Abstract
Reflecting on more than two decades of research into global retail supply chains, Stephanie Barrientos has produced a systematic account of the ways in which global production networks are gendered. Analyzing her rich empirical findings through a gender lens, Barrientos develops Global (re)Production Network theory, which integrates commercial production with social reproduction—that is, the care and household labor performed on an unpaid basis largely by women. This theory provides a structured framework within which to analyze the form and implications of women’s integration into global supply chains, in particular the extent to which women are able to “capture the gains” of their work. The empirical analysis is based on case studies of the cocoa–chocolate, horticultural, and apparel value chains and informed by Barrientos’s long-standing research in these areas.
In Gender and Work in Global Value Chains, Barrientos provides a comprehensive analysis of the growth of global retail value chains since the 1990s, tracing the development of global retailers, such as Walmart, and their associated global sourcing strategies. Facilitated by trade liberalization and developments in IT, logistics, and transport, the global sourcing of retailers is now a key component of global trade, with, for example, Walmart becoming China’s seventh largest trading partner in 2009 (p. 37). This development has driven an expansion of employment in global supply chains across emerging economies, with estimates suggesting that up to 40% of the workforce in global value chains are women (pp. 62–63). Barrientos focuses on the contradictory implications for women. On the one hand, millions of women have been drawn into paid work for the first time, increasing their economic independence and potentially also their individual and collective agency. On the other hand, the development of global retailing has been driven by financialization, implying a relentless search for shareholder value that manifests itself in pressure for reduced production costs alongside increased quality and speed of delivery, which in turn translate into low wages, high work intensity, and inadequate health and safety provisions for production workers at the lower end of value chains, many of them women.
Synthesizing the insights of the literature on global value chains (GVCs), global production networks (GPNs), and feminist political economy, Barrientos extends the theory of Global (re)Production Networks (G(r)PN), an idea first proposed by Philip Kelly (“From global production networks to global reproduction networks: Households, migration, and regional development in Cavite, the Philippines,” 2009). This theory provides a comprehensive framework for the gendering of GVC and GPN research, the utility of which Barrientos demonstrates in her empirical analyses, which are structured by three themes: embedded tensions, gendered articulations, and contested outcomes. Embedded tensions are the strains between the commercial logic of profit maximization and the logic of social reproduction that entails care, nurture, and concern for well-being. Such tensions are exemplified by the way in which the notion of “quality” has been extended in the face of contestation to include social and environmental standards as global retailers strive to maintain a reputation for “caring” for well-being (p. 94). Gendered articulations between commercial production and social reproduction refer to the way in which women’s skills developed within the household are undervalued, and their subordination reproduced within the workplace. Nevertheless, such articulations can potentially be challenged. Finally, within the G(r)PN approach, contested outcomes refer to the results of individual, collective, and collaborative contestation (the latter entailing cooperation between local, national, and global civil society organizations including nongovernmental organizations [NGOs] and unions), which Barrientos analyzes with a focus on gender dynamics.
The interaction between firms’ commercial strategies and different forms of contestation produces diverse patterns of economic and social downgrading and upgrading. Barrientos traces gendered trajectories of upgrading and downgrading in her chosen industries, emphasizing that upgrading and downgrading lie on a continuum. For example, she shows how downgrading in the West African cocoa–chocolate industry from the 1970s eventually led to individual contestation in the form of the exit of younger farmers, followed by social contestation such as the formation of cooperatives, and finally collaborative contestation with local groups linking up with global campaigns regarding issues such as child labor and gender inequality in the industry. This has initiated social upgrading with a gender dimension (for example, Divine chocolate’s 2017 “empowering women cocoa farmers” campaign), although Barrientos stresses that the sustainability of such apparent gains is unclear. Nevertheless, she does provide detailed evidence of two cases in which she considers the upgrading trajectory to be more stable: Nike’s equitable manufacturing initiative and the Kenyan flower sector. In both cases, a tipping point was reached when the enhancement of workers’ skills and rights raised productivity and quality, thus reconciling commercial and social tensions within a win-win framework (pp. 218–19).
A key variable influencing the development of downgrading or upgrading trajectories, Barrientos argues, is governance. She identifies four forms of governance: private, social, public, and hybrid. Private governance refers to governance carried out by lead firms, while public governance involves nation states, international agreements, and multilateral organizations. Barrientos’s innovation lies in her emphasis on what she calls social governance, defined as the ability of civil society organizations, such as NGOs, trade unions, and community groups, to influence policy, institutions, social norms, and markets using the forms of contestation outlined above. Hybrid governance refers to multi-stakeholder initiatives that interlayer different forms of governance. Barrientos convincingly argues that private governance has proved largely ineffective in relation to gender issues, since these are often rooted in the sphere of social reproduction and are difficult to address through an auditing approach. By contrast, social governance straddles the spheres of commercial and social reproduction, with trade unions representing the former and community NGOs the latter. Nevertheless, Barrientos concludes that all forms of governance need to play a role to achieve sustained improvements for workers. Although social contestation often triggers improvements, their maintenance requires legislation, which then provides a baseline for private regulation (p. 247).
Barrientos has provided a comprehensive and admirably clear analysis of the ways global retail value chains are shaping gender patterns of work and the gendered outcomes for workers. Her development of G(r)PN theory elegantly integrates the insights of feminist political economy into GVC and GPN analysis and is likely to prove highly generative of future gender-based research into global supply chains. A great strength of the book is the way in which the analytical framework set out in the early chapters is consistently applied to the empirical chapters, so that readers can see the application of the theory. The original figures depicting conceptual and empirical material, such as the G(r)PN and gendered structures of particular supply chains, respectively, are again notable for their clarity. In addition to its value for researchers, the combination of lucidity with theoretical sophistication makes this book an ideal resource for advanced students. Gender and Work in Global Value Chains underscores the centrality of gender to understanding the key processes of supply chain labor governance and is destined to become an indispensable reference in analyses of global retail value chains.