Revisiting labour and gender issues in Export Processing Zones: the cases of South Korea, Bangladesh and India

Mayumi Murayama and Nobuko Yokota

No 174, IDE Discussion Papers from Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organization(JETRO)

Abstract: The establishment of Export Processing Zones (EPZs) is a strategy for economic development that was introduced almost fifty years ago and is nowadays employed in a large number of countries. While the number of EPZs including several variants such as Special Economic Zone (SEZs) has increased continuously, general interest in EPZs has declined over the years in contrast to earlier heated debates regarding the efficacy of the strategy and its welfare effects especially on women workers. This article re-evaluates the historical trajectories and outstanding labour and gender issues of EPZs on the basis of the experiences of South Korea, Bangladesh and India. The findings suggest the necessity of enlarging our analytical scope with regard to EPZs, which are inextricably connected with external employment structures, whether outside the EPZ but within the same country, or outside the EPZ and its host country altogether.

Keywords: South Korea; Bangladesh; India; Female labor; Labor problems; Export Processing Zone (EPZ); Special Economic Zone (SEZ); Gender; 韓国; バングラデシュ; インド; 女性労働; 労働問題; 輸出加工区; 特別経済区; ジェンダー (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: F02 F16 J53 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cwa, nep-dev and nep-lab
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published in IDE Discussion Paper = IDE Discussion Paper, No. 174. 2008-10-01

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