The feminization of foreign currency earnings: Women's labor in Sri Lanka

Journal of Developing Areas

Volumn 32, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 303-326

  Samarasinghe, Vidyamali ^a  

^a AMERICAN UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

FEMINIZATION; GENDER DISPARITY; WAGE GAP; WOMENS EMPLOYMENT;

ARTICLE; ASIA; DEVELOPING COUNTRY; ECONOMIC CONDITIONS; ECONOMIC FACTORS; ECONOMICS; EMPLOYMENT; EMPLOYMENT--WOMEN; FEMALE; FEMINISM; GENDER ISSUES; HEALTH CARE MANPOWER; HUMAN RELATION; HUMAN RESOURCES; INDUSTRY; LABOR FORCE--WOMEN; MACROECONOMIC FACTORS; SALARY AND FRINGE BENEFIT; SOUTHERN ASIA; SRI LANKA; WAGES--WOMEN;

ASIA; DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; ECONOMIC CONDITIONS; ECONOMIC FACTORS; EMPLOYMENT--WOMEN; FEMINISM; GENDER ISSUES; HUMAN RESOURCES; INDUSTRY; LABOR FORCE--WOMEN; MACROECONOMIC FACTORS; SOUTHERN ASIA; SRI LANKA; WAGES--WOMEN; WOMEN;

ASIA; DEVELOPING COUNTRIES; ECONOMICS; EMPLOYMENT; FEMINISM; HEALTH MANPOWER; INDUSTRY; INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS; SALARIES AND FRINGE BENEFITS; SRI LANKA; WOMEN;

SRI LANKA;

EID: 0032442301     PISSN: 0022037X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (110)

1. Guy Standing, "Global Feminization through Flexible Labor," World Development 17 (July 1989): 1077-95.
2. See Lourdes Benería and Sally Feldman, eds., Unequal Burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, and Women's Work (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992); Gita Sen and Caren Grown, Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's Perspectives (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1982); Jeanne Vickers, Women and the World Economic Crisis (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books, 1991).
3. See Lourdes Benería and Sally Feldman, eds., Unequal Burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, and Women's Work (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992); Gita Sen and Caren Grown, Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's Perspectives (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1982); Jeanne Vickers, Women and the World Economic Crisis (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books, 1991).
4. See Lourdes Benería and Sally Feldman, eds., Unequal Burden: Economic Crises, Persistent Poverty, and Women's Work (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1992); Gita Sen and Caren Grown, Development, Crises, and Alternative Visions: Third World Women's Perspectives (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1982); Jeanne Vickers, Women and the World Economic Crisis (Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books, 1991).
5. Commonwealth Secretariat, Engendering Adjustment for the 1990s: Report of a Commonwealth Expert Group on Women and Structural Adjustment (London: Commonwealth Secretariat Publications, 1989).
6. Donald R. Snodgrass, Ceylon: An Export Economy in Transition (Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin, 1966).
7. Ibid.
8. Premachandra Atukorale and Sarath Rajapathirana, The Domestic Financial Market and the Trade Liberalization Outcome: The Evidence from Sri Lanka, World Bank Working Papers: WPS 590 (Washington DC: World Bank, 1991), p. 8.
9. Sri Lanka, Central Bank, Annual Report, 1995 (Colombo: Central Bank, 1996).
10. Kingsley M. De Silva, ed., Sri Lanka: A Survey (London: C. Hurst, 1977); Dharmapriya Wesumperuma, Indian Immigrant Plantation Workers in Sri Lanka: A Historical Perspective, 1880-1910 (Kelaniya, Sri Lanka: Vidyodaya University Press, 1986).
11. Kingsley M. De Silva, ed., Sri Lanka: A Survey (London: C. Hurst, 1977); Dharmapriya Wesumperuma, Indian Immigrant Plantation Workers in Sri Lanka: A Historical Perspective, 1880-1910 (Kelaniya, Sri Lanka: Vidyodaya University Press, 1986).
12. A. M. S. Perera, "The Tea Industry of Sri Lanka," Marga Quarterly Journal, Special Issue 3, no. 4 (1976): 93-104.
13. Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Labor Force and Socio-economic Survey, 1985-86 (Colombo: Department of Census and Statistics, 1987). The size of a "plantation" in Sri Lanka is 20 hectares (ha) or more. See Gerald H. Peiris, Development and Change in Sri Lanka: Geographical Perspectives (New Delhi: Macmillan, 1996), p. 235.
14. Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Labor Force and Socio-economic Survey, 1985-86 (Colombo: Department of Census and Statistics, 1987). The size of a "plantation" in Sri Lanka is 20 hectares (ha) or more. See Gerald H. Peiris, Development and Change in Sri Lanka: Geographical Perspectives (New Delhi: Macmillan, 1996), p. 235.
15. See Wilbert Gooneratne and Dharmapriya Wesumperuma, Plantation Agriculture in Sri Lanka: Issues in Employment and Development (Bangkok: International Labor Organization [ILO]/ Asian Employment Program, 1984).
16. See Rachael Kurien, Women Workers in the Sri Lanka Plantation Sector: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis, Women, Work, and Employment Series, No. 5 (Geneva: ILO, 1982); Kumari Jayawardena, "The Plantation Sector in Sri Lanka: Recent Changes in the Welfare of Children and Women," World Development 12 (March 1984): 317-28; Vidyamali Samarasinghe, Sirima Kiribamune, and Wijaya Jayatilake, Maternal Nutrition and Health Status of Female Indian Tamil Tea Workers of Sri Lanka (Washington, DC: International Center for Research on Women, 1990).
17. See Rachael Kurien, Women Workers in the Sri Lanka Plantation Sector: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis, Women, Work, and Employment Series, No. 5 (Geneva: ILO, 1982); Kumari Jayawardena, "The Plantation Sector in Sri Lanka: Recent Changes in the Welfare of Children and Women," World Development 12 (March 1984): 317-28; Vidyamali Samarasinghe, Sirima Kiribamune, and Wijaya Jayatilake, Maternal Nutrition and Health Status of Female Indian Tamil Tea Workers of Sri Lanka (Washington, DC: International Center for Research on Women, 1990).
18. See Rachael Kurien, Women Workers in the Sri Lanka Plantation Sector: A Historical and Contemporary Analysis, Women, Work, and Employment Series, No. 5 (Geneva: ILO, 1982); Kumari Jayawardena, "The Plantation Sector in Sri Lanka: Recent Changes in the Welfare of Children and Women," World Development 12 (March 1984): 317-28; Vidyamali Samarasinghe, Sirima Kiribamune, and Wijaya Jayatilake, Maternal Nutrition and Health Status of Female Indian Tamil Tea Workers of Sri Lanka (Washington, DC: International Center for Research on Women, 1990).
19. Vidyamali Samarasinghe, "Puppets on a String: Women's Wage Work and Empowerment among Tea Plantation Workers in Sri Lanka," Journal of Developing Areas 23 (April 1993): 329-40.
20. Ibid.
21. Sri Lanka, Central Bank, Annual Report, 1994 (Colombo: Central Bank, 1995).
22. Hema Goonatilake and Savitri Goonasekere, "Industrialization of Women Workers in Sri Lanka: Working Conditions inside and outside the Investment Promotion Zone," in Daughters in Industry: Work, Skills, and Consciousness of Women Workers of Asia, ed. Noeleen Heyzer (Kuala Lumpur: Asia and Pacific Development Center, 1988), pp. 184-208.
23. Sri Lanka, Central Bank, Annual Report, 1994.
24. Sri Lanka, Central Bank, Annual Report, 1994.
25. Lalitha Dissanayake, Towards Gender Equity (Colombo: Ministry of Women's Affairs, 1994). According to recent newspaper reports, some of the garment factories under the "200 garment factories program" had to be closed down owing to a number of problems related to credit, access to raw materials, and overseas markets.
26. Sri Lanka, Export Development Board, National Development Plan: 1990-1994 (Colombo: Sathosa Printers, 1990), p. 22.
27. Premachandra Atukorale and Jayatilake S. Bandara, "Growth of Manufactured Exports, Primary Commodity Dependence, and Net Export Earnings: Sri Lanka," World Development 17 (June 1989): 901.
28. See Lourdes Beneria and Martha Roldan, The Crossroads of Class and Gender: Subcontracting and Household Dynamics in Mexico City (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1987); Standing, "Global Feminization."
29. See Lourdes Beneria and Martha Roldan, The Crossroads of Class and Gender: Subcontracting and Household Dynamics in Mexico City (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1987); Standing, "Global Feminization."
30. See Eileen Boris and Elisabeth Prugl, eds., Home Workers in Global Perspective: Invisible No More (New York and London: Routledge, 1996).
31. A strong rib that runs down the middle of a coconut leaf. The leaf part is removed, and the ekels are used for brooms and garden rakes.
32. Vidyamali Samarasinghe, "The Last Frontier or New Beginning? Women's Micro Enterprises in Sri Lanka," in Women at the Center: Development Issues and Practices for the 1990s, ed. Gay Young, Vidyamali Samarasinghe, and Ken Kusterer (West Hartford, CT: Kumarian, 1993), pp. 30-44.
33. Madavi Ariyabandu-Malalgoda, "Dambadeniya Export Promotion Village: An Approach of Providing Employment for Rural Women" (paper presented at the Second National Convention on Women's Studies, Center for Women's Research [CENWOR], Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 1990, mimeograph), p. 21; Swarna Jayaweera and Malsiri Dias, Subcontracting in Industry: Impact on Women (London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 1989).
34. Madavi Ariyabandu-Malalgoda, "Dambadeniya Export Promotion Village: An Approach of Providing Employment for Rural Women" (paper presented at the Second National Convention on Women's Studies, Center for Women's Research [CENWOR], Colombo, Sri Lanka, March 1990, mimeograph), p. 21; Swarna Jayaweera and Malsiri Dias, Subcontracting in Industry: Impact on Women (London: Commonwealth Secretariat, 1989).
35. CENWOR, Women in Export Production Villages (Colombo: CENWOR, 1990), pp. 9-10.
36. R. B. M. Korale, Middle East Migration: The Sri Lanka Experience (Colombo: Ministry of Plan Implementation, 1984); Sri Lanka, Central Bank, Annual Report, 1986 (Colombo: Central Bank, 1987).
37. R. B. M. Korale, Middle East Migration: The Sri Lanka Experience (Colombo: Ministry of Plan Implementation, 1984); Sri Lanka, Central Bank, Annual Report, 1986 (Colombo: Central Bank, 1987).
38. R. A. Jayatissa, "Worker Remittances into Sri Lanka: A Preliminary Study," Upanathi 1 (July 1986): 245.
39. Chandra Rodrigo and R. A. Jayatissa, "Maximizing Benefits from Labor Migration: Sri Lanka," in To the Gulf and Back, ed. R. Amjad (New Delhi: ILO/ARTEP, 1989), pp. 256-96.
40. Malsiri Dias and Nedra Weerakoon, "Migrant Women Domestic Workers from Sri Lanka - Trends and Issues," in Facets of Change: Women in Sri Lanka, 1986-1995 (Colombo: CENWOR, 1995), pp. 195-228.
41. Frank Eelens and J. D. Speckman, "Recruitment of Labor Migrants for the Middle East: The Sri Lankan Case," International Migration Review 24 (Summer 1990): 297-322.
42. Eelens and Speckman, "Recruitment of Labor Migrants."
43. Dias and Weerakoon, "Migrant Women Domestic Workers," p. 201.
44. Eelens and Speckman, "Recruitment of Labor Migrants," p. 299.
45. Premachandra Atukorale, "International Contract Migration and the Reintegration of Return Migrants: The Experience of Sri Lanka," International Migration Review 24 (Summer 1990): 323-46; J. W. Huguet, "International Labor Migration from ESCAP Region," in Impact of International Migration in Developing Countries, ed. Reginald Appleyard (Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 1989), p. 100.
46. Premachandra Atukorale, "International Contract Migration and the Reintegration of Return Migrants: The Experience of Sri Lanka," International Migration Review 24 (Summer 1990): 323-46; J. W. Huguet, "International Labor Migration from ESCAP Region," in Impact of International Migration in Developing Countries, ed. Reginald Appleyard (Paris: Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development [OECD], 1989), p. 100.
47. Samarasinghe, "Puppets on a String."
48. Kurien, Women Workers: Samarasinghe et al., Maternal Nutrition.
49. Kurien, Women Workers: Samarasinghe et al., Maternal Nutrition.
50. Samarasinghe, "Puppets on a String."
51. Oddvar Hollup, Bonded Labor: Caste and Cultural Identity among Tamil Plantation Workers in Sri Lanka (New Delhi: Sterling Publishers, 1994).
52. See ibid., p. 199; Samarasinghe, "Puppets on a String," p. 336.
53. See ibid., p. 199; Samarasinghe, "Puppets on a String," p. 336.
54. Samarasinghe, "Puppets on a String."
55. Swarna Jayaweera, "Women and Employment," in Facets of Change, p. 178.
56. Goonatilake and Gunasekere, "Industrialization and Women Workers," p. 196.
57. Kumudini Rosa, "The Conditions and Organizational Activities of Women in Free Trade Zones: Malaysia, Philippines, and Sri Lanka, 1970-1990," in Dignity and Daily Bread: New Forms of Economic Organising among Poor Women in the Third World and the First, ed. Sheila Rowbotham and Swasti Mitter (New York and London: Routledge, 1994), pp. 73-99.
58. Goonatilake and Gunasekere, "Industrialization and Women Workers," p. 194.
59. Voice of Women (Kantha Handa), Women Workers in the Free Trade Zone of Sri Lanka - a Survey, Publication Series No. 1 (Colombo: Voice of Women, April 1983); Goonatilake and Gunasekere, "Industrialization and Women Workers," p. 293.
60. Voice of Women (Kantha Handa), Women Workers in the Free Trade Zone of Sri Lanka - a Survey, Publication Series No. 1 (Colombo: Voice of Women, April 1983); Goonatilake and Gunasekere, "Industrialization and Women Workers," p. 293.
61. Savitri Gunasekere, "Realizing Gender Equity through Law: Sri Lanka's Experience in the Post Nairobi Decade," in Facets of Change, pp. 6-57.
62. Rosa, "Women in Free Trade Zones."
63. Ibid., p. 84.
64. Goonatilake and Gunasekere, "Industrialization and Women Workers."
65. Soma Jayakody and Hema Goonatilake, "Industrial Action by Women Workers in Sri Lanka: The Polytex Garment Workers," in Daughters in Industry, ed. Heyzer , pp. 293-307.
66. Lakshmi K. Cumaranatunga, "Coping with the Unknown: Sri Lankan Domestic Aides in West Asia," in Women at the Crossroads: A Sri Lankan Perspective, ed. Sirima Kiribamune and Vidyamali Samarasinghe (New Delhi: Vikas, 1990), pp. 182-201.
67. See Eelens and Speckman, "Recruitment of Labor Migrants"; Dias and Weerakoon, "Migrant Women Domestic Workers."
68. See Eelens and Speckman, "Recruitment of Labor Migrants"; Dias and Weerakoon, "Migrant Women Domestic Workers."
69. Patricia Weinert, Foreign Female Domestic Workers: Help Wanted! Working Paper on International Migration for Employment (Geneva: ILO, 1991).
70. Gunasekere, "Realizing Gender Equity through Law," in Facets of Change, pp. 8-9.
71. Eelens and Speckman, "Recruitment of Labor Migrants."
72. Cumaranatunga, "Coping with the Unknown."
73. Malays and Burghers make up the remaining 3 percent.
74. Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Women and Men in Sri Lanka (Colombo: Department of Census and Statistics, 1995).
75. See Kurien, Women Workers; Samarasinghe et al., Maternal Nutrition.
76. See Kurien, Women Workers; Samarasinghe et al., Maternal Nutrition.
77. Rosa, "Women in Free Trade Zones," p. 79.
78. Goonatilake and Gunasekere, "Industrialization and Women Workers," p. 190.
79. Anberiya Hanifa, "The Impact of Technological Changes on Women's Employment: A Case of an Electronic Factory," Nivedini: Journal of the Women 's Education and Research Center (Colombo) 4 (June 1996): 77-95; Goonatilake and Gunasekere, "Industrialization and Women Workers."
80. Anberiya Hanifa, "The Impact of Technological Changes on Women's Employment: A Case of an Electronic Factory," Nivedini: Journal of the Women 's Education and Research Center (Colombo) 4 (June 1996): 77-95; Goonatilake and Gunasekere, "Industrialization and Women Workers."
81. Dias and Weerakoon, "Migrant Women Domestic Workers," p. 205.
82. S. T. Hettige, "From Dependent Housewives to Bread-Winners," in Women, Poverty, and Family Survival (Colombo: CENWOR, Poorna Printers, 1991), pp. 12-26.
83. Eelens and Speckman, "Recruitment of Labor Migrants," p. 311.
84. Hettige, "From Dependent Housewives."
85. James A. Tyner, "The Gendering of Philippine International Labor Migration," Professional Geographer 48 (November 1996): 405-16.
86. Sri Lanka, Department of Census and Statistics, Sri Lanka Labor Force Survey, 1994, First Quarter (Colombo: Department of Census and Statistics, 1995).
87. Dias and Weerakoon, "Migrant Women Domestic Workers," p. 208.
88. Standing, "Global Feminization."
89. Ibid., p. 1079.
90. Diane Elson, "Appraising Recent Developments in the World Market for Nimble Fingers: Accumulation, Regulation, Organization" (paper presented at the Workshop on Women, Organizing in the Process of Industrialization, Institute of Social Studies [ISS], The Hague, 1991, mimeographed).
91. Niloufer Cagatay, "Turkish Women and Structural Adjustment," in The Strategic Silence: Gender and Economic Policy, ed. Issabella Bakker (London: Zed Books), pp. 130-36.
92. Premachandra Atukorale, "The Impact of 1977 Policy Reforms on Domestic Industry," Upanathi 1 (January 1986): 38.
93. Lourdes Benería, "Towards Greater Integration of Gender in Economics," World Development 23 (November 1995): 1845.
94. Vickers, Women and the World Economic Crisis.
95. Swarna Jayaweera, "Women and Education," in Facets of Change, pp. 96-97.
96. Food and Nutrition Policy Planning Division, Ministry of Plan Implementation, Evaluation Report on the Food Stamp Scheme, Publication No. 7 (Colombo: Ministry of Plan Implementation, 1982).
97. Neville Edirisinghe, The Food Stamp Scheme in Sri Lanka: Costs, Benefits, and Options for Modifications, Research Report No. 58 (Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute, 1987).
98. See Lourdes Benería, "Accounting for Women's Work: The Progress of Two Decades," World Development 20 (November 1992) : 1547-60; Vidyamali Samarasinghe, "Counting Women's Work: The Intersection of Time and Space," in Thresholds in Feminist Geography: Differences, Methodology, Representation, ed. John Paul Jones III, Heidi J. Nast, and Susan M. Roberts (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997), pp. 129-44.
99. See Lourdes Benería, "Accounting for Women's Work: The Progress of Two Decades," World Development 20 (November 1992) : 1547-60; Vidyamali Samarasinghe, "Counting Women's Work: The Intersection of Time and Space," in Thresholds in Feminist Geography: Differences, Methodology, Representation, ed. John Paul Jones III, Heidi J. Nast, and Susan M. Roberts (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 1997), pp. 129-44.
100. Eelens and Speckman, "Recruitment of Labor Migrants," p. 317.
101. Hettige, "From Dependent Housewives"; Dias and Weerakoon, "Migrant Women Domestic Workers."
102. Hettige, "From Dependent Housewives"; Dias and Weerakoon, "Migrant Women Domestic Workers."
103. Atukorale, "International Contract Migration."
104. Goonatilake and Gunasekere, "Industrialization and Women Workers," p. 190.
105. Ibid., p. 192.
106. Hettige, "From Dependent Housewives."
107. Elise Boulding, "Dualism and Productivity: An Examination of the Economic Roles of Women in Societies in Transition," in Economic Development, Poverty, and Income Distribution, ed. William Lahore and John Powelson (Boulder, CO: Westview, 1977), pp. 161-91.
108. See Benería, "Accounting for Women's Work"; Samarasinghe, "Counting Women's Work"; United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report, 1995 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
109. See Benería, "Accounting for Women's Work"; Samarasinghe, "Counting Women's Work"; United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report, 1995 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).
110. See Benería, "Accounting for Women's Work"; Samarasinghe, "Counting Women's Work"; United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report, 1995 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995).