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WOMEN, INDUSTRY AND TECHNOLOGY
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WOMEN, INDUSTRY AND
TECHNOLOGY
The world economy is undergoing a period of rapid change,
with important impacts on women. Globalization and increasing
competition are favouring technology-intensive production and
skilled labour. Automation and advances in information technology
are reducing the importance of the low-skill, labourintensive
occupations in sectors such as agriculture and textiles
which have traditionally been seen as women’s work.
Women in industry are already disadvantaged in many
countries. Although they comprise 30 per cent of the industrial
labour force globally, they tend to be concentrated in low-level
jobs, where they are poorly paid, lack social services, and face
exposure to health hazards. If their skills are not upgraded to
enable their full participation in the technology-based industries
of the future, women are likely to face further disadvantages in
finding and keeping jobs. Where retraining programmes do exist,
they are all too often focused on men.
On the other hand, when women are given access to training,
technology and credit, they can play a full role in economic and
social development. Changes in industrial structure and
production technology give women great opportunities for
poverty alleviation, self-sufficiency through income generation,
and productive businesses that create local employment.
For women, the issue of technology is not simply about
upgrading skills, but acquiring new and more appropriate
technologies. For example, the majority of women who live in
rural areas use rudimentary and time-consuming technologies in
their informal production activities, which are typically in the
agricultural sector. Many existing technologies also contribute to
unsafe working environments or environmental degradation,
where women are often particularly at risk (see the UNIDO
brochure Women, industry and Environment).
The role of UNIDO
UNIDO assists women in meeting the challenges of industrial
restructuring and technological change, and in participating on
an equal basis both in industrial decision-making and in the
benefits of development. UNIDO promotes the advancement of
women through mainstreaming, recognizing women as full actors
and equal partners in development activities and training
programmes. There are also specific programmes and services
to remove obstacles preventing the full participation of women in
development. These are initiated by UNIDO’s Integration of
Women in Industrial Development Unit, established in 1986.
UNIDO’s approaches are illustrated in the following case
studies.
Manufacturing Plastics in Viet Nam
Background
In many developing countries, the plastics manufacturing
sector is composed of numerous small companies, some as
small as a single family. There are some 1,200 plastics
enterprises in Viet Nam, although many use inefficient and
poorly maintained machines, and inadequate technologies, raw
materials and product designs. Capacity utilization is low, and
product quality is often poor.
The real weakness, however, is the lack of trained and
experienced staff at all levels: from foremen and technicians to
engineers, materials scientists and polymer chemists. The only
way to meet such a broad need is to develop an institutional
capability for training and human resource development.
Therefore, in conjunction with the Vietnamese government,
UNIDO set up the Plastics Technology Centre within the Union
of Plastics Enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City.
Focus on women
Approximately 60-70 per cent of all workers in the plastics
industry are women, spanning a wide range of skill levels.
There are numerous unskilled jobs in the industry, such as
preparation of components, flash removal, finishing and grinding
rejects. These jobs are poorly paid, require no qualifications,
and are where most women are employed. Women also perform
jobs such as painting, assembly and packaging of final products,
and there is also a much smaller group of women involved in
managerial or technical jobs, such as chemists and quality
controllers.
Many women also work in other parts of the industry. For
example, agriculture is an important user of plastics, with
applications including greenhouses, mulching, irrigation systems
and water supply. Women are employed in manufacturing,
installing and servicing these products, particularly in rural
areas. Recycling plastic wastes also represents an important
source of raw materials for the plastics industry, especially in
countries without an indigenous petrochemicals industry, and
large numbers of unskilled women are employed in the systems
for the collection and sorting of plastic wastes.
Benefits
The Plastics Technology Centre has developed a prominent
role for women, including the deputy director and over 60 per
cent of the staff. The Centre has helped raise skill levels of
women at all positions in the Union of Plastics Enterprises. It is
also contributing to improving industrial safety and women’s
working conditions. With the boom in investment and tourism in
Viet Nam, the Centre has been well placed to help plastics
manufacturers meet the demand from the construction industry,
and it has also acted as a focal point for putting customers in
contact with manufacturers with appropriate capabilities.
The Centre is now self-financing, and it has helped many
plastics manufacturers make the transition from state control to
profitability in the marketplace. The rapid growth of the industry
has also created many job opportunities for women, and the
Centre’s work ensures that women are increasingly able to
flourish in higher-skilled, higher-paid employment. From 1980 to
1995, a number of other projects of this type within the plastics
industry have had similar results.
Focus on women
The proportion of women in the leather industry has increased
steadily over the past two decades. Women now make
up 25 per cent of the industry as a whole, and 50 per cent of
the leather goods subsector, where there is a large number of
women entrepreneurs. Throughout the industry, however, women
have low skill levels, and the entrepreneurs do not have
adequate skills in product design and marketing.
UNIDO has integrated the needs of women as a central part
of its leather programme since 1991. A detailed study was
carried out, including in-depth interviews with male and female
managers and employees, to examine women’s career prospects
in the leather industry and how their status might be enhanced.