Mobility

EXERCISE 1
(Please use a separate paper or the answer sheet at the last page of this module)

Answer the following:

1. Define global city in your own words. (5 pts)

2. Enumerate the characteristics of a global City and give one example for each
characteristic. (12pts)
3. Enumerate and explain the consequences of a global city. (18 pts)
4. What are the stages of demographic transition model? (5pts)
5. Differentiate the two types of migration. (4 pts)
6. Discuss the causes of migration. (10pts)
7. Give at least two impact of globalisation on women. (3 pts)
8. Give one impact of globalisation on gender equality. (3 pts)

5.3 References

Aldama, P.K.R (2018). The Contemporary World. Rex Bookstore

Claudio, L.E., Abinales, P.N. (2018). The Contemporary World. C & E Publishing, Inc.

Ferrer, M.C.D. (2018). The Contemporary World. Mutya Publishing House, Inc.

https://gsdrc.org/document-library/globalizations-impact-on-gender-equality-
whats-happened-and-whats-needed/)

https://www.longdom.org/articles/impact-of-globalization-on-women.pdf

5.4 Acknowledgment

The images, and information contained in this module were taken from the
references cited above.

C. M. D. Hamo-ay
 91
5 | Global Population and Mobility

C. M. D. Hamo-ay