Women workers in the informal sector of the textiles industry in Pakistan: A grounded theory approach / Erum Shafi

Erum , Shafi (2020) Women workers in the informal sector of the textiles industry in Pakistan: A grounded theory approach / Erum Shafi. PhD thesis, Universiti Malaya.

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Abstract

Post liberalisation firm-level strategic decisions are an issue of concern in developing markets, particularly since the post Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) phase of the textile industry. The issue of workers’ well-being, the post ATC phase, is well documented in terms of the employment and wage aspects for women workers. There is, however, a dearth of knowledge in understanding women workers’ experiences following from firms’ strategic decisions in the informal labour market setting, despite the rise in informal women workers. Further, the position of informal women workers, which is where they “fit” given their “voice” with their employers, has not been adequately addressed in the literature. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore and describe the above phenomena within the stitching and ginning departments of the textile hierarchy in Pakistan to develop a substantive theory that explains the experiences of the women workers in the informal labour market. A constructivist grounded method is utilized in the conduct of the study. A sample of 25 participants is selected, comprising women workers, employers/ supervisors/human resource managers and textile workforce planners (APTMA or All Pakistan Textile Mills Association, members). The analyses cover the aspects of discovering, describing and explaining the phenomenon of “tolerance/no voice”, which women workers’ experience as a result of the interrelationships and interactions of “employer decisions”, “tradition bearing”, and “worker performance”. Based on those interactions, expectations are formed on where the informal women workers’ “fit” within the hierarchy of the facility, and the textile sector in general. An understanding of the interactions of those conditions on the development of the “voice” is then used to forward corrective strategies for positioning women workers in the informal labour market of the industrial facility. The findings of the study reveal that “employer decisions”, “tradition bearing” and “worker performance” interact to form the contextual conditions that direct the expectations of employers and women workers in the informal labour market. These expectations of a “perfect fit” of women workers within the hierarchy of the industrial facility and their profession, result in a process of internal satisfaction, thereby giving rise to a situation of “tolerance/no voice.” Women workers tend to accept their place in an environment of negative workplace behavior. Women workers also respond to this environment through a process of compliance with what they describe as traditional women worker culture. The constructed theory from the findings are dynamic in nature as it represents all facets of experiences of women workers’ in the informal labour market. The substantive theory explains a wide variation in the work experiences of the women workers. The theory also explains and accounts for a wide range of conditions and responses that the women workers experience whilst in the informal job market.

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