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Working in the "Zona franca"
Low-quality jobs for women: Opportunities or dead-ends?
New employment opportunities within so-called "free zones" and "export processing zones (EPZs)" can help women rebuild their lives as well as their country's economy after wars or natural disasters. In the Dominican Republic and other developing countries, increasing numbers of women are finding work in the zones as well as through micro-enterprises and micro-financing. Still, a new job does not always imply a better life; new work is not always good work. This report examines the experience of one woman who found work, as well as other trends affecting low-quality jobs for women today.
SAN PEDRO MACORIS, Dominican Republic - Hurricane Georges was one of the most ferocious storms to hit the Caribbean in years. In a region that is regularly pummelled by natural and economic turbulence, the Dominican Republic saw thousands lose their homes and livelihoods in an instant. But Georges' ferocious winds were quickly replaced by clouds of dust thrown up by thousands of workers on motorbikes, making their way amidst the debris back to work. The rush hour has resumed and for many here, the rush is to the zona franca.
Zona francas, free zones or export processing zones (EPZs) now lead the way to work for millions of women in production chains that reach from the Americas to Asia. Zone factories are given tax and other incentives in return for setting up in places that would otherwise not attract investment. EPZs are one of the growing areas of employment for women, along with labour migration, micro-enterprises and informal sector work, as well as atypical work such as temporary jobs, homeworking, and subcontracting.
These employment options for women all share a common denominator; namely, their low quality. They tend to have a low skill content, low pay, low productivity, and low prospects for advancement. With limited access to development resources or workers organizations, such jobs are the first to go when economic disaster hits and the last to be covered under welfare, health or other social protection schemes. They may represent the bulk of new job openings for women today. But are they opportunities or dead-ends?
Monica's story
"I wake up early every day to make breakfast for my children as well as to prepare bread and chocolate to sell in the factory", says Monica Gimez. "Otherwise I wouldn't earn enough for us to survive."
Monica is a typical EPZ worker; a young female who must support her family alone. She lost her home to Hurricane Georges and lives in temporary shelter provided by the government. Luckily her factory was able to reopen soon after the storm. Her job is to turn the glued upper shells of boots inside out by hand, in preparation for stitching by another worker. The boots are then exported for sale in other countries at a considerable profit for the employer. Meanwhile, Monica must supplement her meagre wages by selling breakfast at the factory.
EPZ work can be tough for women. Shifts are long and followed by hours of domestic chores. The production pace can be gruelling, using out-of-date equipment in unsafe conditions. Sexual harassment is not unheard of.
Though EPZs have been called "vehicles of globalization", it may seem at times they are taking women down a dead-end street.
"Zones tend to attract women workers into the low-skilled jobs", says Auret Van Heerden of the ILO's Special Action Programme on EPZs. "Coming into that job, many of these women hope to acquire skills and to acquire training which allow them to graduate up the skills hierarchy. That's one of the obstacles that needs to be removed because, for a combination of cultural and sociological factors which limit women's advancement, the lack of education and training facilities available, and the lack of a human resources development strategy, women are getting stuck in those jobs".
Some argue that it is better to be stuck in any job than to have no job at all. But it doesn't have to be that way. Governments like Singapore's have raised job quality in their EPZs by providing training and support for specific high-return industries like electronics. The Dominican Republic encourages employers' groups, like the Association of Dominican Free Zones (ADOZONA) to provide child care facilities, housing and transport, which target the particular needs of women workers.
"After working in the EPZ for a while and learning some skills, a woman can advance in the company or switch to another company", according to Luis Pellerano, head of ADOZONA. "Or, as happens in many cases, they can go back home and develop a business that draws upon what she learned in the EPZ."
Monica's informal breakfast business, selling bags of bread and cups of warm chocolate doesn't use her EPZ skills. But it does make her a micro-entrepreneur, another fast growing economic activity for women. Informal work or micro-business is attractive for women who cannot gain access to the formal sector, or need the flexibility to work around family and other job schedules. Women are entering it in ever greater numbers, amounting perhaps to 70 per cent of women worldwide.
Finding quality opportunities for work is a problem in the informal sector. Women tend to pursue ventures related to domestic skills like food preparation or sewing, which are the least remunerative. With less exposure to business practices than men and less access to credit sources, women are more prone to failure.
Still, micro-credit programmes, particularly those which target women for small loans, find that their repayment rates can be quite high. World Relief, an NGO which boasts a 99.3 per cent repayment rate from its 180 village banks in Mozambique, focuses on women because they take care of their families and are less likely to default on loans. Women-run microenterprise is at the heart of the economic recovery of war-torn countries like Mozambique and Bosnia and economically strapped areas of south-east Asia.
Competing in the global economy
Atypical work, like temporary work, subcontracting or homework, is a growing and largely invisible phenomenon as more companies farm out production to remain competitive in the global economy. They are rarely included in government labour statistics. Yet, during an economic crisis in the early 80s, Philippine homeworkers contributed up to 70 per cent of family income. Germany and the Philippines now recognize homeworkers under their labour laws. Trade unions in Canada are taking them under their social protection umbrella.
Worldwide, more women are migrating for work on their own than ever before. The hidden risks in labour migration, especially for those who work in entertainment, are often not apparent to those desperate for a job. The majority of migrant women do domestic work which, because it is done in private homes, is often excluded from the host country's labour laws. Bilateral agreements between sending and receiving countries and pre-departure orientation sessions for migrant workers, like those run by the Philippine Department of Labour can help make the process more transparent.
In combination or by themselves, these new trends in employment are likely to absorb greater numbers of women as the new century begins.
This article is based on the video "HER WAY TO WORK (THE ROAD TO QUALITY JOBS FOR WOMEN)", produced by the ILO Bureau of Public Information.
For further information, or to order a copy of the 29-minute video, contact Miguel Schapira, ILO Geneva at:
+41.22/ 799-65.75; fax: +41.22/ 799-85.77; e-mail: schapira@ilo.org
(Versions available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic).