1. Implications of Special Economic Zones Investment Policies on Women
Gender-based trade and investment policy for development
25-28 March 2019
Berkeley Hotel, Bangkok
Kyoko Kusakabe
Asian Institute of Technology

2. Special Economic Zones (SEZs)
“legal, logistical, and tax arrangements intended to assist a developing country in attracting export-oriented manufacturing investment (mainly foreign) that would not otherwise happen” (ADB 2015:1)
1986: 176 zones in 47 countries
2006: 3,500 zones in 130 countries employing 66 million
Tax incentives; infrastructure; investment facilitation
China – 40 million workers
5.25 mil in Mexico and central America
3.25 mil in Bangladesh

3. Expected benefits from SEZ. (Warr and Menon 2015)
Static benefits
Dynamic benefits
Foreign exchange earnings
Foreign direct investment
Employment generation
Government revenue
Export growth
Skills upgrading
Testing field for wider economic reform
Technology transfer
Demonstration effect
Export diversification
Enhancing trade efficiency of domestic firms
Formation of industry clusters
Integration into global value chains

4. Advertised attraction for investment: Benefits for investors
Open economy
Investment incentives (tax)
One stop service
Strategic location and infrastructure
Preferential trading status
Market access
Competitive labor force
Lower wages, young labor force
Labor relations
Domestic factors most important to firm decisions (ADB 2015)

5. Does SEZ benefit women workers? Does it contribute to gender equality?

6. Employment creation
Increase in exports  increased female employment in manufacturing
Feminized workforce (60-80%)
Increase in trade increased gender wage gaps in manufacturing (eg. Taiwan, S. Korea, India)
Women’s total work hours in production and reproduction increased.
In some places, stigmatized.
Literature shows a strong relation between increased exports and increased female employment in manufacturing in developing countries [e.g., garments]; but as the production becomes more capital-intensive, female intensity declines.
Some studies (e.g., Taiwan, S. Korea, India) show that an increase in trade increased gender wage gaps in manufacturing at the expense of wage gains for women, who are segregated into lower-paying, lower-status jobs, may have lower bargaining power

7. Working condition Better working condition and infrastructure in SEZ?
Sexual harassment at work and on the way to work
Health improvement program
Bangladesh: 3:1 return on investment due to decreasing health-related absenteeism and staff turnover
Because of feminized workplace – sexual harassment

8. Minimum wage and promotion
Importance of minimum wage for equal pay
“Unskilled” Job
Considered as unskilled work and do not get promotion
No career prospect
No systematic training – upskilling
Job hopping to seek for better wages
High turnover

9. Childcare support
India: Established creche  Improved productivity and attendance by women workers with children
Some countries have laws to obligate companies to establish childcare centers
low utilization due to low quality, no staff, etc.
Leave children with others  can lead to absenteeism and turnover

10. Women’s role in supporting the family
Remittances
Women (are expected to ) remit more to family than men
Women (are expected to) go back to visit family more than men
Women are expected to take care of parents when they are old more than men.
Women are expected to take care of the sick more than men.
Women spend longer hours for work (factory+ household work)
 women quit work because of family reasons more than men.
 State provision of services hampered by low tax income?
Tax holidays for investment?
With increase in trade, women’s total work hours increased

11. Access to information Vacancy announcements Qualification to apply
Women tend to be less mobile than men
Vacancy announcements not available in village
Women tend to have less job network than men
Qualification to apply
Women tend to have lower education than men
Women tend to have less training opportunity than men
Difficulty in attending training
Good practice: In Cambodia, training for women workers are conducted during working hours, and training is linked to promotion.
Training during worktime to ensure access to training
Vacancy announcement
In Thailand and some parts of Cambodia, government supports companies to provide training to workers. However, when training is organized outside working hours (ex. Weekends and at night), it becomes difficult for women to participate, since they need to juggle their household work, and also because of security in travel.

12. Collective action No trade union
No place to bring grievances; no mechanism to understand needs of workers
High turnover
No mechanism for negotiation
Uncontrolled strike

13. Exclusion and linkages
Land for SEZ
Displacement
Displaced villagers get unemployed
Although they are given priority to be employed in SEZ and even though SEZ creates employment for women, because of qualification and because of distance, that is not materialized
No re-training opportunities
Backward linkages
There is little linkages between SEZ companies and domestic economy in most developing countries in Asia.
No job created outside SEZ; no support for SMEs.
This is even more for women’s SMEs, who are more disadvantaged in terms of information, technology, credit, etc.
Land grab
Backward linkages
retraining

14. Group discussion
Aside from tax incentive and infrastructure development, what other policies/ programs would you introduce to ensure women-friendly investment in SEZ?
20 min discussion
20 min presentation