Export‐Oriented Employment, Poverty and Gender: Contested Accounts

Recent discussions on the ‘social clause’ have opened up a pandora's box. This article probes some of the salient issues raised in that debate by looking more specifically at how women's incorporation into the export‐oriented manufacturing sector has been interpreted by neo‐classical, institutionalist and feminist writers. The neo‐classical position, represented by the World Bank, remains strongly prescriptive but relatively weak in its analysis of the dynamics of female employment (i.e. its causes and implications) and the gendered nature of labour markets. There has been a much more constructive dialogue between institutionalist and feminist writers. The latter have emphasized the gendered nature of the labour contract, the significance of looking beyond the boss/worker dyad (i.e. at the conjugal/familial sphere) and the importance of listening to women workers' subjective assessments of their work and its meanings. At the more practical level, while improving the conditions of work remains an important agenda item, for the labour‐surplus developing countries the question of numbers (of jobs) may arguably take priority. It is thus important to avoid strategies which may impose a quantity–quality trade‐off. As such it may be useful to explore broad‐based social policies and redistributive measures that can ensure a higher standard of living for the workers without jeopardizing their jobs.