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Kava Spartak
To what extent has the globalisation of labour
intensive industries brought benefits to women in Third World
countries?
‘While admitting that
capitalism had negative consequences for women of all classes in
the short term, she [Pinchbeck] contends that the opportunity
for work outside the home created by factories eventually led to
greater economic, social, and political independence for all
women’ (Amico,
1998). This essay critically explores the question to what
extent the globalisation of labour intensive industries has
brought benefits to women in Third World countries. The essay
begins by illustrating the interconnection between the labour
intensive industry and women as labour force in the
industrialisation process in Third World economies. It then
continues to emphasise the reason why women labourers have been
appropriate for labour intensive industries in Asian economies.
Additionally, the essay discusses the negative impacts of the
globalisation of labour intensive industries on Third World
women. Finally, the essay outlines the benefits that
export-oriented manufacturing has brought to women in NICs
(Newly Industrialised Countries).
After World War II most
of the Third World countries started industrialising with a
policy of state intervention. Women did not play a major role
during that process. Pearson underlines this thesis by claiming
that the majority of the workforce ‘employed in
import-substituting industries in Latin America and Southeast
Asia was in fact male’ (Pearson, 1993:223). The turning
point was when Third World economies, particularly the East and
Southeast Asian economies, changed their policy from import
substitution industrialisation (ISI) to export-oriented
industrialisation (EOI), i.e. the industrial sector shifted from
supplying the domestic market to producing for and supplying the
already industrialised world. In order to build factories with
assembly lines, which offered new employment opportunities for
women, the import of components and equipment from the developed
world was necessary, and hence, the international division of
labour in the global market economy was taken to another level.
Amico emphasises this thesis by quoting Mies as follows: ‘In
the current international division of labor, first world women
function as consumers, third world women as producers’
(Amico, 1998:104).
Pearson states that
there is an interconnection between the manufacturing of
export-oriented goods and women’s labour in LDCs (Least
Developed Countries) by quoting Lim as follows:
‘…manufacturing for exports began only in the 1950s, first in
local and then in multi-national firms. It has been concentrated
in labor-intensive industries, which tend to be female-intensive
in all countries, since these industries are sensitive to wage
costs and female labor is typically cheaper than equivalent male
labor’ (Pearson, 1993:230). Joekes goes even further by
underlining the interdependency between the two by saying that
‘industrialization in the post-war period has been as much
female led as export led’ (Joekes, 1987:81).
There are
several reasons for the appropriateness of women as factory
workers. Many scholars represent the argument that factory work
in light industries is ‘unskilled’ work (‘tasks requiring
meticulous and repetitive work’ (Pearson, 1993:231)), and
therefore, women are predestined for that kind of labour. For
Robertson, in the history of gender division of labour ‘skilled’
work meant that only men had the ‘right to enter certain
occupations’, because ‘they were physically able to
follow’ that type of work (Robertson, 1999:11). Robertson
also refers to the wage gap between the sexes by saying that in
19th century Britain men were the ‘family bread
winners and therefore’ needed ‘larger incomes’
(Robertson, 1999:11). Considering Robertson’s statements and
that women are made for ‘unskilled’ and less paid work, the
success of export-oriented Asian economies, which concentrated
on the production and export of goods such as textiles,
garments, food and electronics, was mainly achieved by their
female factory workers. Pearson (1993) argues that the reasons
for the employment of women in the Asian NICs have been far
beyond cheap wage rates. Pearson states that Third World women’s
‘natural attributes’, such as ‘nimble fingers’, ’small
hands’, being ‘naturally more docile and willing to
accept tough work discipline’ and ‘less inclined than men
to join trade unions, and to take naturally to tendiuos
repetitious and monotonous work’, and having a ‘manual
dexterity of a high order’, are the reasons why women are
‘suitable for export processing employment’ (Pearson,
1992:233). Additionally, Pearson names stereotypical
characteristics of an ideal Third World factory woman like being
young, single, childless, unskilled, a migrant from rural areas,
and without any experience in the industrial sector (Pearson,
1993:235). These characteristics of the stereotypical Third
World female factory worker emphasise how vulnerable they are.
Kiely (1995) calls the policy of TNCs (Trans National
Corporations), who take advantage of the latter mentioned
characteristics, super-exploitative. Kiely accuses the
industrialised world of driving the process of exploitation for
its own benefits – consumerism at low costs from production
under inhuman conditions, i.e. ‘employment of workers who
face long hours, poor working conditions, low pay, a high level
of labour intensity, short holidays and rapid rates of labour
turnover’ (Kiely, 1995:90).
‘For
Engels, since women’s oppression depends on exploitative class
relations, their emancipation first requires the overthrow of
capitalism’ (Amico, 1998:103). It
is not easy for female factory workers in the Asian NICs to
understand Friedrich Engels’ statement. Their main concern is to
work and win bread for the family. For most of them are young,
single, and come from rural areas, they are more than happy to
have a job and to be able to send money to their poor families.
Knowing that there are thousands of other women wishing for a
job in the manufacturing industry, employed women labourers do
not complain about long working hours, exhaustion or illness.
TNCs take these facts into account when employing young women in
the EPZs (Economic Processing Zones) in the Asian NICs. Kiely
stresses this point by quoting Pearson as follows: ‘Employers
often take advantage of cheap female labour. Low wages are
justified by the argument that the proper place for women is in
the home, and the skills involved in production (such as sewing)
are somehow natural’ (Pearson in Kiely, 1998:53). In
Addition, states seldom intervene or speak for their working
population in the EPZs. On the contrary, they ban trade unions
in order to attract TNCs and foreign capital to enter their EPZs.
Additionally, tariffs and quotas are eliminated and bureaucratic
requirements are lowered.
According to Standing in Kiely (1998),
‘there is a global feminisation of the labour force, in which
employers take advantage of super-exploited cheap labour in
order to survive in a competitive global economy’ (Standing
in Kiely, 1998:54). The idea of global feminisation means that,
there is a tendency that women, due to being a cheap and
flexible labour force, will replace men in jobs, which have been
dominated by the latter so far. Pearson refers to Standing’s
global feminisation by saying: ‘Instead of suggesting that
industrialisation relies primarily on the employment of women,
it is postulated that industrialisation depends on the
conversion of all industrial employment to the conditions of
female employment (Pearson, 1993:237). Forbes mentions some
living conditions of female factory workers in Malaysia by
stating that ‘they live in overcrowded rented rooms and
hotels’ (Forbes, 1996:68). Forbes emphasises that female
factory labourers in Thailand suffer under unacceptable working
conditions as follows: ‘it is not unusual for Thai female
factory workers to have young children to look after. The
factories rarely provide child-care facilities, so small
children are brought onto the factory floor. There they are a
risk both to themselves and their mothers. Sexual harassment,
and sometimes rape, is another problem that women factory
workers face but their male colleagues do not’ (Forbes,
1996:69). As for health matters, Forbes mentions an example from
Central Java in Indonesia, where women factory workers suffer
from ‘low level intoxications, noise induced hearing loss,
respiratory disorders, stress…occupational cancer, spontaneous
abortion and prematurity’ (Forbes, 1996:70). Another impact
of the labour intensive industry on Third World women is the
informal sector. The informal sector according to Pearson,
contains ‘industrial subcontracting’ for mothers and
housewives on ‘finishing tasks’ within their homes with
activities such as sewing of sweaters and sheets, stitching of
hats, leather luggage and jogging shoes, packaging and other
activities (Pearson, 1993:243). Although the wages in the
informal sector (home work) are even lower than in the formal
(factory work), it has also brought benefits to women – at least
former factory workers can continue to earn some money after
marriage or motherhood.
Exploitation of the
female factory worker has had its origins in the First World
during the early stages of industrialisation. Not only the
factory owner, but also the factory owner’s wife, who wore
clothes, which were manufactured by the female factory worker,
played the exploiter role. Amico emphasises this point by
quoting Clark as follows: ‘As a
result of the separation of home and work, by century’s end …
bourgeois women were confined to an idle domestic existence, and
lower-class women to low-paid wage labour’ (Amico, 1998:103).
The industrial revolution and capitalism in the 19th
century and globalisation connected with the free trade policy
in the 20th century have both been exploiting women
as labour force by all means necessary. But what are the
benefits that they have brought to women? In general one can
claim that women in the developed world are harvesting the
fruits of suffering factory women’s past. As for Third World
factory women there is evidence in some places that they don’t
have to wait another century in order to get their benefits from
their struggle. The women in India’s textile industry, according
to Baud (1992), have benefited in many aspects from the labour
intensive industry. Only to name a few aspects, Baud stresses
that the ‘social autonomy’, which is positively
influenced by ‘cash income‘, is significant for the
confidence of an Indian woman (Baud, 1992:178). The ILO-ARTEP
(1990) team finds that in terms of education, labour intensive
industry in South Korea has not only brought literacy to the
Korean women but also opened doors for Korean women to gain
higher education in universities and colleges. The statistics
speak for themselves: ‘The proportion of middle school and
high school graduates among women workers in the non
agricultural sectors was just about 20 per cent in 1970. By 1987
this had increased to nearly 65 per cent. In the case of
colleges or university graduates the corresponding proportion in
1970 was less than four per cent. By 1987 this proportion came
close to 10 per cent in Korea’ (ILO-ARTEP, 1990:86).
Sainsbury as well highlights the impacts of EOI on educational
matters for women in the Philippines and Thailand as follows: ‘Unusually
when compared with worldwide trends, women university graduates
outnumber men in both Thailand and the Philippines, and more
girls than boys are enrolled in secondary schools…more women are
entering non-traditional courses such as engineering,
agriculture, forestry and law’ (Sainsbury, 1997:40-41).
Forbes underlines the social status of women by claiming that in
Southeast Asian cities educated women will demand ‘for
employment and for a bigger role in urban planning and
management’ (Forbes, 1996:105). Stichert (1990) mentions
examples from Hong-Kong, Taiwan and Singapore, where single
daughters, who worked in factories, financially supported their
younger siblings in terms of education, helped their parents to
start their own family business, and those, who lived in factory
dormitories, had the chance ‘to choose recreational
activities and friends of their own’; married middle-class
mothers, working in the informal sector, could buy their
children clothes, place ‘the major part of their earnings at
the disposal of their family’, and finally ‘use their
earnings as pocket money’ (Stichert, 1990:126-131).
In conclusion, the globalisation of
labour intensive industries has brought some worth mentioning
benefits to women in Third World countries. Although the
consequence of its exploitative side is of greater importance,
it can be claimed that factory jobs have brought some
progression in the emancipation of women in some of the
conservative and patriarchy dominated Asian countries. Free
trade policy, however, is exploitative in general.
Industrialising Third World states with EPZs, concentrating on
export manufacturing and dependent on capital from TNCs, neither
care much about working conditions of their working peoples nor
about the exploitative policies of their foreign financiers (who
move their factories from the developed world, with unemployment
as a result, to the developing world, where there is access to
cheap labour), as they only try to develop and achieve economic
wealth. This dilemma of today’s global economic system does not
only count women as its victims but also men and - the most
innocent creatures in the world – children. (2058 words,
including citations)
Bibliography
·
Amico, E.B., (1998). A Reader’s Guide to Women’s Studies,
USA, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, pp.103-104
·
Baud, I.S.A., (1992). Forms of Production and Women’s Labour,
India, Sage Publications India Pvt Ltd
·
Forbes, D., (1996). Asian Metropolis, Australia, Oxford
University Press
·
ILO-ARTEP, (1990). Employment Challenges for the 90s,
Switzerland, ILO (International Labour Organisation)
Publications; ARTEP (Asian Regional Team for Employment
Promotion)
·
Joekes, S.P., (1987). Women in the World Economy: An INSTRAW
Study, USA, Oxford University Press
·
Kiely, R., (1995). Sociology & Development, UK, UCL Press
Limited
·
Kiely, R. et al., (1998). Globalisation and the Third
World, UK, Routledge
·
Pearson, R., (1993). Gender Issues in Industrialization. In:
Hewitt J., Johnson H. and Wield D., (eds.) Industrialization
and Development, USA, Oxford University Press, pp.222-247
·
Robertson, P.L., (1999). Authority and Control in Modern
Industry, UK, Routledge
·
Sainsbury, J., (1997). ‘The New Inequality: Women Worker’s Lives
in Thailand and the Philippines’, Briefing, Catholic
Institute for International Relations
·
Stichert S. et al., (1990). Women, Employment and the
Family in the International Division of Labour, UK, The
Macmillan Press Ltd
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