The politics of white women's underwear in Sri Lanka's open economy

Lynch, Caitrin

doi:10.1093/sp/9.1.87

Cited by 18 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Around the world, female labor migration sparks often‐heated rhetoric on hot‐button issues such as women's safety, national pride, proper gender roles, and the decline of family solidarity (Decena, Shedlin, and Martinez 2006). These debates reflect common patterns in how gender and nationality interact in a context of neoliberal global capitalism (Lynch 2002; Wright 2001). States have a tendency to blame mothers for problems that might more accurately be read as failures of the state itself to provide for the reproduction of society (Ross 1995:411; Ehrenreich and Hochschild 2002:8–9).…”

Section: Theoretical Contextmentioning

confidence: 87%

Milk Teeth and Jet Planes: Kin Relations in Families of Sri Lanka's Transnational Domestic Servants

Gamburd

2008

City & Society

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This essay examines the confluence of local and global dynamics, exploring how transnational migration affects and is affected by gender roles, kinship relations, intergenerational obligations, and ideologies of parenthood. Journeying to the Middle East repeated on two‐year labor contracts, many of Sri Lanka's migrant housemaids leave behind their husbands and children. Women's long‐term absences reorganize and disrupt widely accepted gendered attributions of parenting roles, with fathers and female relatives taking over household tasks. Migrants say that economic difficulties prompt migration, and assess commitment to kin in financial terms. The government also benefits from remittances. Nevertheless, stakeholders (villagers, politicians, and the national media) worry about the social costs born by children. Drawing on interviews with the adult children of migrant mothers in four extended families in the Sri Lankan coastal village of Naeaegama, I examine the long‐term effects of transnational labor migration on local households. The case studies do not support media claims that children suffer abuse and neglect in their mothers’ absence, but do in part support survey information on reduced education, shifting marriage patterns, and paternal alcohol consumption.

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Section: Theoretical Contextmentioning

confidence: 87%

Milk Teeth and Jet Planes: Kin Relations in Families of Sri Lanka's Transnational Domestic Servants

Gamburd

2008

City & Society

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“…Globally, economic liberalization policies in postcolonial Third World countries, such as Mexico, Malaysia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka, feature strategies such as removing state controls on imports and attracting foreign investment (mainly by recruiting predominantly female employees for EPZs' industrial production) (Lynch, 2002). Although lingering, the issues in this article are not a novelty in the region.…”

Section: International Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 95%

The Use of Language to Disempower: Two Related Studies of Women in Sri Lanka

Hancock

Georgiou

2017

Journal of Developing Societies

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The rise of economic liberalism in Sri Lanka in the latter half of the twentieth century has generated a continuous, powerful, and controversial debate about women in the workforce. Local politicians and powerful societal forces have used discourse to display power in the media and wider society. Gender issues were used as a platform to engage in unrelated political agendas and criticize export processing zones (EPZs), female workers, and female sexuality. Our research in Sri Lanka sampled more than 4,000 women over 14 years. The article uses data from two research studies from 2008–2011 (Study 1) and from 2013–2014 (Study 2) in Sri Lanka. The studies are interrelated. Each analyse the levels of empowerment and disempowerment experienced by women, due specifically to the negative discourse they faced on a daily basis – both as part of their life as EPZ workers (study 1) and after returning to their villages (Study 2). Serious pieces of negative discourse stand out as examples of misleading speech and attempt to subjugate women through power. Our interviews with Sri Lankan EPZ workers show that young women are described as Juki girls, a pejorative term used with a negative connotation. Moreover, EPZs are often referred to as whore zones or love zones due to the stigma created by society and pushed by a political agenda in national political discourse, such as: “Our innocent girls are sewing underwear for white women” (Lynch, 2002, p. 82). The questions in both studies were designed to assess the respondents’ experiences of power (or powerlessness) and empowerment. Study 1 shows that nearly all of the women surveyed (95.3 percent) reported feeling empowered as a result of their work in EPZs. The respondents also indicated empowerment across their home as well. However, societal level disempowerment was significant, much of it emanating in the public arena and in societal and political resistance to EPZ workers. Concurrently, results of Study 2 demonstrated lower but significant negative experiences as a result of work in formal manufacturing. Less than 10 percent (7.2 percent) experienced humiliation in public, their community or society while working in the manufacturing industry, and only 12 percent reported experiencing negative societal attitudes upon first returning home from their work in EPZs.

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“…The presence of Sri Lankan Export Processing Zones (EPZs) has steadily increased since first established in 1977, with women specifically targeted for employment in such zones in order to sustain the emerging enterprise (Engman et al, 2007;Hancock & Edirisinghe, 2012;Hewamanne, 2011;Lynch, 2002;Lynch, 2007). Engman and Farole (2012) reported that EPZs normally offer an advantage to investors compared to the domestic market by creating fiscal incentives;…”

Section: Literature: Gender Inequality Working Conditions and Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Female workers in textile and garment sectors in Sri Lankan Export Processing Zones (EPZs): gender dimensions and working conditions

Hancock

Carastathis

Georgiou

et al. 2016

Sri Lanka J. Soc. Sci.

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Sri Lankan women who are employed in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) work in a range of factories. A cross-section of female EPZ workers (n = 2304) representing 6 EPZs were surveyed as part of this study, with the majority in the textile and garment industries. Largely qualitative or small-scale research has demonstrated that textile and garment workers are often subject to poor social respect, derogatory comments and exposed to harsh or poor working conditions. Of particular interest was, exploring in greater detail whether there were any quantifiably significant work-related or societal differences between female EPZ workers in textile and garment factories (n = 1878), compared to those employed in ‘other’ factory types (n = 426). Measuring ‘objective’ work conditions, Mann-Whitney U tests demonstrated significantly lower earnings and savings among textile and garment workers compared to those who worked in ‘other’ factories. Pearson’s chi-square test of contingencies revealed that although reports of abuse and harassment were generally low, textile and garment workers were more likely to experience verbal abuse. Regardless of such negativity the majority of women within this study reported high rates of empowerment as a result of their experiences working in EPZs – largely irrespective of factory type. These statistical findings suggests that the different ‘objective’ workplace experiences (and to some extent, ‘subjective’ treatment) of female EPZ workers across textile and garment and ‘other’ factory types, may have little to do with their overall sense of personal achievement or inclusion, feeling empowered as a result of having been engaged in work

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The politics of white women's underwear in Sri Lanka's open economy

Cited by 18 publications

References 26 publications

Milk Teeth and Jet Planes: Kin Relations in Families of Sri Lanka's Transnational Domestic Servants

Milk Teeth and Jet Planes: Kin Relations in Families of Sri Lanka's Transnational Domestic Servants

The Use of Language to Disempower: Two Related Studies of Women in Sri Lanka

Female workers in textile and garment sectors in Sri Lankan Export Processing Zones (EPZs): gender dimensions and working conditions

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