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Contributions to Sri Lanka’s Development Trajectory: Economic

Contributions, Empowerment and Social Inclusion among Women

Workers in Export Processing Zones

Jamie Moore, Peter Hancock and Sharon Middleton

Edith Cowan University

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of the first stage of an AusAID funded project examining

2304 women working in several Export Processing Zones (EPZs) in Sri Lanka. The data in

this paper provides insights into the lived experiences of factory women from the largest EPZ

operating in Sri Lanka (Katunayake). The research was completed by researchers from the

Social Justice Research Centre at Edith Cowan University, Australia (ECU) and in

collaboration with the Centre for Women‟s Research (CENWOR) in Sri Lanka. The purpose

of this paper is to present the initial findings of the survey results of 901 women working in

Katunayake EPZ. Despite their high levels of education and significant contribution to the

economy of Sri Lanka via EPZ employment, factory women continue to experience a

significant lack of respect and inclusion in society. These initial findings provide an interim

analysis of the labour and salary conditions of the women sampled, as well as an analysis of

their education levels and future employment prospects. The paper also provides an analysis

of levels of empowerment, community participation, social inclusion/exclusion and decision

making roles of women working in Katunayake EPZ.

Keywords: Export Processing Zones, Women‟s Labour, Empowerment, Gender Exclusion,

Social Exclusion

Introduction

Export Processing Zone‟s (EPZs) are large manufacturing areas that specialise in

manufacturing for export. These areas have a host of beneficial labour and taxation laws,

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which promote overseas investment and increased economic opportunities for host

governments (Engman, Onodera, & Pinali, 2007). In Sri Lanka there are 11 government

controlled EPZ‟s that employ approximately 60,000 women and 30,000 men. Katunayake

EPZ (KEPZ) is the largest in the nation with close to 50,000 workers employed across 84

factories. Despite the heavy involvement of women in these factories, levels of social

empowerment in respect to gender policy, class and politics have remained relatively

unchanged (Jayawardena, 1998). While Sri Lankan women experience greater education and

labour status than women in other developing countries, the economic impact they have on

their nation through EPZ employment has gone relatively unnoticed or awarded

(Jayawardena, 1998). These women have been unable to leverage their economic

empowerment and experience significant levels of subordination, subjugation and

harassments within the community (Hewamanne, 2003).

The following paper highlights these issues above by examining the education level, job

status, earnings, savings and hours worked of women in KEPZ and comparing these findings

to similar areas achieved by family members and the national census data. The paper also

examines whether women were able to transfer their economic empowerment into social and

community involvement in terms of personal empowerment via improved finances,

community participation and increased decision making status both inside and outside the

home. In essence the paper highlights the significant contribution women make to their

family and economy, despite the enormous obstacles they face. The paper does not assume a

position that women are homogenous or unable to act independently, it simply lets the data

„do the talking‟. Finally the paper highlights the level of social inclusion or social exclusion

reported by women as a result of their employment in KEPZ.

Methodology

Two female Sri Lankan Research Assistants facilitated the data collection in KEPZ.. Both

were fluent in English and Singhalese and received intensive training and guidance from the

Principal Investigator, CENWOR Research Director and Project Manager. The respondents

were randomly selected by the Research Assistants and were sourced from the countless

boarding houses that surround KEPZ. To be eligible for selection women had to have worked

in an EPZ for at least one year prior to data collection (Middleton, Moore, Hancock, &

Edirisinghe, 2009).

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The questionnaire was designed to provide insights into the ways in which young women

contribute to the development of Sri Lanka at the national, community and household levels,

using a mixed methods approach. The first part of the questionnaire was quantitative and

focused on demographic data such as age, marital status, and education level. Other questions

focused on work profile including type of factory, job title, hours worked and promotion, as

well as information on salaries and savings. The women were also asked whether they had

experienced verbal, physical or sexual harassment at work, and whether they had experienced

public humiliation for being an EPZ worker.

The second part of the questionnaire asked the women five questions relating to

empowerment, decision making, involvement in the community and perceived social

inclusion. For example, As a result of working do you participate more in community and/or

political activities? (if yes, explain). The quantitative data in the questionnaire was analysed

using SPSS 14.0 (Statistical Package for Social Sciences). The qualitative open-ended text

was coded and analysed using Nvivo 7 qualitative software. However, the focus of this paper

is on the quantitative data with insights from the qualitative data, rather than a full thematic

analysis.

Findings

The demographic data are presented in Table 11. Results indicated that 658 women (73%)

were 25 years or younger, with an average age of 23.83 years. Further analysis revealed 20%

of women were aged 26-30, and only 6% were over the age of 30. This indicates a relatively

young female workforce of which 80.6% were unmarried and 18% were married. Of the

remaining women, one was widowed and six were divorced.

The women from KEPZ were well educated with over half (52.5%) having either completed

A-level education (or had reached this level of examination) and a further 38.6% having

completed O-level education. A further 19 women (2%) had completed or were completing

1 Note that some of these findings have been published in The Journal of Labour and Management and

Development, see Hancock, P; Middleton, S & Moore, J. (Dec, 2009). Export Processing Zones (EPZs),

globalisation, feminised labour markets and working conditions: A study of Sri Lankan EPZ workers, Journal of

Labour and Management in Development, Issue 10 (1), pp 1-22.

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tertiary education. The remainder of women had either incomplete A or O level education

(6.4%), or less than 7years education (0.3%). The relatively high education levels of the

women sampled did not mesh with national ideologies that espoused increased education

leading to empowerment of women, rather it indicates that women working in the EPZ were

relatively over-educated for their work as most worked in low status positions.

Table 1. Demographics of women who participated in the questionnaire (n = 901)

Demographic

characteristic

% of respondents (n)

Age <=25yrs 26-30yrs 31-40yrs >41yrs

73.5 (662) 20.0 (179) 6 (54) 0.4 (4)

Marital Status Married Divorced Never married Other

18 (164) 0.6 (5) 80.6 (726) 0.7(6)

Respondent’s

Education

O Levels A Levels Tertiary Incomplete O or

< 7yrs

42.5 (383) 52.5 (473) 2.1 (19) 2.8 (25)

Type of Factory

Worked In

Garment/

Textiles

Shoes Jewellery

76.4% 4.6% 3.6%

Years Worked 1-3 Years 4-5 years 5+ years

68.2% 19.3% 12.5%

Source: 2007-2009 questionnaire

Participants were also questioned about the type of factory they worked in and years of

service. Table 1 indicates the KEPZ workforce was predominantly located in textiles and

garments. The data also indicated that employment is predominantly short term and could be

classified as very fleeting employment. This was due to the finding that very few of the

women sampled had worked more than 5 years in an EPZ and further strengthened by the

average length of service for all women being 3.29 years. Qualitative inquiry revealed that

the short term nature of their employment stemmed from the nature of industrial employment

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itself and associated long working hours with few holidays resulting in women experiencing

“burnout” due to their lack of free time to be involved in community and/or family activities.

More importantly qualitative inquiry revealed that many of the women chose to work for a

few years as a deliberate strategy, usually derived from the dowry system in Sri Lanka or due

to other strategies to purchase small businesses or houses for example. .

The majority of women were employed in low status or menial positions; in fact almost 75%

fitted this category and worked predominantly as packers, cutters or machine operators, for

example. On average, women reported working 43.29 hours per week before overtime with

almost all women (95%) reporting working overtime. The average amount of overtime

worked was 12.78 hours per week, therefore on average women worked 56.07 hours a week,

earning an extra 2,897.45 Sri Lankan Rupee (LKR) per month. Comparing these working

hours to the national average (Labour Force Survey, 2008), significant differences are

apparent. Nationally in 2008, 32.2% of the female labour force worked 40-49 hours a week

and 18.9% worked 50+ hours a week. This is in comparison to the KEPZ sample where 86%

of women worked 50+ hours per week, when overtime was included.

The average monthly salary of women was 8,277.48 (LKR) excluding overtime (equivalent

to $93.50AUD). The average salary after overtime was approximately 11,000 LKR a month

As can be seen by Figure 1 below, average monthly salaries did vary between women with a

Pearson correlation revealing a significant positive correlation between total monthly salary

and age (r = .16, p < .001) and number of years worked (r = .29, p < .001). This suggests that

the longer women worked in a factory the better their chances for increased salary. However,

this could be due to wage increases as a result of minimum wage increases made by

government.

To make comparisons with salaries earned by their parents, the women were asked about

their parents‟ salaries as well as their contribution to the family income. Over 88% of women

earned at least 30% of their total family income2, with the average being 49.34% of the total

family income and a further 5% of women providing 100% of the total family income. These

are important results that highlight the importance of women‟s wages to the total family

income.

2 Total family income included parents and siblings combined incomes if not married and husband‟s salary if

married.

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Figure 1. Average Monthly Salary (Without Overtime)

On average, the women working in the KEPZ earned higher monthly salaries than that of

their parents. Only 6.3% of mothers earned over 5000LKR a month, with the average salary

of mothers being very low (1,336.32LKR). A large proportion (67.2%) of mothers earned no

money (including 22.3% of mothers who were farm workers working for their household

consumption). In comparison to mothers, 58% of fathers earned over 5000LKR a month and

less than 2% earned below 3,000LKR per month. Despite earning significantly more than

their parents and contributing a large amount to the total family income, women were still

paid less than the national average despite working significantly higher hours. Data from the

Sri Lankan 2006/2007 Census indicated the average receiver‟s income was 14,457LKR per

month for those individuals who did receive an income (Household Income & Expenditure

Survey, 2007). Therefore, the women sampled are earning relatively high salaries when

compared to other family members, but lower than national averages. This could be the result

of the Census including many women in professions, however it does illustrate the difference

in salaries in comparison to the high amount of hours worked.

Salary Scale LKR

Per

cen

tag

e of

Res

po

nd

ents

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Only 101 women (11.2%) reported being promoted, however given the fact most women

sampled only worked for a few years this outcome is not surprising. However, evidence of

promotion was discovered with 30 women promoted to a supervisor/management role while

the remainder reported only going to other low status jobs with a minimal rise in pay. When

comparing the education level of women with those who were promoted, a chi square test,

X²(6, N = 893) = 16.73, p < .05, indicated that women with A-level education (60.4%) and O-

level education (28.7%) were more likely to be promoted than those with incomplete O levels

or less than 7 years of education. This analysis reveals that women were better educated did

experience that education translating into higher pay and promotion. However the data must

be used with caution as it could also be that very low education levels were not capable of

supervisory work involving literacy and numeracy skills.

Savings and money sent home to family

On average women saved 2,894LKR a month, with 33% saving in a bank and 46.4% saving

in an informal savings scheme (Cheetu). A paired samples t-test indicated that the average

amount saved in informal savings (1,766LKR) was significantly higher, t (900) = -5.39, p <

.001, than the average saved in banks (1,128.02LKR). Each month, 68% of women sent

money home to their family. An average of 2582LKR was sent home each month, with

31.7% of women not sending money home to family. From this data we again point to the

importance of women‟s wages to family wellbeing.

Personal Empowerment

Of the 901 women working in the KEPZ, 93.2% (n = 840) indicated they felt working in the

EPZ had allowed them to accumulate capital to empower themselves or their families in a

variety of ways. The women reported that their salaries had enabled them to purchase items

such as jewellery (important for dowry), furniture and household goods, with 30% using

money towards building or renovating a house or accumulating capital. A further 12%

contributed money towards family or educational expenses. As well as economic

empowerment, many women revealed in open-ended text that working in an EPZ had given

them a new sense of „independence‟, particularly in living away from home, as well as

„pride‟ and „happiness‟ in earning an income and being able to contribute to the family.

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Community Participation

Of the 901 women in KEPZ, only 171 (19%) reported they participated more in community

and/or political activities since commencing work. Of these, 29% were a part of village

committees, 10.5% were a part of factory committees, 26.5% contributed to temples (usually

monetary) and a further 19.8% contributed to the community in other ways. Of the 80.9% of

women (n = 729) who reported they did not participate in the community, the majority

(97.6%) indicated this was due to a lack of time and 2.4% stated that they no longer felt they

belonged to the community.

In-home and Outside-home Decision Making

Over half (51.7%) of the KEPZ women indicated that they did participate more in the

decision making process in the home. Of these women 17.3% were involved in child and

education decisions, 20.8% were involved in general household decisions, 26.8% were

involved in collective decisions and 3.7% actually made all the decisions in their household.

Despite their increased participation, 16.5% (n = 77) reported they were only consulted

„sometimes‟. Of the 435 women who did not participate more (48.3%), 71.8% reported they

were „never‟ consulted about in-home decision making, with the rest being consulted

„sometimes‟ or only allowed an opinion. In these cases, it was usually fathers or older

siblings who made household decisions.

When looking at outside home decision making, 233 (25.9%) of women reported they were

more involved since commencing work and 666 (74.1%) reported they were not more

involved. Of women who were more involved 60% reported making their own personal

decisions, 15.2% were involved in workplace and/or boarding house decisions and 5.7% were

involved in factory union or village welfare decision making processes. For the majority of

women who did not report increased outside home decision making, the answer given was

usually „no‟ with no further elaboration. However for those that did elaborate, 16% reported

it was not their role to be involved and a further 16% said they sought family permission

before making decisions outside the home.

Social Inclusion and Exclusion

Of the KEPZ sample 629 (69.9%) women reported experiencing increased social inclusion as

a result of their employment, which was usually at the family and village level, rather than at

the broader societal level. A further 20% reported increased respect in the village, 24.6%

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reported increased respect from family, 32.3% reported a significant increase in their own

positive self worth and 11.4% reported an increase in respect both within the village and from

family.

Of the 901 women in the KEPZ, 271 (30.1%) reported a lack of increased social inclusion

since commencing employment, with many feeling social exclusion. Of these women 11.9%

experienced gender social exclusion, 26.1% felt they were viewed as unprofessional workers,

and 4.1% reported they had no positive self worth. Most significantly almost half (46.3%) of

these women reported significant levels of village level subjugation (particularly negative

opinions of EPZ workers) since their employment at KEPZ.

Conclusion

This paper has investigated survey results of n = 901 women working in the Katunayake

Export Processing Zone in Sri Lanka (KEPZ). Results indicated that women had high levels

of education and significantly contributed to the financial stability of their families. Women

earned significantly more money than their parents with the average providing close to 50%

of the total family income and 5% providing 100% of this income. Despite this, women‟s

wages were significantly lower than the Sri Lankan national average and they struggled to

translate this new financial prosperity into improved social and political outcomes such as

community involvement and social inclusion. There was also a significant lack of

sustainability in the KEPZ workforce with 70% of women only working 1-3 years in the

factories and only 12% having worked 5 or more years. This could be considered a deliberate

strategy of workers, with women indicating they planned on only working for a few years in

the EPZ until they could afford to purchase the items or capital they needed. However, it

could also be a reflection of the lack of opportunities for promotion and the low job-levels

that women in KEPZ experience. Only 11% of women reported being promoted with the

majority of these only receiving small pay rises but still remaining in low level jobs such as

machine operators and cutters. Thirty women (3.3%) reported being promoted into

managerial positions but this is an extremely low number considering the hours and

commitment women put into their employment.

In regards to personal empowerment a high percentage of women (93.2%) reported feeling

personally empowered as a result of being able to purchase goods or accumulate capital as a

result of their increased salary. Some women reported feelings of “increased pride,

independence and happiness” in being able to contribute to their family. Despite this

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increased personal empowerment women experienced very low levels of community

participation due to a lack of time (heavy work hours prevented participation as most spent

free time with their family) and a lack of sense of belonging to the community. Also while

women reported increased in-home decision making responsibilities (mostly due to the new

found contribution to family income), decision making responsibilities outside the home

failed to increase (74.1% not more involved). While most women did not elaborate on why

they felt this way, some stated that they felt outside decision making was not their role or that

they still sought help from family in making decision. Of those who did report an increase in

outside-home decision making, this was reported as an increase in personal decision making

and decisions regarding boarding house management. Importantly women, despite their

dominance of the labour in factories, did not report high levels of decision making power or

input at a factory/production level.

Finally, high levels of social inclusion were reported by women (n = 631), with these women

reporting these inclusion mostly at the family and village level and not at wider societal

levels. Despite this 30% of women reported increased social exclusion including gender

exclusion, being viewed as an unprofessional worker, village subjugation and low or no

positive self worth. This contrasting picture of improved economic status, empowerment and

family contribution with low community participation and decision making levels of feelings

of social exclusion, highlight the difficulties faced by women in KEPZ. Despite the

significant contribution these women make to the families, community and nation overall,

this has yet to fully translate into improved social outcomes and acceptance for factory

women in Sri Lanka.

References

Engman, M., Onodera, O., & Pinali, E. (2007). Export processing zones: past and future role

in trade and development: OECD Publishing.

Hancock, P. (2006). Women, work and empowerment: A portrait of women workers in two

of Sri Lanka's Export Processing Zones. Norsk Geografisk Tidsskrift – Norwegian

Journal of Geography, 60(3), 227-239.

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Hancock, P. (2006). Violence, women, work and empowerment: Narratives from factory

women in Sri Lanka's Export Processing Zones. Gender, Technology and

Development, 10(2), 211-228.

Hewamanne, S. (2003). Performing dis-respectability: New tastes, cultural practices and

identity performances by Sri Lanka‟s Free Trade Zone garment factory workers.

Cultural Dynamics, 15 (1), 71-101.

Jayawardena, D. (1998). Free trade zones. Journal of World Trade Law, 17(5), 427-444.

Middleton, S, Moore, J, Hancock, P & Edirisinghe, I. (2009). Gender, status and

empowerment: A study among women who work in Sri Lanka’s Export Processing

Zones (EPZ’s), Interim Report to AusAID, July 2009, Social Justice Research Centre,

Edith Cowan University, Australia.