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Women’s employment in the textile manufacturing sectors of Bangladesh and Morocco of the level and correlates of pay discrimination in urban enterprises, Belghazi found that, while the urban labour market has been able to attract female workers, there is a marked gender wage gap (41.2 per cent) overall. The lowest level of wage discrimination (3 per cent) was found in the public sector (administration and public services) whereas the highest level was found in the domestic service (64 per cent) (Belghazi, 1995:25). Another interesting finding emerging from Belghazi’s study concerns the export textile sector. Overall, wage discrimination in this sector (21 per cent) is lower than in many other sectors, with respect to the rewards for education and experience for male and female workers. Belghazi’s research also finds that there is little gender discrimination in the starting wage for men and women in the textile export sector, which contrasts strongly with the situation in other sectors. In the textile export sector, however, discriminatory features are expressed through gender differentiated treatment in the workplace (Joekes, 1995). This finding is an important one and helps to justify the focus of this chapter. In principle, the lack of gender discrimination in the starting wage implies that the discriminatory features of employment in the textile sector can be identified by examining the employment practices of the textile factories. This chapter therefore seeks to explore how the process of discrimination actually works. What social factors and organizational patterns within the factory support discrimination? In the neoclassical economic model, wage differentials are explained by women’s lower educational qualifications. As women usually have less training than men, they are at a disadvantage in employment and they therefore accept low salaries. This view underpins an industrial model of competitiveness, based on low-wage female labour. But this explanation is mainly descriptive and does little to reveal the socio-cultural factors that affect the division of labour between men and women, both inside and outside the factory, and that directly or indirectly determine wage discrimination and other forms of gender differentiated treatment in the labour market (Humphrey, 1985). A quite different approach holds that the basis of wage discrimination against women is to be found not in the factory, but in the division of labour within the family. The vulnerability of women is due to their lack of training and to the difficult situation of their family and hence their need to earn an income. This has contradictory effects: it is favourable to them as regards employment, as the rate of feminization in the textile sector is high, but it is unfavourable as far 62
Gender and employment in Moroccan textile industries as the level of wages is concerned. This approach also has its limits, as wage discrimination is explained only by the situation of women in their households, ignoring how gender differences are experienced in the factory and the impact this has on discrimination against women. The present study looks at gender relations both in the household and in the factory and the way in which these determine gender discrimination in the labour market (Humphrey, 1987). In other words, it explores how gender relationships are experienced and perceived both in the family and at work. It hopes to demonstrate how gender hierarchies, which have been firmly established by society, are extended and maintained in the factory. Moreover, since factories themselves are not monolithic in terms of employment practices and production methods, the chapter also attempts to compare women’s experiences in different sectors of the textile export industries. The woman worker is caught up in power relationships which determine her position in the hierarchy of the factory and the negotiation of her wages. One could deduce from this a relationship of total exploitation and obedience, with the woman worker in a situation of total dependence, at the service of the factory and with no bargaining power. But this would be to simplify the complexity of the strategies used both by the factory and by the women workers to maximize their benefits and preserve their interests. In other words, it would underplay the role of human agency. The scope of negotiation available to actors in organizational contexts has been explored by Crozier and Friedberg (1977). While acknowledging that power relationships operating within organizations favour some to the detriment of others and that the powerful obtain greater advantages for themselves, they argue that power can be exerted by the less powerful individuals through actions that are unpredictable (breaking established norms and rules) or by refusing to concede to demands. This model needs to be refined to grasp the reality of women workers in Moroccan factories, which are organized so as to restrict workers’ scope for bargaining. It is the organization that makes the rules, establishes the division of work and fixes the wages. The use of individual strategies depends on the position of the actor in the system, her resources and constraints. The rationality and behaviour of women workers is shaped and, indeed, limited, by their position in society and in the factory. This chapter argues that unequal gender relations within the family and the society are carried into the factory and reproduced there. Gender subordination functions throughout the employment 63
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Women’s Employment in the Textile
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This United Nations Research Instit
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Acknowledgements Many people have b
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notwithstanding the inertia of the
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Carol Miller is a policy analyst on
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xii VII. Contribution of different
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Introduction 1 Introduction 1 Shahr
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Introduction Table 1: Basic indicat
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Introduction women have been tradit
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Introduction The chapters on Bangla
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Introduction occurs, on average, at
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Becoming a garment worker 5Becoming
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Becoming a garment worker V. Conclu
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Becoming a garment worker is a job
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Becoming a garment worker Endnotes
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Becoming a garment worker Cole P. D
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Women’s employment in the textile
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258 Women’s employment in the tex
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260 Annex Table 2:Level of wages an
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