0
The vulnerability of women in the economy
by Tehani Ariyarathne, Gayathri Lokuge, Nadhiya Najab and Priyanthi Fernando 1
1
Introduction - theoretical underpinnings
Understanding the vulnerability of women in the economy is intrinsically linked to the role that women play in
society, and the way their contribution to the social, economic and political aspects of a country is perceived and
valued. It is important also to recognise that ‘women’ are not a homogenous group: that there are as many
differences between women as there are between women and men, and that these differences are derived from
gender power relations, and the social, economic and political relations of the wider society. The vulnerability of
women, then, is a function of gender relations as well as of other manifestations of power – class, caste, ethnicity,
religion, political affiliation etc. Women can be vulnerable in monetary terms, but they can also be vulnerable
because of insecurity, sexual harassment or domestic violence, in relation to natural hazards, or because of
political and economic exploitation and victimisation.
The economy is generally understood to be the wealth and resources of a country or a region, especially in terms
of the production and consumption of goods and services, usually measured as the Gross Domestic Product, or
GDP. However, there is also a different economy, sometimes called the ‘care economy’ which is rarely measured –
this refers to the provision of services of care, care of children, the elderly and the infirm – is largely the
responsibility of women and which operates outside of the line of vision of economists and planners. The care
economy provides important resources for the development of human capabilities. It has costs, in terms of lost
opportunities and wages, and it has benefits, stronger family and social ties, and high quality services for the
dependents (Folbre, 2006).
Women’s participation in the economy is considered to be, by and large a good thing, synonymous with
empowerment, liberating women from their traditional care-giving specialism and the restrictions of patriarchal
gender relations, and giving them equal opportunities with men. Feminists have critiqued this assumption, seeing
it as based on a “universal breadwinner model” that urges women to follow a trajectory of employment similar to
that of men (Folbre, 2006). However, many development programmes are predicated on this assumption. The
approach also ignores women’s responsibility for care, and fails to see how this dual responsibility often makes
‘employment’ an additional ‘burden’ rather than a means of empowerment.
2
Women’s participation in the economy in Sri Lanka
The situation of women in Sri Lanka is ambiguous. The headline social indicators, if we consider life expectancy
rates, maternal mortality rates, education enrolment figures etc. all show that at an aggregate, national level, Sri
Lanka has a high degree of gender parity. This coupled with the visibility of women in high office (the first woman
Prime Minister, a woman President, Chief Justice and Attorney General) gives the impression that there are few
glass ceilings for women.
But alongside these positive indicators are some unfavourable figures. The participation of women in employment
has hovered around the current figure of 34.4 percent, with the economically active female population being half
1
Tehani Ariyaratne , Nadhiya Najab and Gayathri Lokuge are researchers at the Centre for Poverty Analysis and
Priyanthi Fernando is the Executive Director.
that of the economically active male population. The unemployment rate for women (7.7%) is more than twice as
much as that of men (3.5%) (Department of Census and Statistics, 2011). Women in the labour force are, however,
engaged in low paid work, in the plantations and in the garment sector (Wickremesinghe & Jayatilaka, 2006). In
addition, twice as many women engage in unpaid family work and this is higher in the agricultural provinces, the
North Central and Uva. Women also form a larger bulk of those migrating, especially to the Middle Eastern
countries, as housemaids (Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, 2010). In the next section, we will examine
what we know about women plantation workers, women working in the garment industry and women migrants,
key participants in the economy.
3
Women in the plantations
Women in the plantation sector have been the main drivers of both the household and the plantation economies.
They are mainly engaged in labour intensive tasks such as tea plucking and rubber tapping (Kurian, 1998) (Philips,
Rethinking Culture and Development: Marriage and Gender among the Tea Plantation Workers in Sri Lanka., 2003)
(Philips, 2005). The men on the plantations engage in other manual tasks such as weeding and soil preparation or
in supervisory and managerial positions. In comparison to women in other agricultural sectors, the women in the
estate sector have greater access to employment and equal pay, but gender segregation of labour in the sector,
constrains women from moving beyond manual labour to managerial roles (Philips, 2003) (Kotikula & Solotaroff,
2006), traps them within the sector in labour intensive low skilled jobs (World Bank, 2007) and limits their chances
of accessing employment opportunities in other sectors and geographical locations.
As such, the chronic poor within the tea and rubber plantations are mostly women headed households with a large
number of dependents (Centre for Poverty Analysis, 2005). The care giving role of women within the household
further restricts their social mobility, and combined with the ‘obligation’ to work on the estate (in return for
housing and other benefits) constrains their ability to take advantage of higher income generating opportunities
outside the estate as long or short term migrants.
Households that have moved out of poverty have at least one household member working outside the estate
illustrating the importance of outmigration and a diverse income portfolio for wellbeing (Centre for Poverty
Analysis, 2005). The less binding and irregular availability of manual labour employment for men in the plantation
sector and their less significant role in the domestic care economy allows them the space to move out of the
estate or to set up small self-employment initiatives which contribute to the household economy. In such cases,
the family as a whole benefits, but this benefit does not always translate into mitigating women from the more
laborious estate work. The CEPA study showed no families with male household heads suffering from chronic
poverty.
This is not to say that there are no cases of livelihood diversification by women. Some women in the estate sector
do support their families to overcome poverty by working in garment factories, or migrating to urban areas or
overseas, mainly as domestic workers. Statistics indicate that in predominantly plantation districts of Nuwara
Eliya, Badulla, Kegalle and Ratnapura, a higher number of women than men are migrating to the Middle-East as
domestic workers (Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment, 2010). However, migration does not necessarily
improve the working conditions of women. The benefits of migration to the family and its contribution to
women’s empowerment rests on a host of factors such as wise financial management, length of the migration,
the attitude of the employer etc.
4
Women in the garment industry
From mid 70s to 90s, the garment industry provided young rural women with employment opportunities to
support themselves and their households, and became the largest private employer in the country. 350,000
women were employed in garment manufacturing in 2010 which is 85 percent of the total garment industry work
force (Export Development Board, 2011). In the export processing zones (EPZ) the proportion is as high as 90
percent. Employers encourage mainly young female workers, which meant that only about 10 percent of the
female work force is married (Meyer & Scott, 2011). Till about 2000, most young rural women saw working in the
garment sector as an option to amass financial assets before they get married. Married women, who play a bigger
role in the care economy, were (and are) excluded from this sector. The higher concentration of factories away
from the rural areas further constrained married women from using this source of employment to diversify their
household income.
The young women who opt for garment industry employment are faced with low quality support infrastructure
and services such as transport, board and lodging. Despite the introduction of the 200 garment factories
programme introduced by the government in 1992 with the aim of reducing rural unemployment, in 2000, about
70 percent of the garment factories were concentrated around the Western province due to its close proximity to
the airport and seaport (Kelegama & Epaarachchi, 2000). The resulting congestion in the areas surrounding the
EPZs has meant poor quality, crowded, unsafe accommodation for young female garment workers, who are
exposed to physical safety issues on their way to work, and issues of sexual harassment within the factories with
long term personal repercussions. Some factories lacked basic facilities such as canteens, toilets and common
rooms and where these facilities are available, regular breaks are not provided for the workers. On the positive
side, giants in the industry, MAS holdings, have programmes that from the outset have sought to provide superior
working conditions and empower their work force, 90 percent of which is female (International Finance
Corporation, 2007).
The unsavoury working conditions have negatively impacted the demand for garment sector jobs and the garment
industry as a whole over the years. The Labour Gazette of 2008, showed that 56 percent of the garment workers
were anemic and that 34.2 percent were suffering from chronic malnutrition (Ada Derana, 2010). In 2011, the
basic salary was about Rs. 9,000 per month. By working seven days a week, including overtime, workers could earn
about Rs. 12,000-13,000 per month (Samath, 2011). When the expenses for accommodation and meals are
deducted, the amount remaining for remitting back home or for saving is negligible. Added to this the social
stigma attached to being a ‘juki machine operator’ as the workers are usually called, has resulted in the garment
industry losing its appeal to most young women as an employment provider; and workers are being pushed into
other options, such as overseas migration.
5
Women migrants
Poor women with limited skills and little education seeking paid work see domestic work as one of the most
obvious employment options (Amnesty International, 2007). This is a trend reflected in the migration statistics
reported by the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE). Women comprise forty-two percent of those
who migrated for employment purposes, and of them eighty-nine percent were reported to have gone overseas to
work as housemaids (Arunatilake, Jayaratne, Jayawardena, Jayaweera, & Weerakoon, 2010). These women
remitted a total of over USD 1.9 billion to Sri Lanka in 2005, more than half of which came from the Gulf region
where each migrant woman is believed to support an average of five family members (Gamburd, 2009).
Governments of migrant sending countries, like Sri Lanka, that are unable to develop sufficient domestic
employment, tend to encourage foreign domestic employment (Jureidini, 2002). However, while some migrants
have benefited from working as ‘maids’ in foreign countries, massive protection gaps have exposed many others to
a range of human rights abuses including labour exploitation, violence, trafficking and even killings (Human Rights
Watch, 2010). As a consequence it becomes necessary to question whether the economic benefits attained are
worth the social costs incurred as a result of working as a foreign domestic ‘maid’.
These women leave their home nations with the intention of working towards a better life for themselves and
their dependents; the primary driving force being the need to better their households and themselves both
economically and socially (Kotegoda, 2006). There are also instances of women migrating overseas to escape from
abusive relationships at home, although this is cited as a subsidiary factor (ibid). Women often find themselves in a
situation that is ‘out of the frying pan and into the fire’, because they also fail to take into account the possible
social costs such as broken families as a result of unfaithful spouses, children being subjected to sexual violations
or neglected in terms of health or education that arise from the absence of a mother in the home.
Migrant housemaids are extremely dependent on the incomes they receive because they are usually the only
source of income for their families back home and have borrowed heavily to pay for their passage. They feel
obliged to continue working even under trying conditions, so despite the growing recognition of the problems
faced by others, women leaving to work as domestic migrants in the Middle East continue to dominate the
documented outflow of migrant workers (Silvery, 2004).
In an attempt to address the social costs that affect the children of female migrants, the Ministry of Women’s
Affairs and Childcare has proposed a law which will prevent women who have children under the age of five from
going overseas for employment (Perera & Paranamanna, 2012). The SLBFE is attempting to discourage women
migrating for jobs as domestic aids and is instead focusing on increasing skilled migration by providing vocational
training. The Foreign Employment Ministry states that the number of Sri Lankans migrating for skilled employment
has increased by fifty percent (Somarathna, 2012). It is important to complement these well-intended policies,
with the creation of in-country opportunities for poor, less-educated women to earn a decent living, and for
providing stronger care support to dependents who are left behind.
6
Some conclusions about women’s vulnerability in the economy
The above analysis of the situation of women working in the plantations and in the garment sector and of women
migrants, illustrate that participation in the economy does not necessarily lead to strengthening women’s position
in society. Three interrelated factors contribute to women’s vulnerability in the economy: the continued
exploitation of women by the patriarchal orientation of these different sectors; the exclusion of women from
those political processes that can enable them to realise their rights; and the lack of attention by policy makers to
the ‘care economy’.
In all the above sectors, women tend to participate in lower level jobs, with less remuneration. Women migrate
largely as domestic workers, locked into what sometimes can be abusive contracts. In the plantation sector,
women are the main household earners but it is often the men that collect their wages, and control the money.
Women form a bulk of the general membership of the plantation trade unions, a major political force that has
helped realise significant gains in wages for estate workers, but the decision making positions in these trade unions
are held almost exclusively by men (Biyanwila, 2007). The garment sector does not encourage trade union
organisation, and where trade unions exist, women’s participation is woefully inadequate.
The third factor contributing to the vulnerability of women in the economy is the invisibility of the “care economy”
to most economic planners. Women play a leading role in the care economy, and while the tasks involved in the
care economy can be difficult to measure monetarily, they are an important part of the functioning of the family
and society, and also provide indirect benefits such as education, safety and wellbeing of children and the elderly
(Razavi, 2007). It is the management of the household care economy that creates a conducive environment for
male breadwinners to engage in paid employment outside the home, but when women participate in the economy
they often cannot relinquish their responsibility for care, and end up with a dual burden and heavy pressures on
their time. Where women are forced to give up their care economy roles (as in migration), families and children
can suffer.
It is clear then that there are many factors that create vulnerability for women participating in the economy and
that measures to increase participation in an empowering way may need to go beyond creating opportunities for
work, to also dealing with issues of patriarchy, representation and dual burdens. There are also many issues that
we have not touched on in this essay, i.e. the situation of women agricultural workers and unpaid family workers,
older women who take on care responsibilities for their children’s families, as well as women working in
environmentally fragile environments and post-conflict contexts.
7
Bibliography
Ada Derana. (2010, July 19). Retrieved August 23, 2012, from http://www.adaderana.lk/news.php?nid=9014
Amnesty International. (2007). Indonesia: Exploitation and Abuse: The plight of women domestic workers. Amnesty
International .
Arunatilake, N., Jayaratne, S., Jayawardena, P., Jayaweera, R., & Weerakoon, D. (2010). Impact of Remittances on
the Household of the Emigrant and on the Economy of the Migrant’s Country: Sri Lanka. South Asia Network of
Economic Research Institutes.
Biyanwila, J. (2007). Ethnicity and women worker struggles in the Sri Lankan tea plantations. Annual Conference on
Feminist Economics. Bangkok, Thailand.
Centre for Poverty Analysis. (2005). Moving Out of Poverty in the Estate Sector in Sri Lanka. Colombo: CEPA.
Department of Census and Statistics. (2011). Sri Lanka Labour Force Survey Report 2010. Colombo: Department of
Census and Statistics.
Export Development Board. (2011). Retrieved August 23, 2012, from
http://www.srilankaexpo.com/index.php/products-a-services/industrial-products/garments
Folbre, N. (2006). Measuring Care: Gender, Empowerment, and the Care Economy. Journal of Human Development
Vol 7 no 2 , pp183-199.
Gamburd, M. (2009). Advocating for Sri Lankan Migrant Workers. Critical Asian Studies , 61-88.
Human Rights Watch. (2010). Rights on the line: Human Rights Watch works on abuses against migrants. Human
Rights Watch.
International Finance Corporation. (2007). Case Study: MAS Holdings.
Jureidini, R. (2002). Women migrant domestic workers in Lebanon. International Migration Programme .
Kelegama, S., & Epaarachchi, R. (2000). Productivity, Competitiveness and Job Quality In Garment Industry in Sri
Lanka A discussion paper. New Delh: International Labour Organisation.
Kotegoda, S. (2006). Migration and Poverty in Gender Politics. In S. Arya, & A. Roy, Poverty, Gender and Migration
(pp. 49-71). New Delhi: Sage Publications.
Kotikula, A., & Solotaroff, J. (2006, September 22). Gender Analysis of Labor in Sri Lanka’s Estate Sector. Population
Association of America (PAA) 2007 . Retrieved August 12, 2011,
Kurian, R. (1998). Tamil Women on Sri Lankan Tea Plantations: Labour Control and Patriarchy. In S. Jain, & R.
Reddock, Women Plantation Workers. Oxford and New York: Berg.
Meyer, R., & Scott, H. (2011). Women in the Global Factory-The Garment Industry in Sri Lanka. Retrieved August
23, 2012, from http://www.utexas.edu/cola/insts/southasia/_files
Perera, Y., & Paranamanna, S. (2012, August 10). New laws will prohibit women with young children working
abroad. Daily Mirror , p. 3.
Philips, A. (2003). Rethinking Culture and Development: Marriage and Gender among the Tea Plantation Workers
in Sri Lanka. . Gender and Development 11 (2) , 20-29.
Philips, A. (2005). The Kinship, Marriage and Gender Experiences of Tamil Women in Sri Lanka's Tea Plantations.
Contributions to Indian Sociology 39 , 107-142.
Razavi, S. (2007). The Political and Social Economy of Care in a Development Context: Conceptual Issues, Research
Questions and Policy Options. United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) .
Samath, F. (2011, February 10). Inter Press Service. Retrieved August 23, 2012, from
http://www.ipsnews.net/2011/02/sri-lanka-garment-industry-woos-women-workers/
Silvery, R. (2004). Transnational migration and the gender politics of scale: Indonesian Domestic Workers in Saudi
Arabia. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography , 141-155.
Somarathna, R. (2012, June 07). Less females leaving as maids . Daily News .
Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment. (2010). Annual Statistical l Report of Foreign Employment. Colombo: Sri
Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment.
Wickremesinghe, M., & Jayatilaka, W. (2006). Beyond Glass Ceilings and Brick Walls:Gender at the workplace.
Colombo: International Labour Organisation.
World Bank. (2007 ). Sri Lanka Poverty Assessment: Engendering Growth with Equity: Opportunities and
Challenges. World Bank Sri Lanka.