ABSTRACT
The entry analyses the rapid proliferation of ‘gendered labour’ or what is commonly considered ‘women’s work’ pertaining to affective, nurturing, docile and other, supposedly female attributes in a commercial and industrial context within the region. While changes in the economic profile of the region have created new work opportunities, the same opportunities also expose women to new forms of possible exploitation and insecurity. Within this emerging landscape of ‘gendered labour’, women tend to occupy a specific (lower) position that often coincides with their social status, as a result of socio-cultural, gendered attributes of docility, malleability and manageability. These contradictions illustrate the unfolding of a landscape of empowerment and exploitation for an entire generation of workers with transitory, uncertain employment opportunities, unstable economic and social lives and limited political voice and agency.
