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Beyond Upgrading: Gendered Labor and the Restructuring of Firms in the Dominican Republic

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  • Marion Werner
Abstract
In the literature on global commodity chains, industrial upgrading describes the process whereby firms shift to more secure or more profitable niches within or between industries through organizational learning facilitated by networks. While the framework of upgrading identifies key dynamics of competition between capitals, it nonetheless sidelines inquiry into how such imperatives condition and are conditioned by labor. To address this conceptual weakness, I argue that studies of the restructuring of production networks can be enriched through a feminist analysis of value. In particular, the efforts of firms to reposition themselves in networks should be considered in light of struggles to rework the basis of labor’s value to capital, a process of reproducing and recombining interlocking social differences into novel combinations of exploitable workers. I explore this process through an in-depth case study of a large garment firm in the Dominican Republic, in which upgrading involved the reworking of skilled and unskilled work, animated by gendered practices and norms, that led to the masculinization of skilled sewing and the feminization of new service engineering functions.

Suggested Citation

  • Marion Werner, 2012. "Beyond Upgrading: Gendered Labor and the Restructuring of Firms in the Dominican Republic," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 88(4), pages 403-422, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:recgxx:v:88:y:2012:i:4:p:403-422
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1944-8287.2012.01163.x
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Elizabeth Havice & Liam Campling, 2013. "Articulating Upgrading: Island Developing States and Canned Tuna Production," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(11), pages 2610-2627, November.
    2. Annelies Goger, 2013. "From Disposable to Empowered: Rearticulating Labor in Sri Lankan Apparel Factories," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(11), pages 2628-2645, November.
    3. Sarah Lyon & Tad Mutersbaugh & Holly Worthen, 2017. "The triple burden: the impact of time poverty on women’s participation in coffee producer organizational governance in Mexico," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 34(2), pages 317-331, June.
    4. Kanchana N Ruwanpura, 2023. "Frayed social safety: Social networks, stigma, and COVID-19 – The case of Sri Lankan garment workers," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 41(7), pages 1317-1332, November.
    5. Pipkin, Seth & Fuentes, Alberto, 2017. "Spurred to Upgrade: A Review of Triggers and Consequences of Industrial Upgrading in the Global Value Chain Literature," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 536-554.
    6. Thai Thi Minh & Charity Osei‐Amponsah, 2021. "Towards poor‐centred value chain for sustainable development: A conceptual framework," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(6), pages 1223-1236, November.
    7. Rai, Shirin M. & Brown, Benjamin D. & Ruwanpura, Kanchana N., 2019. "SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth – A gendered analysis," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 368-380.
    8. Liena Kano & Eric W. K. Tsang & Henry Wai-chung Yeung, 2020. "Global value chains: A review of the multi-disciplinary literature," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 51(4), pages 577-622, June.
    9. Yasmine Eissa & Chahir Zaki, 2023. "On GVC and innovation: the moderating role of policy," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 50(1), pages 49-71, March.

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