Women's Employment - United Nations Research Institute for Social ...

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
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