The participation of female factory workers in voluntary associations : case studies of electronics factory workers in Malaysia and Thailand
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Date
1982-12
Authors
Blake, Myrna L
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The participation of female factory workers in voluntary associations : case studies of electronics factory workers in Malaysia and Thailand
Abstract
This study examines two groups of female workers employed in the electronics industry and two associations which formed to meet their needs. One group of workers is employed in a Free Trade Zone in Malaysia and the association is a non-government agency. The other group comprises the employees of one factory in Thailand and the association is the labour union of this plant. The underlying theory is that the emergence of voluntary associations is a concommitant of social change and that their adaptive and integrative function involves problem solution and the mobilization of the population affected by the change. In the cases examined, social change is a consequence of the establishment by multinational corporations of the electronics industry, of subsidiary plants in developing countries. The industry preference for a young female work force introduces into the industrial labour force a new population which might otherwise have been employed in the service sector, in agriculture or in unpaid household work. As new entrants to the industrial sector the young women experience a number of problems relating both to their work and living environment. It is argued that central to the achievements of the associations is the participation of the workers and that analysis of this participation must take into account the interdependence of several factors. These.factors derive from the socio-economic and political contexts in which the associations emerge, the attributes
of the associations and the characteristics of the workers. The analysis shows that of political relevance is the official stance towards foreign investors, to worker protection and labour relations. Of importance in the economic context is the pattern of industrial development and the place of the electronics industry in
this development.
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Keywords
Female workers employed