From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec

FROM POVERTY TO POWERThe nature of work has evolved rapidly in recent decades, notablythrough the mass entry of women into the paid workforce, thecontinued growth of the so-called ‘informal economy’, governmentdrives to deregulate and ‘flexibilise’ labour markets, and the expansionof global supply chains and investment. As in the world of smallholderagriculture, these changes present both opportunities and threats forpoor people, who need power in markets (in this case labour markets),effective organisations, a responsible private sector, and an effective,accountable state, if they are to reap the benefits.WOMEN AT WORKMillions of women have found jobs on the bottom rung of the globalisationladder, working in garment factories or in the ‘new agriculture’,growing fruit, vegetables, and flowers for export. These new jobs are inmany ways very positive for women, both as individuals and collectively,not least because they challenge assumptions about what theycan contribute to families – and, ultimately, to wider society.In boom areas such as the clothing industry, women’s new jobshave brought them tangible benefits. In 1982 the government ofBangladesh began to promote export-oriented manufacturing; withintwo years, the garment industry took off. By 2004, an estimated twomillion people worked in the garment factories. 94 Most of the workforceconsists of young women, many of whom have migrated fromdesperately poor rural areas. The wages earned by these women areexceptionally low by international standards, and barely above thenational poverty line. Yet their daily wage rates are around twice ashigh as those paid for agricultural labourers, and higher than could beearned on construction sites. 95Paid employment has improved many women’s bargaining powerwithin the family, especially with husbands, fathers, and brothers. A1990 survey of more than 30 Bangladeshi garment factories foundthat two out of three women had some control over their earnings.According to one woman, ‘In my mother’s time…women had totolerate more suffering because they did not have the means tobecome independent. They are better off now, they know about theworld, they have been given education, they can work and stand ontheir own feet. They have more freedom.’ 96150