The Gender Dimension of Special Economic Zones
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Table 11.3 Total Employment and Female Share of Employment in SEZs 2000–2003
Country Bangladesh Mexico Philippines Sri Lanka Malaysia Dominican Republic Honduras Guatemala Nicaragua Korea, Republic of Malawi Kenya Jamaica Panama Haiti Cape Verde
2005–2006
Change over the period Total employment (%)
Female share (%)
85 60 74 78 54
0.6 –0.4 0.4 –0.1 0.5
23 0 0 0 0
154,781 353,624 72,000 340,000
53 75 70 90
–0.2 2.3 0.0 7.5
0 8 0 0
39,000 29,000 38,851 20,000 18,000 10,000 1,180
70 51 60 90 70 69 88
0.0 0.0 0.4 0.0 0.2 0.0 0.0
0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total employment
Percent female
Total employment
Percent female
2,138,341 1,906,064 820,960 461,033 322,000
62 60 74 78 54
3,438,394 1,212,125 1,128,197 410,851 491,488
181,130 106,457 69,200 40,000
53 67 70 90
39,000 29,000 27,148 20,000 14,900 10,000 1,141
70 51 60 90 70 69 88
Source: Boyenge (2003, 2007).
SEZs remain highly female intensive in general with countries such as Bangladesh, Jamaica, and Nicaragua displaying a female share of employment close to 90 percent. For the period 2000–2003, the average female share of employment in SEZs in the sample of countries in table 11.3 was 69 percent; this increased slightly to 71 percent because of a rise in the number of women employed in Bangladesh and Honduras in 2005– 06. When compared with the share of female employment in nonagricultural employment, the high female intensity of SEZs is all the more revealing (see figure 11.1) and the segmentation of women in exportrelated employment is quite starkly evident. In countries such as Bahrain and Morocco, the female share of employment is low in comparison to other regions, although it is still high relative to female nonagricultural employment; a fact explained by sociocultural norms that keep female labor force participation there low. In India, female employment in SEZs has shown a declining trend from 1981 (46.5 percent) to 2003 (36.9 percent), although it is still much higher than formal sector employment