Wednesday, April 11, 2007
[IWS] ILR Press: ASSEMBLING WOMEN: THE FEMINIZATION OF GLOBAL MANUFACTURING [May 2007]
IWS Documented News Service
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
ILR Press (an imprint of Cornell University Press)
ASSEMBLING WOMEN
The Feminization of Global Manufacturing [May 2007]
Teri L. Caraway
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4657
$18.95s paper
2007, 224 pages, 6 x 9, 18 tables, 10 charts/graphs
ISBN: 978-0-8014-7365-4
$55.00x cloth
2007, 224 pages, 6 x 9, 18 tables, 10 charts/graphs
ISBN: 978-0-8014-4548-4
Despite the massive influx of women into the labor force as a result of globalization, the gender inequalities at work have remained largely unchanged. This book addresses two related questions: What has prompted the feminization of manufacturing work in developing countries, and why has it failed to significantly erode gender inequalities at work? Teri L. Caraway offers case studies and in-depth analysis of employment changes in Indonesia combined with cross-national data to show that the feminization of the workplace produced by industrialization policies has reconfigured and reproduced, rather than overturned, gender divisions of labor at work.
Caraway challenges the conventional wisdom that export-oriented industrialization and women's cheap labor are the driving forces behind feminization. Instead, she argues, the answers can be found in weak unions and current social practice. Caraway employs information about a wide range of industriescapital-intensive, male-dominated, non-export firms as well as female-dominated, labor-intensive, export-oriented industriesin arriving at her conclusions. Her findings will prove discouraging to anyone who hopes that globalization has become a positive force in improving the lives of women workers.
Caraway's multilevel methodology for analyzing changes in gendered patterns of employment and her introduction of "gendered discourses of work" as a major explanatory variable will make Assembling Women a valuable resource for women's studies scholars, development economists, political scientists, and sociologists as well as all with an interest in Southeast Asian Studies and labor and industrial relations.
Reviews
"Assembling Women is an apt and comprehensive description of ongoing industrial developments in Indonesia, an area of the world that has not received as much attention as it deserves. It is enormously satisfying in its descriptions. Teri L. Caraway writes lucidly and with aplomb. The breadth of the book is equally impressive. It covers four different industries: garments, textiles, plywood, and automobiles. Caraway elegantly and helpfully focuses on gendered discourses of work and her familiarity with the extensive literature on globalization and women's employment."Patricia Fernández-Kelly, Princeton University, author of For We Are Sold, I and My People
"This very well-written book offers a nuanced understanding of the relationship between changing industrial policies on the one hand and gendered employment patterns on the other. Assembling Women contains an excellent integrative discussion and assessment of long-standing debates relating to the impact of export-oriented industrialization on female workers."Frederic Deyo, Binghamton University, author of Beneath the Miracle
"Teri Caraway is going to shake things up. Her meticulous and innovative investigation of the genderings of four different industries in contemporary Indonesia uncovers when and how and by whom women's labor is made 'cheap.' Profit seeking is not alone the cause. She reveals the independent influence of factory managers'own ideologies of femininity and of masculinity. I'm going to tell lots of people about Assembling Women."Cynthia Enloe, author of The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire
About the Author
Teri L. Caraway is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
_______________________________
Institute for Workplace Studies----------------- Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor---------------------- Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
________________________________________________________________________
ILR Press (an imprint of Cornell University Press)
ASSEMBLING WOMEN
The Feminization of Global Manufacturing [May 2007]
Teri L. Caraway
http://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/cup_detail.taf?ti_id=4657
$18.95s paper
2007, 224 pages, 6 x 9, 18 tables, 10 charts/graphs
ISBN: 978-0-8014-7365-4
$55.00x cloth
2007, 224 pages, 6 x 9, 18 tables, 10 charts/graphs
ISBN: 978-0-8014-4548-4
Despite the massive influx of women into the labor force as a result of globalization, the gender inequalities at work have remained largely unchanged. This book addresses two related questions: What has prompted the feminization of manufacturing work in developing countries, and why has it failed to significantly erode gender inequalities at work? Teri L. Caraway offers case studies and in-depth analysis of employment changes in Indonesia combined with cross-national data to show that the feminization of the workplace produced by industrialization policies has reconfigured and reproduced, rather than overturned, gender divisions of labor at work.
Caraway challenges the conventional wisdom that export-oriented industrialization and women's cheap labor are the driving forces behind feminization. Instead, she argues, the answers can be found in weak unions and current social practice. Caraway employs information about a wide range of industriescapital-intensive, male-dominated, non-export firms as well as female-dominated, labor-intensive, export-oriented industriesin arriving at her conclusions. Her findings will prove discouraging to anyone who hopes that globalization has become a positive force in improving the lives of women workers.
Caraway's multilevel methodology for analyzing changes in gendered patterns of employment and her introduction of "gendered discourses of work" as a major explanatory variable will make Assembling Women a valuable resource for women's studies scholars, development economists, political scientists, and sociologists as well as all with an interest in Southeast Asian Studies and labor and industrial relations.
Reviews
"Assembling Women is an apt and comprehensive description of ongoing industrial developments in Indonesia, an area of the world that has not received as much attention as it deserves. It is enormously satisfying in its descriptions. Teri L. Caraway writes lucidly and with aplomb. The breadth of the book is equally impressive. It covers four different industries: garments, textiles, plywood, and automobiles. Caraway elegantly and helpfully focuses on gendered discourses of work and her familiarity with the extensive literature on globalization and women's employment."Patricia Fernández-Kelly, Princeton University, author of For We Are Sold, I and My People
"This very well-written book offers a nuanced understanding of the relationship between changing industrial policies on the one hand and gendered employment patterns on the other. Assembling Women contains an excellent integrative discussion and assessment of long-standing debates relating to the impact of export-oriented industrialization on female workers."Frederic Deyo, Binghamton University, author of Beneath the Miracle
"Teri Caraway is going to shake things up. Her meticulous and innovative investigation of the genderings of four different industries in contemporary Indonesia uncovers when and how and by whom women's labor is made 'cheap.' Profit seeking is not alone the cause. She reveals the independent influence of factory managers'own ideologies of femininity and of masculinity. I'm going to tell lots of people about Assembling Women."Cynthia Enloe, author of The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in a New Age of Empire
About the Author
Teri L. Caraway is Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities.
______________________________
This information is provided to subscribers, friends, faculty, students and alumni of the School of Industrial & Labor Relations (ILR). It is a service of the Institute for Workplace Studies (IWS) in New York City. Stuart Basefsky is responsible for the selection of the contents which is intended to keep researchers, companies, workers, and governments aware of the latest information related to ILR disciplines as it becomes available for the purposes of research, understanding and debate. The content does not reflect the opinions or positions of Cornell University, the School of Industrial & Labor Relations, or that of Mr. Basefsky and should not be construed as such. The service is unique in that it provides the original source documentation, via links, behind the news and research of the day. Use of the information provided is unrestricted. However, it is requested that users acknowledge that the information was found via the IWS Documented News Service.
Stuart Basefsky
Director, IWS News Bureau
Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell/ILR School
16 E. 34th Street, 4th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Telephone: (607) 255-2703
Fax: (607) 255-9641
E-mail: smb6@cornell.edu
****************************************
# posted by SBasefsky : 5:49 AM
