Women workers make up large parts of the workforce in the horticulture and garment industries. They often live in working poverty and face great risks and marginalisation both as workers and as women.

In addition to economic deprivation, women struggle with prejudice and discrimination, which perpetuate their vulnerable position in society. As a result, women may lack spaces to support one another and their voices may not be heard. Typically, women workers in horticulture and garment industry value chains tend to be young, single with dependents, working in unstable casual employment. In these circumstances they may struggle to support themselves and their dependants on wages that fall well below living wage standards. Research on women’s working conditions conducted by partners through previous projects has highlighted several issues and disadvantages faced by women.

1. Conditions of employment: between casualisation and underpaid work

Casualisation

Women workers are mainly employed in insecure jobs. Short-term contracts mean that women never gain long-term security. Casual workers in particular are extremely vulnerable. The casualisation of labour has numerous implications for workers. First, non-permanent workers have no access to employment benefits; these typically include maternity leave, paid annual leave, set working hours, overtime pay, sick leave, access to social protection schemes, medical benefits (and compensation for work-related injury), housing allowances, the right to join a union, breaks and payment during public holidays. In addition, casual workers are not eligible for any opportunities of promotion. Insecure employment status coupled with lack of written contracts means that women are particularly vulnerable to abuses and exploitation, including sexual harassment by supervisors, who are normally arbiters of whether they should be re-employed. Because of the lack of employment security, casual workers fear making complaints or joining unions for fear of retaliation.

Low wages and long hours

Workers may be trapped in working poverty and lack financial stability. Any disrupting event such as illness and/or an accident can potentially jeopardize their livelihood. Many workers have to resort to overtime to supplement their incomes due to low wage levels. Working long hours has implications for workers’ health and safety, especially for women workers walking back home at night from their workplace. It disrupts workers’ personal and family lives – for instance, relatives and often older siblings may have to look after younger ones whilst women are at work often resulting in then leaving school prematurely.

Purchasing practices

Workers as the main bearers of the risks involved by producing for a volatile market. The pressure of consumers/retailers specific demands are passed onto producers through highly volatile and flexible purchasing practices. The risks associated with the production in a highly volatile environment get ultimately passed onto workers who report working long hours to satisfy the demands of retailers. Working hours can vary with little warning – overtime tends to be poorly recorded and therefore not rewarded adequately if paid at all.

2. Conditions of work

Research conducted by horticulture project partners draws attention to a series of health and safety hazards in workplaces.

Lack of access to basic services

Access to basic facilities is often lacking.  Examples include lack of access to drinking water and/or suitable toilet facilities in the workplace. Failure to provide segregated toilets was an additional concern for women workers who often feel unsafe in unisex places which also afford little privacy.

A lack of access to medical facilities / substandard medical facilities

This affects particularly casual workers who have no/limited access to social security schemes or to medical benefits.

Occupational risks – substandard health and safety procedures

Health and safety procedures in relation to the handling of pesticides and chemicals in the case of horticulture are often negligent: workers particularly lament the lack of provision (or their poor state of wear and tear) of protective clothing to handle chemicals. Any exposure of pregnant women to chemicals can have serious health implications for the women and their unborn children. Women workers have reported cases of skin rashes, blindness, cancer and miscarriages.

3. Gender specific issues – and their impact on reproductive and domestic roles

In addition to the issue highlighted above (which potentially concern both male and female workers), women workers faced additional gender-specific issues. These are linked to women’s reproductive work and to patriarchal systems of gender relations in their day-to-day lives in the community.

Lack of maternity and childcare provisions

The lack of protection and provision in relation to women’ reproductive work can have severe consequences for women workers, their families and the local communities. Where there is a lack of paid maternity leave, this means women workers feel wary of becoming pregnant. Cases of dismissal/or women forced to take redundancy following pregnancy disclosure are commonplace. Work can be physically demanding; however, pregnant women are not usually allocated lighter tasks and/or breaks. For workers with young babies, no breastfeeding time may not be allowed. Cases of miscarriages, ill health for babies and mothers as well as infant deaths are frequently reported. The lack of childcare provision also resulted in women leaving paid work when starting a family; consequences were even more noticeable for single mothers who lost their only source of income.

Gender discrimination: lack of opportunities, occupational segregation and wage gap

Discrimination against women is commonplace in  workplaces.  Few women are in positions of leadership within frontline organisations and there is inadequate provision of education and skills development for women. Women workers are rarely promoted and therefore are unlikely to attain managerial position.

Women receive lower wages than men. In addition, gender bias and stereotyping contribute to keeping women in precarious employment. Stemming from a patriarchal organisation of society, female workers are often deemed compliant and docile by employers, and women are often trapped in ‘women’s jobs’ at the bottom of employment hierarchies.

Sexual harassment

Beyond the issues linked to women reproductive rights, female workers face widespread sexual harassment and harsh treatment on many farms and in factories. The sense of shame experienced by the victims combined with the fear of losing their employment and the lack of awareness (or availability) of complaints procedures means that most cases go unreported.

Limited organisation/participation in trade-unions, representation and bargaining power

Representation and participation of women in trade union activities remains low and there is still a lot of work to do to get gender mainstreamed as a topic within trade unions.  Patriarchal societies, as well as cultural and religious prejudices can be an obstacle to women organising. Irregular workers experience weak social protection, weak bargaining power and have fewer organising rights.

Trade unions have difficulties accessing the informal economy, although their approach is changing as there is growing awareness of the conditions associated with the informal sector and of the extent of informal working.  Some initiatives have attempted to increase the visibility and organisation of informal workers.

Women workers at risk in the global economic crisis

Not only is the international economic crisis leading to women losing their jobs, but there are also diminishing resources for women workers’ projects and organisations partly because of a shift in focus to climate change issues.

Current issues identified as important at an international meeting convened by WWW (April 2011) to support horticulture workers included:

Violations of labour rights

• Low and ‘poverty-perpetuating’ wages
• Lack of regular employment
• Lack of freedom of association and the capacity to organise and to bargain collectively
• Health and safety issues.

Women’s issues

• Gender-based discrimination/sexual harassment
• Childcare and management of family responsibilities
• Lack of empowerment of women leaders
• Weak social safety nets, weak law enforcement or lack of any law enforcement.

Contextual trends

• Increasing use of labour agents and reduction of employer accountability for labour
• More outsourcing to small producers
• Production shifts
• Export shifts e.g. to new emerging economies
• Changes in production methods such as longer logistics due to increased use of shipping and decreased use of airplanes.