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Chains final 29/7/04 2:31 pm Page i Chains of Fortune: Linking Women Producers and Workers with Global Markets Chains final 29/7/04 2:31 pm Page ii Published by the Commonwealth Secretariat Commonwealth Secretariat Marlborough House Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX, United Kingdom © Commonwealth Secretariat, 2004 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or otherwise without the permission of the publisher. Designed and published by the Commonwealth Secretariat Printed in Britain by Formara Ltd. Wherever possible, the Commonwealth Secretariat uses paper sourced from sustainable forests or from sources that minimise a destructive impact on the environment. ISBN 0-85092-798-6 Price: £11.99 Web site: http//www.thecommonwealth.org Chains final 29/7/04 2:31 pm Page iii Contents Foreword v Introduction 1 Marilyn Carr Case Studies From Tree-minders to Global Players: Cocoa Farmers in Ghana 11 Pauline Tiffin, Jacqui MacDonald, Haruna Maamah and Frema Osei-Opare Tradition, Trade and Technology: Virgin Coconut Oil in Samoa 45 John Cretney and Adimaimalaga Tafuna’i Cashing in on Cashew Nuts: Women Producers and Factory 75 Workers in Mozambique Nazneen Kanji, Carin Vijfhuizen, Carla Braga and Luis Artur National Labour Legislation in an Informal Context: Women 103 Workers in Export Horticulture in South Africa Stephanie Barrientos, Andrienetta Kritzinger and Hester Rossouw Rags, Riches and Women Workers: Export-oriented Garment 133 Manufacturing in Bangladesh Naila Kabeer and Simeen Mahmud On the Threshold of Informalization: Women Call Centre Workers 165 in India Swasti Mitter, Grace Fernandez and Shaiby Varghese iii Chains final 29/7/04 2:31 pm Page iv The Trade Policy Context 185 Sheila Page Lessons Learned 197 Marilyn Carr About the Contributors 217 iv Chains final 29/7/04 2:31 pm Page v Foreword Global trade and investment policies are having a dramatic impact on employment relations and work arrangements around the world. But there is no single meaning of increased liberalization for the global workforce. The impact can be both negative and positive and differs by geographic location, by industry and trade, and by employment status. At the Sixth Meeting of the Commonwealth Ministers responsible for Women’s Affairs (WAMM) in New Delhi, India in April 2000, globalization, and specifically trade liberalization and privatization, were seen as having transformed the social, economic and political landscape of the Common- wealth. Ministers saw globalization as presenting new opportunities and challenges to policy-makers who should take steps to ensure that women and men benefit equally from liberalization and are protected equally from its negative effects. To date attention has tended to focus on the negative effects of globaliza- tion, particularly on weak and vulnerable economies, and on the women and children within them. However, there is also a need to take steps to ensure that weak societies and weak groups of people are enabled to take advantage of the new economic opportunities which arise from globalization. It was with this intention that a project was initiated jointly by the Commonwealth Secretariat’s Social Tranformation Division and its Economic Affairs Division to develop this book, Chains of Fortune: Linking Women Producers and Workers with Global Markets. Its focus is on the positive expe- riences of women producers and workers in the informal economy who, in many parts of the world, comprise the majority of the economically active population and who could contribute much more to growth of output and exports if they were enabled to do so. This book contributes to the 2003 Commonwealth Aso Rock Declaration’s vision of a Commonwealth that is committed to a more equitable sharing of the benefits of globalization. It explores practical examples from Common- wealth countries of how governments have supported (or could support) the v Chains final 29/7/04 2:31 pm Page vi CHAINS OF FORTUNE: LINKING WOMEN PRODUCERS AND WORKERS WITH GLOBAL MARKETS economic and export efforts of informal women producers and workers, and of the complementary roles that other institutions – such as membership associations, local and international NGOs, private corporations, consumers’ associations and fair trade organizations – can play in this process. This publication complements another book that is simultaneously being published in the Commonwealth Secretariat series on gender mainstreaming in critical development issues, Mainstreaming Informal Employment and Gender in Poverty Reduction: A Handbook for Policy-makers and Other Stakeholders. It represents the growing recognition of the need for govern- ments to focus on employment, and especially informal employment, as a path to achieve both gender equality and poverty reduction. The development of this book has been a collective effort of many groups and individuals. It contains contributions from 20 authors from nine Common- wealth countries. Of these, we would particularly like to thank those who led their research teams. These include: Jacqui MacDonald, Pauline Tiffen, Adimaimalaga Tafuna’i, John Cretney, Nazneen Kanji, Stephanie Barrientos, Simeen Mahmud and Swasti Mitter. We also would like to thank Chris Stevens of the Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex for providing early inputs on trade policy, including guidelines for authors, and Sheila Page of the Overseas Development Institute for providing an overview of the case studies from a trade policy perspective. Dr Margaret Snyder made very helpful comments on the many versions of the introduction and ‘lessons learned’ chapters of the book. Thanks are also due to the Commonwealth Secretariat team who reviewed the book, especially to Sarojini Ganju Thakur, and to Rawwida Baksh, Maryse Roberts, Ivan Mbirimi, Roman Grynberg and Rupert Jones-Parry for their contributions. Further thanks to Christabel Gurney for her careful editing of the manuscript. And last, but not least, we would like to specially thank the editor of the book, Dr Marilyn Carr, who not only guided and coordinated the project, but also inspired us by her commitment and dedication to the wider cause of recognition of the rights and potential of women in the informal economy. Indrajit Coomaraswamy Nancy Spence Director Director Economic Affairs Division Social Transformation Commonwealth Secretariat Programmes Division Commonwealth Secretariat vi Chains final 29/7/04 2:31 pm Page vii Abbreviations ADPP Assistance to Development for the People by the People AGOA African Growth and Opportunity Act ATO Alternative Trading Organization AMODER Association for Rural Development BCEA Basic Conditions of Employment Act CDE Centre for Development of Enterprise CII Confederation of Indian Industries CMB Ghana Cocoa Marketing Board CMC Ghana Cocoa Marketing Company Cocobod Ghana Cocoa Board COSATU Congress of South African Trade Unions CRMG Commodity Risk Management Group DfID Department for International Development DME Direct Micro Expelling EEA Employment Equity Act ENOWID Enhanced Opportunities for Women in Development EPZ Export Processing Zone ETI Ethical Trade Initiative FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FDI Foreign Direct Investment FLO Fair Trade Labelling International FOB Free on Board GDP Gross Domestic Product ICCO International Cocoa Organisation ICT Information and Communications Technology IIED International Institute for Environment and Development ILO International Labour Organization IMF International Monetary Fund INCAJU Institute for the Promotion of Cashew ITES Information Technology Enabled Services KKFCU Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Credit Union KKFT Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Trust KKFU Kuapa Kokoo Farmers’ Union KKL Kuapa Kokoo Limited LBC Licensed Buying Company MDGs Millennium Development Goals MFA Multifibre Arrangement NASAA National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia vii Chains final 29/7/04 2:31 pm Page viii NAFTA North American Free Trade Association NASSCOM National Association of Software and Services Companies NGO Non-Governmental Organization NIC Newly Industrializing Country OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development PAMSCAD Programme of Action to Mitigate the Social Cost of Adjustment PBC Produce Buying Company (part of CMB) PCOC Pure Coconut Oil Company PIIDS Pacific Islands Industrial Development Scheme QCD Quality Control Division (part of CMB) R&D Research and Development RMG Ready-Made Garment SDO Society Development Officer SNV Netherlands Development Organization TDCA Trade Development and Cooperation Agreement TWIN Third World Information Network UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNIDO United Nations Industrial Development Organisation WIBDI Women in Business Development Incorporated WTO World Trade Organization viii Chains final 29/7/04 2:31 pm Page 1 Introduction Marilyn Carr Much has been written about the impact of globalization on the world’s poor and especially on low-income women producers and workers. It is generally accepted that the impact can be both negative and positive and differs by country, industry or trade and employment status. Some women find new jobs or new markets for their products, while others have lost jobs or markets. In addition, many have seen their wages decline, their working conditions dete- riorate or their workloads increase.1 While recognizing that negative effects do occur, the focus of this book is to