Sub-Contracting, Small-Batch Production and Home-Based Women Workers

The practice of sub-contracting in industry has grown markedly as a tool of production in global commodity chains over the past 30 years. The reasons include: the portability of multinational corporations’ operations, consistent with economic globalisation; cross-border production networks associated with cost-cutting benefits for manufacturers and entrepreneurs; and the demand for flexibility in production output. Sub-contracting arrangements are also associated with avoidance of national and international regulations, particularly as they relate to labour standards.