Globalization, Gender and Labor Rights: Trends and Trajectories

Abstract

This chapter explores the complex intersection between gender and labor in the globalization of production. By reviewing the existing literature, this chapter draws on the central debates concerning the employment of women in global manufacturing enterprises, which will be organized into three central themes: the relationship between feminization of workforce and global manufacturing; how feminization and labor vulnerability intersect in global factories; and the policy debates of labor regulations. Drawing views from the existing literature, this chapter will conclude that the impact of globalization on women is a paradox. While it provides many women, mainly in the global South, a way of survival through expansion of employment opportunities, women workers face multiple oppressions where gender identity is used as a resource for globalizing the capital. The chapter raises a number of questions that correspond to how globalization of the economy shapes the dynamics of employment and rights of workers.