Third World Industrialization: Women Workers between Exploitation and Survival

Abstract

Many scholars have argued that the expansion of global manufacturing is enhancing social justice through providing employment opportunities for women; on the other hand, others have claimed that economic globalization is less likely to expand freedom and labor justice since global manufacturing enterprises are mostly characterized by violations of labor rights. This chapter will address this debate and substantiate with empirical evidence from Bangladesh readymade garments (RMG) industries. We will first highlight how Third World industrialization became rooted in new forms of global production systems such as the “World Factory” and the export processing zones (EPZs), giving rise to a gendered division of labor, and then engage in scholarly debate on flexible accumulation and patterned outcomes.