Female Wage Labour in Perspective

It is a commonplace that rapid industrialisation in Asia and in other parts of the developing world during the latter decades of the twentieth century owed much to the cheap labour provided by women, and often children. Such labour has been, all still is, dominant in a number of manufacturing occupations, and is particularly evident in the labour intensive industries which characterise the early stages of industrialisation. Garments, textiles, leather goods, electronic assembly, simple plastics and such like are all occupations where female labour often predominates.