268
Special Economic Zones
Figure 11.5 Female Intensity of Manufacturing Employment and Manufacturing Value Added per Worker, Average Annual Growth, Southeast Asia and Latin America, 1985–2006
growth of female intensity in Mfg (%)
3 2.5 2
Brazil Venezuela, RB
Peru
1.5 1
Colombia El Salvador
0.5
Panama Mexico
Ecuador Chile
0
Thailand
Argentina
Costa Rica
Philippines
Dominican Republic Malaysia
Indonesia
–0.5 –1 –4
–3
–2
–1 0 1 2 3 4 growth of Mfg. value added per worker (%)
5
6
female intensity and MVA per worker Source: Authors’ illustration, based on ILO (2009) and World Bank (2009). Note: MVA = manufacturing value added. Fitted Line: Y = 0.86 – 0.13X (Adj. Rsq.= 0.24; t-stat = –2.38). Data availability varies by country. Please contact author for details.
workers in the late 1980s, which led to rapid wage increases across the board. Additionally, the rise of capital- and technology-intensive production in the zone displaced female workers who were employed in laborintensive industries. Similarly, as the supply of female workers willing to work for low wages in Mexican maquiladoras in the 1980s boom fell because of a tightening labor market, managers were forced to recruit men for the same jobs (Salzinger 2003, 11). Rubery (1998) argues that female employment is procyclical and that women act as a flexible “buffer” labor force to be roped into the workforce when required and released when not. The buffer explanation implies that women are employed in larger numbers in periods of expansion and are laid off during recessions, providing one explanation for defeminization. Such a buffer role is concentrated in particular occupations in industries that face competitive pressures and greater demand fluctuations. Kucera (2001) shows this buffer role of female workers in the 1960s and 1970s in Germany and Japan.26