Are women the new reserve labour of globalization processes in the global South? We will try to address this issue through the study of free trade agreements that provide the context in which productions processes fragment into different parts of the world. The typical case is the textile industry but many other industries take advantage of cheap feminized labour to remain competitive or to maximize profits. This lecture goes together with a documentary film, Maquilapolis (see below) that should be regarded as a 'must' to understand these processes.

Essential reading

Domínguez Edmé, Rosalba Icaza, Cirila Quintero, Silvia Lopez, and Åsa Stenman, 2010, “Women workers in the Maquilas and the debate on global labour standards” in Feminist Economics Vol 16 nr 4. pp 185-209. Dominguez et al 2010.pdf

Kabeer, Naila 2004, ‘‘Globalization, Labor Standards, and Women’s Rights: Dilemmas of Collective (In)Action in an Interdependent World.’’ Feminist Economics 10 (1): 3–35. Kabeer.Femin.Econ.pdf

Further reading from course literature list

Domínguez Edmé, Mikael Lassa, Gea Meijers, 2019, “Gender in EU Free Trade Agreements in times of crisis: the new Global Agreement between the EU and Mexico”. Working Paper, WIDE +. gender trade EU Mex 2020 .pdf

Dominguez R Edme. Report on Interviewed women in Electrolux, Mexico. report interviews female workers Electrolux june 22 2021.pdf

How to transform EU trade policy to protect women’s rights. WIDE + Gender and Trade position paper. https://wideplusnetwork.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/eu_trade_gender_policy_wide_final.pdf

“Making trade work for gender equality”, Gender and Development Network. Briefings July 2017