Gender and Work in Global Value Chains

Capturing the Gains?

Stephanie Barrientos

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781108492317
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108600651
• Topic: Economics
• Subtopic: Political Economy
• Index: Economics

This book focuses on the changing gender patterns of work in a global retail environment associated with the rise of contemporary retail and global sourcing. This has affected the working lives of hundreds of millions of workers in high-, middle- and low-income countries. The growth of contemporary retail has been driven by the commercialised production of many goods previously produced unpaid by women within the home. Sourcing is now largely undertaken through global value chains in low- or middle-income economies, using a 'cheap' feminised labour force to produce low-price goods. As women have been drawn into the labour force, households are increasingly dependent on the purchase of food and consumer goods, blurring the boundaries between paid and unpaid work. This book examines how gendered patterns of work have changed and explores the extent to which global retail opens up new channels to leverage more gender-equitable gains in sourcing countries.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Gender and Work in Global Value Chains
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Tables
• Figures
• Abbreviations
• Preface
• 1 Introduction
• 2 Retail Shift and Global Sourcing
• 3 Gender Patterns of Work in Global Retail Value Chains
• 4 Global (re)Production Networks Analysis
• 5 Smallholder (dis)Articulations: The Cocoa–Chocolate Value Chain
• 6 Mixed Outcomes: Downgrading and Upgrading in African Horticulture
• 7 Contested Terrain: The Limits of Social Compliance in Asian Apparel
• 8 Upgrading Strategies: Innovation, Skills and Rights
• 9 Governance Challenges: Promoting Gender-Equitable Value Chains
• 10 Concluding Reflections: Future of Work
• References
• Index