ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the linkages between South African fruit producers' responses to global integration and the 'new geography of employment' on fruit farms - particularly as it pertains to the employment and position of women wage labourers. It explores how the interplay of global trends and the role of the state coupled with local, cultural and historical forces mediate labour arrangements and the employment position of women labourers on fruit farms. The chapter traces the ways in which fruit farming in South Africa is 'locally specific'. It attempts to contextualise the South African fruit industry and the changing 'geography of employment' on fruit farms. The chapter examines the pressures experienced by fruit export producers following the global integration of the fruit sector and the extent to which the South African state has retreated or intervened within the broad context of global integration. It explains the local cultural context of paternalism within which producers' responses and existing labour arrangements are embedded.
