Abstract
The entry of large numbers of women into the labour force, as a result of the restructuring of capital in the late 1960s, has brought about a significant new dimension to the composition and organisation of the working class in Sri Lanka. With the setting up of the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in 1979, a new layer of workers were added to the already existing and largely organised working class. Nearly 85 per cent of the approximate 42 000 workers (presently) in the FTZs are young women, a large percentage single, with limited or no experience of waged employment. These workers, who come mainly from the rural areas, take up residence in the city close to their employment in the FTZ. They leave their familiar village environments and live in boarding houses in groups of women.
This paper is adapted and updated from a research paper written for the Master’s degree in Development Studies, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands, December 1986.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.
Buying options
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Learn about institutional subscriptionsPreview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Beechey, V. (1983) ‘What’s special about women’s employment? A review of some recent studies of women’s paid work’, Feminist Review, no. 15.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Report 1985, Sri Lanka.
Central Bank of Sri Lanka, Annual Report 1986, Sri Lanka.
Elson, D and R. Pearson (1980) ‘The latest phase of the internationalisation of capital and its implications for women in the Third World’, Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Discussion Paper, DP. 150, University of Sussex.
Elson, D. and R. Pearson (1981) ‘Nimble fingers make cheap workers: an analysis of women’s employment in Third World manufacturing, Feminist Review, no. 7.
Frank A. G. (1980) Crisis in the World Economy (London: Heinemann Educational Books).
Greater Colombo Economic Commission Brochure for Investors, Sri Lanka, undated.
Grossman, R. (1979) ‘Women’s place in the integrated circuit’, Southeast Asia Chronicle, no. 66, Jan.–Feb. (joint issue with Pacific Research, vol. 9, nos 5–6, July–Oct. 1978).
ISIS-Committee for Asian Women (1985) Journal no. 4.
Kantha Handa (Voice of Women) Research Study, published in 1983, data collected in 1980.
Lim, L. (1985) ‘Women Workers in Multinational Enterprises in Developing Countries’, UNCTC/ILO, Geneva.
Philips, A. and B. Taylor (1980) ‘Sex and skill: notes towards a feminist economics’, Feminist Review, no. 6.
Poliert, A. (1981) Girls’ Lives, Factory Lives (London: Macmillan).
Poliert, A. (1983) ‘Women, gender relations and wage labour’ in Gender, Class and Work.
Rosa, K. (1987) ‘Organising Women Workers in the Free Trade Zone, Sri Lanka’, Third World Second Sex (vol. 2) ed. Miranda Davis (London: Zed Books).
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1989 Haleh Afshar and Bina Agarwal
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rosa, K. (1989). Export-Oriented Industries and Women Workers in Sri Lanka. In: Afshar, H., Agarwal, B. (eds) Women, Poverty and Ideology in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20757-2_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20757-2_9
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-44409-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-20757-2
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)