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

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Si ngapore and Penang have been very closely tied in hi story. Both
islands were free ports set up by the British. While the legacy of racial
mix is evident in both places, it is the Chinese who dominate. Both have
pursued EOI agressively. Because of the historic development of urban
infrastructures and commerci al servi ces, both have been favored by forei gn
investors. The electronics industry, particularly semiconductor assembly,
has played a key role in the recent economic development of both places.
Also, they have become successes relative to other LDCs and have been well
penetrated by the capitalist system.
At the same time, the differences in Singaporean and Malaysian
approaches to government i nterventi on, in supporting economi c development
and in the social reproduction of labor, have made them unique environments
to work and to live in. In Malaysia, the division of economic and political
power along ethni c 1 i nes has domi nated all aspects of pol icy development.
Singapore, on the other hand, has been able to concentrate investments in
social economic infrastructures because the aim was more focused -- on the
consolidation of political power within an urban and island setting. These
differences filter through to the lives of the electronics workers.
The Companies
The companies participating in the
production organization and technology,
conditions, and even physical plant.
comparison between the firms.)
study are remarkably similar in
labor policies, wages, working
(See Table 10 for summary and
Companies Sl and Ml, in Singapore and Penang respectively, are
subsidiaries of the same American corporation, SM. SM was formed in 1967
when a small transistor company in New England was combined with a fledgling
integrated circuit company in Silicon Valley. From its inception, SM was
committed to the successful strategy of producing the total spectrum of
semiconductors. SM is one of the largest producers in the world today, with
a specialty in integrated circuits. In 1968, Sl was set up in Singapore as
the headquarters of Asia-Pacific operations. In 1972, Ml, set up in Penang,
was one of the fi rst to locate in the new FTZ. By 1982, SM had producti on
facil ities in Scotland, France, Brazil, Thailand, Philippines, and
Indonesia, as well as Singapore and Malaysia. In its Singapore and Malaysia
faci li ti es, assembly and testi ng are done on a wi de range of products
(memories, microprocessors, linear, digital logic, transistors, MaS) and
packages (ceramic, hermetic, mol ded, hybri d). Its Penang operati on bei ng
more highly automated, produces simpler products.
Company S2 in Singapore is one of the fi rst manufacturers of semiconductors
and was an early leader in research and development. Begun as an
Ameri can company in Si 1 i con Vall ey, it has recently been bought out by. a
European technology firm. Although the corporation still produces a variety
of ICs, LSI products, and discrete components, it is not the industry leader
it once was. S2 was one of the first to open offshore production
facilities, and today its plants are located in Mexico, Brazil, Hong Kong,
South Korea, Si ngapore, Indonesi a, and Phi 11 ppi nes. S2 I s Si ngapore