Pains and Gains
EPZs are viewed as union-free zones where workers are exploited and their rights to organise are brutally trampled. But the situation for EPZ workers cannot be truly understood if analysed in isolation of family, society, and the global marketplace. Conditions in the EPZs are a reflection and magnification of universal class and gender problems. Even though women are undervalued in the labour force, their families, governments, and employers benefit from and depend on their low cost (and often free) labour inside and outside the home.
Export-led growth strategies intensify societal gender biases against women. While the elite and business classes are the biggest beneficiaries of the foreign exchange and business opportunities that are generated, the poor, most of whom are women, are forced to work harder just to survive. Many Asian countries target young, rural women viewing them as a comparative advantage for developing labour-intensive, low-skilled manufacturing. They are assigned tedious, low-skilled jobs because they are viewed as secondary workers who can be paid less.
NGOs generally approach Export Processing Zones (EPZs) as a development strategy that should be challenged. Meanwhile, trade unions have tended to ignore the mostly female EPZ workforce. AMRC and other Asian NGOs must be vigilant in exposing the environmental and social consequences of NIC development strategies, including the labour repression and exploitation that EPZ workers face. Yet it is incumbent on AMRC as a labour support centre to facilitate research that goes beyond black and white assessments of EPZs and their implications for workers. The economic situation for people in developing countries often leaves them with no other alternatives but to seek employment in EPZs. So instead of ignoring the reality, NGOs would best serve workers by helping them identify potential avenues/opportunities that would advance and promote their interests.
Women, like men, gain satisfaction and a sense of self-worth from earning money and being able to economically contribute to their family's income. Employment can also bring increased power in family decision-making. Women are often empowered from the opportunity to work with other women, to learn new skills, and to take part in political and union organising.
Women EPZ workers are often the subject of studies. However, they are the ones who truly understand the consequences of their employment and they are the ones who have succeeded in organising despite business and governmental efforts to repress them. Any organising strategy or assessment that fails to take their views into full consideration will be misdirected.
Contents
FEATURE STORY
COUNTRY REPORTS
APPEALS 25
MAYDAY 27
REGIONAL ROUNDUP 32
Announcements i
EPZ Resources ii
Resources Update 36