ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how the contemporary labour standards regime, exemplified by the International Labour Organizations (ILO) Core Labour Standards (CLS), has, in general, failed to address the issues and problems faced by women workers in some of the most marginalized forms of employment in the global economy. Of particular concern to the argument developed in this chapter is the way in which the CLS are rooted in a minimalistic and neoliberal compatible commitment to workers' 'human rights'. The CLS were designed to work within a broadly neoliberal model of development: a model dependent on the increased vulnerability and flexibilization of employment. The chapter shows that this voluntarist approach merely reinforces gender inequality in the global economy. It provides an overview of the origins of the CLS before turning to discuss how they can be critiqued from a gender perspective. The problems with the voluntarist position on labour regulation are also demonstrated.
