Globalization, Women Factory Workers of Bangladesh and their Autonomy
https://doi.org/10.17583/generos.2017.2621
Keywords:
Downloads
Abstract
Feminist literature on globalization has examined the forces that motivate women to stay in factory jobs despite the horrendous pay. Bangladesh is currently the second largest readymade garment manufacturer after China. How does factory work empower women? This question became a central issue in current feminist theorizing, although this question is often absent from the discussion of global factory workers of Bangladesh. This paper expands the body of feminist knowledge by using in-depth interview data of women workers of a Bangladeshi factory. I highlight how women’s income provides them relative autonomy from their family and community and empowers them.
Downloads
References
Abrams, K. (1997). Redefining women’s agency: A response to professor Williams, Indiana Law Journal, 72 (2), 459-62.
Google Scholar CrossrefAgarwala, R., & Lynch, S. (2006). Refining the measurement of women’s autonomy: An international application of a multidimensional construct, Social Forces, 84 (4), 2077-2098.
Google Scholar CrossrefBangladesh Country Report. (2010). A human rights report on trafficking in person, especially women and children. Available at http://www.protectionproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Bangladesh2.pdf. Last accessed 26 October 2016.
Google Scholar CrossrefBBC. (2013) Bangladesh Factory Collapse. Available at (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/22883812). Last accessed 13 July 2013.
Google Scholar CrossrefBeneria, L., & Feldman, S. (1992). Unequal burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, and Women’s Work. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefBhattacharya, D., & Rahman, M. (1999). Female employment under export propelled industrialization: Prospect for internalizing global opportunities in the Bangladesh apparel sector. UNRISD Occasional Paper, 10, Geneva: UNRISD.
Google Scholar CrossrefBraunstein, E. (2008). Women’s Employment, Empowerment, and Globalization: An Economic Perspective. Bangkok, Thailand: Division for the Advancement of Women, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations.
Google Scholar CrossrefCagatay, N., Elson, D., & Grown, C. (1995). Introduction. World Development, 23 (11), 1827-1836.
Google Scholar CrossrefDas, V. (2010) Listening to Voices: An interview with Veena Das by Tim Tarcot DiFruscia, Alt`erit`es, 7 (1), 136-145
Google Scholar CrossrefDominguez-Villalobos, L., & Brown-Grossman, F. (2010). Trade liberalization and gender wage inequality in Mexico. Feminist Economics, 16 (4), 53-79.
Google Scholar CrossrefDyson, T., & Moore, M. (1983). On kinship structure, female autonomy, and demographic behavior in India, Population and Development Review, 9 (1), 35-60
Google Scholar CrossrefEnloe, C. (2007). Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link. Lanham, M.D.: Rowan & Littlefield.
Google Scholar CrossrefFolbre, N. (2001). The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values. New York: New York Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefFonow, M., & Cook, J. (1992). Back to the future: A look at the second wave of feminist epistemology and methodology. In M. Fonow & J. Cook (Eds.), Beyond Methodology: Feminist Scholarship as Lived Research, (pp. 1-15). Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefHamilton, L., & Armstrong, E. (2009). Gendered sexuality in young adulthood: Double binds and flawed options. Gender & Society, 23: 589-616.
Google Scholar CrossrefHossain, M., Mathbor, G. & Semenza, R. (2013). Feminization and labor vulnerability in global manufacturing industries: Does gendered discourse matter? Asian Social Work and Policy Review, 7, 197-212.
Google Scholar CrossrefJejeebhoy, S., & Sathar, Z. (2001). Women’s autonomy in India and Pakistan: The influence of Religion and Region. Population and Development Review, 27 (4), 687-712.
Google Scholar CrossrefKabeer, N. (2001). Resources, agency, achievements: reflections on measurement of women’s empowerment. In A. Sisask (Ed.), Discussing Women’s Empowerment – Theory and Practice. Stockholm: Swedish International Development Agency. Available at http://www.sida.se/Publications/Import/pdf/sv/Discussing-Women’s-Empowerment- Theory-and-Practice.pdf. Last accessed February 18, 2017.
Google Scholar CrossrefKabeer, N., & Mahmud, S. (2004). Rags, riches and women workers: Export oriented garment manufacturing in Bangladesh. In Commonwealth Secretariat (Ed.), Chains of fortune: Linking women producers and workers with global market, (pp. 133-62). London: Marlborough House.
Google Scholar CrossrefKabeer, N. (2000). The Power to Choose: Bangladeshi Women and Labour Market Decisions. London and Dhaka. London: Verso.
Google Scholar CrossrefKabeer, N. (2010). Gender equality and women’s empowerment: a critical analysis of the third Millennium Development Goal. Gender and Development, 13 (1), 13-24. Doi: 10.1080/13552070512331332273.
Google Scholar CrossrefKimmel, M. (2006). Manhood in America. New York: Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefLind, A. (2000). Negotiating boundaries: Women’s organizations and the politics of restructuring in Ecuador. In M. Marchand & A. Runyan (Eds.) Gender and Global Restructuring: Sighting, Sites and Resistances, (pp. 161-75). New York: Routledge.
Google Scholar CrossrefLuke, T., & Tuathail, G. (1998). Global flowmations, local fundamentalism, and fast geopolitics. In A. Herod & G. Tuathail & Susan Roberts (Eds.), Unruly World: Globalization, Governance and Geography, (pp. 72-94). London: Routledge.
Google Scholar CrossrefMarchand, M., & Runyan, A. (2000). Introduction: Feminist sighting and global restructuring: Old and new conceptualization. In M. Marchand & A. Runyan (Eds.), Gender and Global Restructuring: Sightings, Sites, and Resistances, (pp. 1-24). New York: Routledge
Google Scholar CrossrefMarchand, M. (2009). The future of gender and development after 9/11: Insights from post-colonial feminism and transnationalism, Third World Quarterly, 30 (5), 921-935.
Google Scholar CrossrefMcKinsey. (2011) Potentials for rapid growth of Bangladesh’s RMG Industry. Available at www.mckinsey.de/sites/www.mckinsey.de/files/2011_McKinsey_Bangladesh.pdf. Last accessed 24 June 2015.
Google Scholar CrossrefMittelman, J. (2000). Globalization Syndrome. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefMohanty, C. (2003). Feminism without Borders: Decolonizing Theory, Practicing Solidarity. Durham and London: Duke University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefMorrisson, C., & Jutting, J. (2005). Women’s discrimination in developing countries: A new data set for better policies. World Development, 33 (7), 1065-1081.
Google Scholar CrossrefMukhopadhyay, U. (2015). Economic liberalization and gender inequality in labor market: A theoretical approach. Review of Urban and Regional Development Studies, 27 (1), 68-87.
Google Scholar CrossrefNikoi, G. (1998). Gender and Development, Accra, Ghana: University of Cape Coast, Publications Unit.
Google Scholar CrossrefRahman, M. (2014). Trade liberalization and gender gap: Bangladesh experience. The Journal of Applied Business and Economics, 16 (2), 57-69.
Google Scholar CrossrefRajan, R., & Park, Y. (2005). Post-colonial feminism/postcolonialism and feminism. In H. Schwarz & S. Ray (Eds.) A Companion to Postcolonial Studies, (pp. 53-71), Oxford: Blackwell Publishing LTD.
Google Scholar CrossrefScott, J. (1985). Weapon of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. New Haven, CT. Yale University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefSen, A. (1990). Gender and cooperative conflicts. In I. Tinker (Ed.), Persistent Inequalities: Women and World Development, (pp. 123-49), New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefSparke, M. (2001). Networking globalization: A tapestry of introductions. Global Networks, 1 (2), 171-179.
Google Scholar CrossrefSpivak, G. (1998). Can the subaltern speak? In C. Nelson & L. Grossberg (Ed.), Marxism and Interpretation of Culture, (pp. 271-316), Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Google Scholar CrossrefThe Daily Janakantha (2016). 80% of married women are victims of abuse. Available at https://www.dailyjanakantha.com/details/article/220809/বিবাহিত-নারীদের-৮০-শতাংশ-নির্যাতনের-শিকার. Last accessed 3 October 2016.
Google Scholar CrossrefThe Guardian (2013). Muhammad Yunus appeals to West to help Bangladesh's garment industry. Available at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/12/muhammad-yunus-bangladesh-appeal. Last accessed 1 July 2013.
Google Scholar CrossrefToffler, A., & Toffler, H. (1995). Creating a New Civilization: The Politics of the Third Wave. Atlanta, GA.: Turner
Google Scholar CrossrefUnited Nations Population Fund (2011). Bangladesh: Barbaric mutilation of Bangladeshi woman. Available at http://www.icl-fi.org/english/wv/986/bangladesh.html. Last accessed 4 April 2014.
Google Scholar CrossrefUNICEF (2014). Towards ending child marriage in Bangladesh. Available at https://www.unicef.org/bangladesh/Child_Marriage_in_Bangladesh.pdf. Last accessed 5 March 2017.
Google Scholar CrossrefVaismoradi, M., Turunen, H., & Bondas, T. (2013). Content analysis and thematic analysis: implications for conducting a qualitative descriptive study. Nursing and Health Sciences, 15, 3, 398-405, doi: 10,1111/nhs.12048
Google Scholar CrossrefVan Staveren, I., Elson, D., Grown, C., & Cagatay, N. (2007). The Feminist Economics of Trade. Oxon: Routledge.
Google Scholar CrossrefWorld Bank (2012). World Development Indicators. Washington, D.C. Available at http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators/wdi-2012. Last accessed 15 June 2015.
Google Scholar CrossrefWorld Socialist Website (2006). Bangladesh: 54 workers killed in textile factory fire. Available at https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2006/03/bang-m02.html. Last accessed 15 October 2016.
Google Scholar CrossrefYunus, M., & Yamagata, T. (2012). The garment industry in Bangladesh. In The Dynamics of the Garment Industry in Low-Income Countries: Experience of Asia and Africa (Interim Report), Chousakenkyu Houkokusho, IDE-JETRO, 2012. Available at www.ide.go.jp/English/Publish/Download/Report/2011/pdf/410_ch6.pdf. Last accessed 1 December 2015.
Google Scholar CrossrefDownloads
Published
Almetric
Dimensions
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
All articles are published under Creative Commons copyright (CC BY). Authors hold the copyright and retain publishing rights without restrictions, but authors allow anyone to download, reuse, reprint, modify, distribute, and/or copy articles as the original source is cited.