Femininity and Flexible Labor

Abstract

■ Analyses of 'flexible labor' typically focus on factors related to labor demands, and those techniques used by capital to rationalize production and increase its rate of accumulation. This article aims to integrate these perspectives with those practices and desires of women workers who are situated within one of the newest arenas of transnational 'flexible' production, that of 'off-shore informatics'. It demonstrates the integral connections between corporate strat egies of 'flexibility' and those of the women themselves, in ways that link flexible labor to flexible gender identities. As such, it raises questions about gender and class within the context of new modes of industrialization and what has tra ditionally been considered 'white collar' work. The article focuses on the off shore informatics industry in Barbados, and explores the ways in which Afro-West Indian women perform new forms of production which enable and encourage them to engage in new forms of transnational consumption. When analysed together, it becomes clear that these 'pink collar' workers actively re-define them selves as women, as workers, and as members of the working classes.