March 2001 Insights Issue #36
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Stitched up
Can codes help women garment workers?
The garments sector is a major source of female
employment: 75 percent of jobs in the industry are held by women and yet
theirs are the lowest paid and lowest status of all. Production is
highly globalised and characterised by continual waves of relocation, a
trend that shows no signs of abating.
In this highly competitive sector, companies seek ever
more flexible and cost effective production systems. International
subcontracting chains - 'chains of subordination' - are dominated by big
retail stores and brand names. Women carry a disproportionate burden of
risk and cost at the production end of the chain in low wages and short
term, unstable patterns of employment.
Women work in Export Processing Zones, but also in
sweatshops and home based production within the informal sector in
developing and industrialised countries: in Australia it is estimated
that for every factory-based worker there are 15 outworkers. Indeed the
detrimental effect on working conditions that the need for greater
flexibility in garments production has encouraged is highlighted by a
recent ILO report.
Garments retailers, for a decade the target of high
profile consumer action, now mostly accept responsibility for labour
conditions along their supply chains. Much garment production in the
informal sector, however, lies beyond the reach of labour laws and
unions, let alone Codes of Practice. Further research is needed to
answer the following questions:
-
Will codes achieve real improvement, given the
essentially competitive nature of international subcontracting
systems?
-
Can codes that include labour rights be genuinely
implemented along supply chains?
-
How can the negative aspects of gender bias inherent
in subcontracting chains be overcome?
Or is it enough that the labour rights agenda at the
centre of codes provides a space for labour activists, whether inside or
outside formal trade union structures, to build campaigns and
connections along global production systems?
Linda Shaw
Women Working Worldwide
Room 412 Manton Building
Rosamond Street West
Manchester M15 6LL
UK
Linda.M.Shaw@man.ac.uk
See also
Labour Practices in the footwear, leather, textiles and clothing
industries, ILO, Geneva (2000)
Organising Along International Subcontracting Chains, WWW,
Manchester forthcoming (2001) |
