Women's Labor Exploitation in Global Supply Chains

Introduction: Globalization and Women's Employment

Globalization has brought about several notable positive developments, including the widespread diffusion of technology and information, as well as better living conditions for many of the world's population. However, in many cases, these positive aspects have been swiftly offset by negative ones — hard labor conditions in several developing countries, the proliferation of substandard products, and worsening environmental conditions. Of particular concern here are the precarious employment conditions that many women face when working for multinationals in third-world countries.

The authors of Trading Away Our Rights: Women Working in Global Supply Chains emphasize not only the conditions in which women work — both in terms of contractual arrangements (often non-existent) and the actual conditions in factories and fields — but also the reasons behind multinationals' drive to exploit rather than support their workers, and the reasons why women choose to accept lower pay and longer hours rather than risk losing their jobs.

Globalization has had some notable effects on employment as well. A global economy and liberalized trade have created jobs for millions of women, who now occupy "60 to 90 per cent of jobs in the labor-intensive stages of the clothing and fresh-produce global supply chains" (Trading Away Our Rights, p. 16). However, the negative aspects mean these jobs are frequently characterized as "insecure, exhausted or undermined" (Trading Away Our Rights, p. 17).

Working Conditions: Insecurity, Exhaustion, and Suppression

Each of these three characteristics deserves separate attention. First, women are insecure in their jobs because they are typically forced to work without a written contract, without legal protections they can invoke in their defense, and with limited or no social protection at all. This means no medical insurance, no pension plans, and none of the other social benefits an employee would receive in a developed country.

Statistics illustrate this clearly. In China's Special Economic Zones (SEZs), one of the engines of Chinese economic growth, "80% of the SEZ workers are women; most are between the ages of 16 and 25" (Sweatshop Watch Newsletter, Fall 1996, Vol. 2, No. 1). After this age, they are generally sent back to the rural areas they originally came from. The same pattern holds in Sri Lanka, where "most of the 15,000 women employed in the garment industry are between the ages of 19 and 25" (Ibid.). These findings demonstrate that women working in developing countries have no assurance they will retain their positions from one day to the next and can be dismissed at the employer's will. If we add to this the fact that women generally earn minimum wages and that sexist prejudice — reserving certain jobs exclusively for men — is widespread, we come close to an accurate picture of reality.

In terms of exhaustion, two aspects stand out. First, workers are compelled to put in long hours. Because there is no written contract specifying the number of hours to be worked or the pay to be received for them — and because in all developed countries overtime is remunerated — there is nothing a worker can invoke when asked to stay longer. This dynamic also gives employers the leverage to tell workers they are free to leave if they object. The women employed in many of these third-world countries, having typically come from rural areas, are also living in unhealthy dormitories with no ventilation, electricity, or running water (Ibid.). These living conditions compound the toll of their working day.

As for the "undermined" dimension, workers are undermined "in their attempts to organize and demand that their rights be met" (Trading Away Our Rights, p. 17). These attempts are met with intimidation, violence, or dismissal (Ibid., p. 24). Women who might otherwise fight for their rights frequently choose not to, because of the risks they would be subjecting themselves to.

Why Women Accept Exploitative Work

We may ask why women make these sacrifices. The answers are straightforward: the need for money in poor countries. For many women, their own financial earnings allow them to live independently and support themselves, freeing them from familial dependence. In other cases, they must provide for their families and their level of education leaves them with no alternatives. The feminization of poverty in many developing regions means that paid employment — however precarious — can represent the only available path to economic participation.

Ethical Claims: Exploitation in the 21st Century

After presenting the issues raised in the report, we must ask what the ethical claims amount to. In my view, the authors point to a single concept: exploitation. In the twenty-first century, we are confronting situations where slavery is a more accurate term than employment — where the worker has no rights and only liabilities, and where she is simply exploited by companies seeking ever-greater profit. Morally and ethically, how can we accept the exploitation of other human beings, let alone practice and encourage it for material gain?

Many of the arguments and ethical claims the authors present are too well-supported to reject. Philosophically, knowledge may be considered relative, but we are dealing here with statistical facts proving that women employed in clothing factories in Morocco, or on fruit plantations in Central America and South Africa, are paid minimum wages. We are confronted with evidence gathered by international organizations — some of them actively campaigning, such as the World Young Women's Christian Association — that document how poor people, and women in particular, are exploited.

Disagreeing with the authors' arguments can only mean approving of exploitation. Yet, tacitly, most of us already do. By purchasing bananas from Honduras and clothing manufactured in low-wage countries, consumers encourage the labor mistreatment of the women who produce those goods in developing nations.

Conclusion: A Global Ethical Alarm

With straightforward examples drawn from Cambodia and several fruit-producing countries — Honduras, Colombia, and Kenya — the report presents a serious issue for the global society we live in today: the exploitation of women in developing countries, driven by companies' need to push prices down and remain competitive. It is an ethical alarm, meant to highlight that such conditions persist in the present day. Recognizing consumer complicity, state responsibility, and corporate accountability is the first step toward demanding meaningful change in how global supply chains treat the women who sustain them.

References

Oxfam. Trading Away Our Rights. 2003. Available at www.oxfam.org

Walker, Anne S. The Women's Movement and Its Role in Development. Commonwealth of Learning, 2000.

Sweatshop Watch Newsletter: Fall 1996, Vol. 2, No. 1. Available at http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/swatch/newsletters/2_1.html

Reardon, Geraldine. Globalization, Technological Change and Women Workers in Asia. The United Nations University, 1998, pp. 10–15.

Gang, Wu. "Female Workers Feel the Pinch." China Daily, June 2004.

Seabrook, Jeremy. "Globalizing the Working Class." August 1999. Available at http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/1938-cn.htm