Health, Women's Work, and Industrialization - Center for Gender in ...

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bring in new technology as well as management experience. To implement such
a strategy successfully, a variety of incentives was introduced, along with
a range of social programs.
The industrial i zati on strategy adopted by Si ngapore coi nci ded wi th the
time of rapid expansion of TNCs and competition among them for offshore
manufacturing locations. While Singapore's location attracted early
investments by petroleum corporations, these capital-intensive industries
did not solve the unemployment problems as had been hoped. A push was made
for 1 abor-i ntensi ve i ndustri al i zation on the basi s of low-wage costs. By
locating light industries near housing estates, it was hoped that women
woul d be drawn into the manufacturi ng sector in 1 arge numbers. Such a
strategy proved successful.
By 1974, the workforce was concentrated in three 1 ow-sk ill i ndustri es:
(1) electronics assembly plants (24% of the manufacturing labor force), (2)
texti 1 es (16%), and (3) wood and wood products (11%). The female 1 abor
force participation rate (percent of women in labor force) also increased
from 31% to 49%, with most of that growth occurring in the manufacturing
sector. Integration with the world market via these industries meant rapid
growth in terms of value added, output, and employment.
The el ectroni cs industry has been vi tal to Singapore's success. In
1981, there were 185 establishments of "Electronic Products and Components"
(code 384) employing 69,358 workers (Yearbook of Statistics 1982). Since at
1 east 1972, there have been constant increases in output, val ue added, and
direct export in the industry. Compared with other industries in Singapore,
the electronics industry is number one in employment volume. The semiconductor
devices industry (code 3844) employs 17,100 workers, wi th women
accounting for 81.5% of the total semiconductor workforce (although they
make up 91% of the production workers). The status of women in the
electronics industry, however, does not reflect their position in the
general labor force.
Labor force statistics show that women are concentrated in certain
industries. They form the majority in textile, garment, electronics,
domestic service, education, health care, and social welfare. The increase
in women's work has resulted from government promotion (due to labor
shortage in labor-intensive factories) and to social incentives (such as the
family planning program). The jobs in which women are concentrated tend to
be poorly paid, develop few skills, and provide few promotion opportunities
(Lim 1982; Singapore Yearbook of Labor Statistics 1982).
An important segment of the Si ngaporean 1 abor force is the "forei gn
guest workers." During the periods of economic boom, when a shortage of
unskilled labor was experienced, many young Malaysian women, mostly of
Chinese extraction, were recruited to take up the menial tasks in
electronics and garment work. In the late 1970s, the recruitment efforts
expanded to "non-traditional sources" - Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Philippines,
and Thailand. Little data exist on the extent of employment of these
foreign workers, but one report estimated 15% of the total labor force and a
higher proportion of those in the manufacturing sector (Heyzer 198D).