Women's economic empowerment and formal income: Sri Lankan Export Processing Zones (EPZs) and their impact on gender perceptions of empowerment

Abstract

Women workers in Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in Sri Lanka are often exposed to harsh working conditions and a range of negative social experiences due to their perceived low social status. Research has demonstrated that they experience both empowerment and disempowerment as a result of formal employment. The authors explore the differences between female Sri Lankan EPZ workers who felt empowered (n = 2196) and those who did not (n = 107), and investigate factors that contribute to empowerment. The analysis reveals a significant difference between the two groups of workers: empowered women had a longer history of employment service, saved significantly more money, and contributed much less to their family than non-empowered women. There were no significant differences in social experiences between the groups. However, the work-related variables used to investigate reported influential factors in empowerment demonstrated that as savings increased so too did the likelihood of empowerment. Conversely, as the proportion of the contribution to the family income increased, the odds of reporting empowerment decreased. The findings suggest that work factors may not be the most important in the establishment of and/or reporting empowerment but rather earnings management and contribution to household appear to be a more significant determining factor. Introduction Export Processing Zones (EPZs) are a relatively new phenomenon in Sri Lanka and employ over 50,000 women, predominantly in textile and garment factories. These industries are critical for the nation's terms of trade and the income earned by the young women who work in EPZs is very important to their own empowerment and that of their families. We found that most women contributed part of their salary to their family and saved part in formal bank accounts. They were doing this as a strategy intended to last for only 3-5 years, due to the harsh working conditions and negative societal attitudes to women in Sri Lanka working in export-oriented manufacturing. It is beyond doubt that women feel disempowered in EPZs globally due to long working hours and harsh working conditions, low pay, and severe managerialism.However, in this article we explore a more personal and experiential reason for feelings of empowerment and disempowerment that hinges on levels of savings and monthly remittances. Our study is quantitative and focused on a large sample size (n = 2303), the largest in the literature reviewed and thus unique. Quantitative analysis of women who work in EPZs on this scale is not apparent in any of the literature that we have sourced since 2004 and our analysis sheds new light on gender and empowerment in developing nations. For example, we found that women who had a longer than average (3-5 years) employment history had an opportunity to save more money. As expected, empowered women reported significantly more savings because they worked significantly longer. This finding is of interest as it sees women as active agents of change, with deliberate strategies devi...

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

“…The authors are aware that few large-scale quantitative studies have been completed in Sri Lanka and present this paper as an adjunct to the numerous qualitative studies on the topic and research with relatively small sample sizes . As such, this paper presents only quantitative data and compliments several other quantitative analyses published in relation to this research (Hancock, 2014;Hancock et al, 2011a;Hancock et al, 2011b). It should be noted that this paper does not seek to explore concepts of gender, work conditions and empowerment from a theoretical standpoint or develop a conceptual framework, per se.…”

Is China’s Model of SEZ-Led Development Viable? A Call for Smart Replication

“…Some studies have found wages to be higher in SEZs (Cirera and Lakshman, 2017), and working conditions to be comparatively favourable (Aggarwal, 2007). SEZs might empower women (Hancock et al, 2014), who in many zones form a large part of the workforce (Tejani, 2011), by bringing them into the labour market. Moreover, SEZs have been used as testing sites for broader economic reforms (UNCTAD, 2019).…”

Understanding the urban livelihoods and wellbeing of migrant women working in garment factories in Vientiane, Laos

“…However, the literature from Sri Lanka found that female factory workers have different characteristics in terms of education. Many studies in Sri Lanka found that female factory workers were reasonably well-educated with 10-12 years of school attendance (Attanapola, 2006;Hancock, Carastathis, Georgiou, & Oliveira, 2014). This is in contrast to some Southeast Asian nations such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand.…”

“…Some studies point out that women feel empowered in households or their private sphere, while being victims of capitalism under exploitative working conditions (Mill, 1997;Zaman, 2001;Bélanger & Pendakis, 2010). Also, other studies mention that despite their unpleasant working conditions, women are seen as 'agents of change' and not as victims of globalisation because of their planned strategies and their negotiating roles in both public and private spheres (Hancock et al, 2014;Kabeer, Mahmud & Tasneem, 2011). It is worth noting here that cultural backgrounds of each region might have an effect on the varied results of the research.…”

“…While much of the literature points out the relationship between household financial contribution and the sense of empowerment, Kabeer et al (2011) and Hancock et al (2014) claim that women feel empowered if they focus on one's self more than contributing to their households. Kabeer et al's (2011) study of migrant workers in Bangladesh found that women in formal work are empowered when they have control over income through investing in assets under their own name (i.e.…”