From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec
From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec From poverty to power - Oxfam-Québec
3 POVERTY AND WEALTH THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORKMany married women workers interviewed in 2003 said that theynow take decisions with their husbands on family matters, and 13 percent said that their husbands now shared some of the housework,especially shopping and cooking – a small but significant shift. ‘Thegarment sector has brought a silent revolution for women in oursociety,’ says Shirin Akter of Karmojibi Nari, an NGO supportingwomen workers. 97However, all too often, jobs in the proliferating garment factoriesand fruit farms have exacted a heavy toll in the form of excessivehours, workplace abuse, and long-term damage to women’s health.Fruit and flower pickers and packers from Colombia, Chile, the USA,and South Africa commonly report headaches, respiratory problems,and eye pain from handling pesticides. Garment factory workers fromBangladesh to Morocco commonly suffer headaches, coughing,vomiting, fever, and physical exhaustion. Poor ventilation in lint-filledrooms can lead to debilitating respiratory diseases. Hired in jobs thatdemand highly dexterous and repetitive movements, many womensuffer joint injuries and back, leg, and shoulder pain. 98Paid jobs are also largely in addition to women’s previous burdenof unpaid work. A study in Ghana showed that women were doing30–46 hours of unpaid caring work a week, while men in the samecategories did an average of eight to 11 hours a week of unpaid work. 99These statistics may even underestimate the degree of ‘time poverty’experienced by women, since the time use studies on which they arebased often fail to capture women’s ‘multi-tasking’ between a varietyof roles. 100Boxed in by long working hours and unreasonably high productiontargets, many women are unable to care for their children, and somove their daughters into their own previous roles, cutting short theireducation. Exhausted women stop participating in social organisations,depriving the broader community of their leadership, energy,and creativity. Angela, sewing garments in a Kenyan factory, expressesfrustration at her isolation from the wider community: ‘It is notpossible to do anything else. There is no time to take care of your ownchildren, visit people, do business, or go to college. Even going tochurch has become a problem …We are somehow isolated.’ 101151
FROM POVERTY TO POWERNOBODY’S FORMAL ANY MORE‘In La Paz, everyone works, but no-one has a job,’ jokes one Boliviangovernment official. According to the International LabourOrganization (ILO), formal, recognised non-agricultural employmentis in the minority across the developing world, varying from 45per cent of the working population in Asia to a mere 30 per cent insub-Saharan Africa. 102 In many countries, the so-called ‘informaleconomy’ has mushroomed in recent decades, driven by a combinationof technological shifts, globalisation, and government policy. InMalawi, only one in every 250 people has a formal job in the privatesector. 103During Latin America’s recession in the 1980s and the adjustmentof the 1990s, the informal economy acted as a gigantic sponge, soakingup those who had been sacked, or who were entering the workforce forthe first time. As Latin America’s streets became clogged with vendorsdesperately seeking customers, incomes plummeted. In La Paz, where60 per cent of the workforce is now in the informal economy, there isone street trader for every three families, and there are just not enoughbuyers to go round. 104In part, the informal economy flourishes because of the ‘barriers toentry’ for formal business. In Angola, starting a new business requires13 different procedures and 124 days, and costs almost 500 per cent ofthe average yearly income. By contrast, in the USA the same processrequires just five procedures, five days, and 0.7 per cent of the averageincome of an American. Surveys of self-employed workers and‘micro-enterprises’ show that they often prefer the informal sector asit offers more autonomy and flexibility. The picture is different, however,for waged workers in the informal economy, who usually hankerafter a formal job with a contract and benefits. 105Even when workers have an employer, work has become moreprecarious; increasing numbers of people are employed on a temporaryand casual basis, often without clear employee status. Their jobs arecharacterised by low or unstable wages, few if any benefits, little accessto social protection programmes, lack of coverage by labour legislation,and little or no respect for the internationally recognised rights tofreedom of association and collective bargaining. 106152
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3 POVERTY AND WEALTH THE CHANGING WORLD OF WORKMany married women workers interviewed in 2003 said that theynow take decisions with their husbands on family matters, and 13 percent said that their husbands now shared some of the housework,especially shopping and cooking – a small but significant shift. ‘Thegarment sec<strong>to</strong>r has brought a silent revolution for women in oursociety,’ says Shirin Akter of Karmojibi Nari, an NGO supportingwomen workers. 97However, all <strong>to</strong>o often, jobs in the proliferating garment fac<strong>to</strong>riesand fruit farms have exacted a heavy <strong>to</strong>ll in the form of excessivehours, workplace abuse, and long-term damage <strong>to</strong> women’s health.Fruit and flower pickers and packers from Colombia, Chile, the USA,and South Africa commonly report headaches, respira<strong>to</strong>ry problems,and eye pain from handling pesticides. Garment fac<strong>to</strong>ry workers fromBangladesh <strong>to</strong> Morocco commonly suffer headaches, coughing,vomiting, fever, and physical exhaustion. Poor ventilation in lint-filledrooms can lead <strong>to</strong> debilitating respira<strong>to</strong>ry diseases. Hired in jobs thatdemand highly dexterous and repetitive movements, many womensuffer joint injuries and back, leg, and shoulder pain. 98Paid jobs are also largely in addition <strong>to</strong> women’s previous burdenof unpaid work. A study in Ghana showed that women were doing30–46 hours of unpaid caring work a week, while men in the samecategories did an average of eight <strong>to</strong> 11 hours a week of unpaid work. 99These statistics may even underestimate the degree of ‘time <strong>poverty</strong>’experienced by women, since the time use studies on which they arebased often fail <strong>to</strong> capture women’s ‘multi-tasking’ between a varietyof roles. 100Boxed in by long working hours and unreasonably high productiontargets, many women are unable <strong>to</strong> care for their children, and somove their daughters in<strong>to</strong> their own previous roles, cutting short theireducation. Exhausted women s<strong>to</strong>p participating in social organisations,depriving the broader community of their leadership, energy,and creativity. Angela, sewing garments in a Kenyan fac<strong>to</strong>ry, expressesfrustration at her isolation from the wider community: ‘It is notpossible <strong>to</strong> do anything else. There is no time <strong>to</strong> take care of your ownchildren, visit people, do business, or go <strong>to</strong> college. Even going <strong>to</strong>church has become a problem …We are somehow isolated.’ 101151
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