Women workers and labour standards: The problem of 'human rights'

Review of International Studies

Volumn 33, Issue 1, 2007, Pages 45-57

  Elias, Juanita ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 33846597476     PISSN: 02602105     EISSN: 14699044     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0260210507007292     Document Type: Review

References (72)

1. Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper (eds.), Women's Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives (London: Routledge, 1995);
2. Marjorie Agosín (ed.), Women, Gender and Human Rights: A Global Perspective (Pitscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2001).
3. The ILO first began to talk of 'core labour standards' at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development, and in 1998 the ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work was adopted at the International Labour Conference. The core labour standards relate to the following ILO conventions: Convention 87, freedom of association and protection of the right to organise, 1948; Convention 98, the right to organise arid collective bargaining, 1949; Convention 29, forced labour, 1930, relating to the suppression of forced labour; Convention 105, the abolition of forced labour, 1957: Convention 100, equal remuneration, 1951 (equal remuneration for men and women for work of equal value); Convention 111, discrimination (employment arid occupation), 1958 (to promote equality of opportunity and treatment, in respect of employment, and occupation); Convention 138, minimum age, 1973 (the abolition of child labour. The minimum age for admission to employment or work shall be not less than the age of completion of compulsory schooling (normally not less than 15 years)); Convention 182, worst forms of child labour convention, 1999.
4. In this article I use the term neoliberalism to describe an economic doctrine that rests upon the central tenets of classical liberal political economy but is also a policy approach promoting market-led growth, deregulation arid the privatisation of state-owned enterprises.
5. See for example, Georgina Waylen, 'Gender Feminism and Political Economy', New Political Economy, 2 (1997), pp. 205-20;
6. Shirin Rai, Gender and the Political Economy of Development: From Nationalism to Globalization (Cambridge: Polity 2002);
7. Spike Peterson, ACritical Rewriting of Global Political Economy: Integrating Reproductive, Productive, and Virtual Economies (London: Routledge 2003).
8. Diane Elson and Jasmine Gideon, 'Organising for Women's Economic and Social Rights: How Useful is the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights?', Journal of Interdisciplinary Gender Studies, 8 (2004).
9. Elson and Gideon, 'Organising for Women's Economic and Social Rights', p. 135.
10. Hilary Charlesworth, 'The Human Rights of Women', International Feminist Journal of Politics, 4 (2002), p. 432.
11. Diane Elson and Jasmine Gideon, 'Organising for Women's Economic and Social Rights', p. 135.
12. Donna Sullivan, The Public/Private Distinction in International Human Rights Law', in Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper (eds.), Women's Rights Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives (London: Routledge, 1995), pp. 126-34;
13. Spike Peterson arid Laura Parisi, 'Are Women Human? It's Not an Academic Question', in T. Evans (ed.), Human Rights Fifty Years On (Manchester; Manchester University Press, 1998), pp. 132-60.
14. Susana T. Fried, The Indivisibility of Women's Human Rights: A Continuing Dialogue (New Jersey: Centre for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University, 1994).
15. Inderpal Grewal, 'On the New Global Feminism and the Family of Nations; Dilemmas of Transnational Feminist Practice', in Ella Shohat (ed.), Talking Visions: Multicultural Feminism in a Transnational Age (New York: MIT Press, 1998), p. 519.
16. Huda A. Seif, 'Contextualising Gender and Labour: Class, Ethnicity and Global Politics in the Yemini Socio-Economy', in Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper (eds.), Women's Rights. Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives (London: Routledge, 1995), p. 229.
17. Peterson and Parisi, 'Are Women Human?'.
18. Ibid., p. 150.
19. Diane Elson, 'Gender Justice, Human Rights and Neo-liberal Economic Policies', in Maxine Molenyeux and Shara Razavi (eds.), Gender Justice, Development and Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 78-114.
20. I am using the term 'development industry' in relation to what Caroline Thomas refers to as the 'reformist' approach to economic development within the international financial institutions, whereby the orthodox ideas of the 'Washington Consensus' have been reformed in a way that does not significantly upset the pursuit of an essentially rieoliberal development paradigm. Central to this process has been the adoption of Rights-Based Approaches (RBAs). Caroline Thomas, Global Governance. Development and Human Security: The Challenge of Poverty and Inequality (London: Pluto, 2000), pp. 93-103.
21. Dzodzi Tsikata, The Rights-Based Approach to Development: Potential for Change or More of the Same?', IDS Bulletin. 35(2004), pp. 130-3.
22. See also World Bank, Engendering Development: Through Gender Equity in Rights, Resources and Voice (Oxford: Oxford University Press for the World Bank, 2001).
23. Tsikata, The Rights-Based Approach to Development', p. 131.
24. Elson arid Gideon, 'Organising for Women's Economic arid Social Rights', p. 134.
25. Martha Nussbaum, 'Women and Equality: The Capabilities Approach', International Labour Review, 138 (1999), pp. 227-45.
26. Martha Nussbaum, 'Women's Capabilities and Social Justice', in Maxine Molenyeux and Shara Razavi (eds.), Gender Justice, Development and Rights (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 45-77.
27. Diane. Elson, 'Gender Justice, Human Rights arid Neo-liberal Economic Policies'.
28. Vivienne Jabri, 'Feminist Ethics and Hegemonic Global Polities', Alternatives, 29 (2004), pp. 265-84.
29. Tsikata, The Rights-based Approach to Development', p. 131.
30. Linda Shaw arid Angela Hale, "The Emperor's New Clothes: What Codes Mean for Workers in the Garment Industry', in R. Jenkiris et al. (eds.), Corporate Responsibility and Labour Rights: Codes of Conduct in the Global Economy (London: Earthscan, 2002), pp. 1101-12.
31. Eddy Lee, 'Globalisation and Labour Standards: A Review of the Issues', International Labour Review. 136 (1997), p. 176.
32. Nicolas Valticos, 'International Labour Standards and Human Rights: Approaching the Year 2000', International Labour Review, 137 (1998), p. 136.
33. Arne Vandaele, cited in Philip Alston ' "Corn Labour Standards" and the transformation of the international labour rights regime', European Journal of International Law, 15 (2004), p. 485.
34. As an international lawyer, Alston argues that the CLS approach is less of a human rights-centred approach because the standards are divorced from the whole set of ILO conventions that are recognised in international law - in this sense they undermine the status of other ILO conventions that have long been recognised as human rights. However, the approach taken in this article is to focus on the employment of the discourse of human rights in relation to labour standards (rather than claims on their legal status as human rights claims). See Philip Alston 'Core Labour Standards'.
35. Alston, 'Core Labour Standards', p. 485.
36. Ibid.
37. Shaw and Hale, The Emperor's New Clothes', p. 109.
38. Elissa Alben, 'GATT and the Fair Wage; An Historical Perspective on the Labour-Trade Link', Columbia Law Review, 101 (2001), pp. 1410-47;
39. Adelle Blackett, 'Whither Social Clauses? Human Rights, Trade Theory and Treaty Interpretation', Columbia Human Rights Law Review, 31 (1999), pp. 1-80.
40. Ha-Joon Chang, 'Globalization, Transnational Corporations and Economic Development: Can the Developing Countries Pursue Strategic Industrial Policy in a Globalizing World?', in D. Baker, G. Epstein and R. Pollin (eds.), Globalization and Progressive Economic Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1998), pp. 97-114.
41. Natalin Hevener Kaufman and Stefanie A. Lindquist, 'Critiquing Gender-Neutral Treaty Language: the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women', in Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper (eds.), Women's Rights, Human Rights: International Feminist Perspectives (New York: Routledge, 1995), pp. 121-2.
42. Bipasha Baruah, 'Earning their Keep and Keeping what they Earn: A Critique of Organizing Strategies for South Asian Women in the Informal Sector', Gender, Work and Organization, 11 (2004), pp. 605-27.
43. The classic study of male dominance in trade unions is Cynthia Cockburn, Brothers: Male Dominance and Technological Change (London: Pluto, 1983).
44. For more contemporary/international perspectives, see Fiona Colgan and Sue Ledwith (eds.), Gender, Diversity and Trade Unions: International Perspectives (London: Routledge, 2002).
45. Sandra Whitworth, Feminism and International Relations (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1994), pp. 119-52;
46. Elizabeth Prügl, The Global Construction of Gender: Home-Based Work in the Political Economy of the 20th Century (New York: Columbia University Press, 1999).
47. Jane Turner, 'A Gender Perspective on Core Labour Standards in Global Export Industries and an Analysis of Implementation in ETI Company Supply Chains', in Women Working Worldwide, Core Labour Standards and the Rights of Women Workers in International Supply Chains: Seminar Report November 2004 (Manchester: Women Working Worldwide, 2004), p. 4.
48. For early examples of these writings see Diane Elson and Ruth Pearson, The Subordination of Women and the Internationalization of Factory Production', in K. Young et al. (eds.), Of Marriage and the Market (London: CSE Books, 1981) pp. 18-40;
49. Swasti Mitter, Common Fate Common Bond: Women in the Global Economy (London: Pluto Press, 1986).
50. Elson and Pearson, The Subordination of Women'.
51. Christens Chinkin, 'Human Rights of Women: Global Status and Challenges for 2005 and Beyond' (paper given at the 2005 Catalyst Conference 'Global Perspectives on Successful Implementation of Human Rights of Women', University of Essex, 6 May 2005), (www.essex.ac.uk/catalyst/Prof.Chinkin.htm). Accessed 10 October 2006.
52. Guy Standing, 'Global Feminization through Flexible Labour: A Theme Revisited', World Development, 23 (1999), pp. 583-602.
53. Standing, 'Global Feminization through Flexible Labour'.
54. Women Working Worldwide, Garment Industry Subcontracting and Worker Rights: Report of Women Working Worldwide action research in Asia and Europe 2003 (Manchester: Women Working Worldwide, 2003).
55. Alston, 'Core Labour Standards'.
56. United Nations, Secretary General Proposes Global Compact in Human Rights, Labour and Environment in Address to World Economic Forum in Davos, Press Release SG/SM/6881 (1 February 1999).
57. OECD (Working Party of the Trade Committee, TD/TC/WP(99)56/FINAL) Codes of conduct: an inventory (Paris: OECD 1999); Michael Urminsky, Self Regulation in the Workplace: Codex of Conduct, Social Labelling and Socially Responsible Investment, Management and Corporate Citizenship Working Paper no. 1 (Geneva: ILO 2001).
58. Rhys Jenkins, Ruth Pearson and Gill Seyfang, 'Introduction', in Rhys Jenkins et al. (eds.), Corporate Responsibility and Labour Rights: Codes of Conduct in the Global Economy (London: Earthscan, 2002), p. 1.
59. Peter LJviri, ' On High Moral Ground: The Incorporation of Human Rights by the Development Enterprise', PRAXIS: The Fletcher Journal of Development, xvii (2000), p. 1.
60. R. Pearsori and G. Seyfang (2002), 'I'll Tell You What I Want...': Women Workers and Codes of Conduct', in Rhys Jenkins et al. (nds.), Corporate Responsibility and Labour Rights: Codes of Conduct in the Global Economy (London: Earthscan, 2002), pp. 43-60.
61. Lucy Brill, 'Can Codes of Conduct Help Home Based Workers?', in Jenkins et al., Corporate Responsibility, p. 118.
62. Pearson and Seyfang, 'I'll Tell You What I Want.. .', p. 51.
63. Shaw and Hale, "The Emperor's New Clothes'; Marina Prieto and Jem Bendell, If you Want to Help then Start Listening to Us! From Factories and Plantations in Central America, Women Speak Out about Corporate Responsibility, Occasional Paper (Bath: New Academy of Business, 2002).
64. Juanita Elias, 'Stitching-up the Labour Market: Recruitment, Gender and Ethnicity in the Multinational Firm', International Feminist Journal of Politics, 7 (2005), pp. 90-111.
65. Brill, 'Can Codes of Conduct Help Homo Based Workers?'.
66. Stephanie Barrientos, Sharon McClenaghan and Liz Orton, Gender and Codes of Conduct: A Case Study from Horticulture in South Africa (London: Christian Aid, 1999).
67. Barrientos et al., Gender and Codes of Conduct, p. 28.
68. Pearson and Seyfang, 'I'll Tell You What I Want.. .' 59 Brill, 'Can Codes of Conduct Help Home Based Workers?'.
69. Naila Kabeer, 'Globalization, Labour Standards and Women's Rights: Dilemmas of Collective (in) action in an interdependent world', Feminist Economics, 10 (2004), pp. 3-35.
70. Prieto and Bendell, If you Want to Help.
71. Naila Kabeer, 'Globalization, Labour Standards and Women's Rights', p. 28.
72. Uvin, 'On High Moral Ground'.