Women’s changing domestic responsibilities in neoliberal Africa: a relational time-space analysis of Lesotho’s garment industry

Abstract

Since 2001 when Lesotho embraced the neoliberal African Growth and Opportunities Act that offers preferential access to the US market, its garment industry has expanded dramatically to become the nation’s leading employer. Elsewhere, large-scale employment of women in low-paid factory jobs has entailed spatial restructuring of gender and age relations. Lesotho is a distinctive context, with socio-spatial relations historically adjusted to male labour migration, high levels of contemporary male unemployment and alarming AIDS prevalence. Based on semi-structured interviews with 40 female factoryworkers and 37 dependents, this article applies a relational time-space analysis to explore how financial and spatio-temporal aspects of factory employment articulate to alter women’s relationships with those for whom they have culturally determined responsibilities: their children, those suffering from ill health and their (generally rural) home communities. The analysis highlights that such employment is not merely adding to women’s responsibilities, but transforming how they are able to undertake social reproduction, as practical, social and emotional roles are converted to largely financial obligations.

Las cambiantes responsabilidades domésticas en el África neoliberal: un análisis relacional tiempo-espacio de la industria de la textil de Lesotho

Desde 2001, cuando Lesotho abrazó la Ley de Oportunidades y Crecimiento Africana que ofrece acceso preferencial al mercado estadounidense, su industria textil se ha expandido dramáticamente para volverse uno de los mayores empleadores del país. En todo el mundo, el empleo a gran escala de mujeres en trabajos mal pagos en fábricas ha implicado una restructuración espacial de las relaciones de género y edad. Lesotho es un contexto distinto, con relaciones socioespaciales históricamente adaptadas a la migración laboral del hombre, altos niveles de desocupación masculina contemporánea y una alarmante prevalencia de SIDA. Basado en entrevistas semiestructuradas con 40 trabajadoras de fábricas y 37 dependientes, este artículo aplica un análisis relacional tiempo-espacio para explorar cómo los aspectos económicos y espacio-temporales del empleo en fábricas se articulan para alterar las relaciones de las mujeres con aquellos para con quienes tienen culturalmente determinadas responsabilidades: sus hijos e hijas, quienes sufren de enfermedad y sus (generalmente rurales) comunidades de origen. El análisis resalta que tal empleo no es meramente un agregado a las responsabilidades de las mujeres, sino que está transformando cómo son capaces de llevar a cabo la reproducción social, ya que los roles emocionales, sociales y prácticos son convertidos en obligaciones mayormente económicas.

新自由主义非洲的女人改变中的家庭责任：赖索托成衣产业的关係性时空分析

赖索托自2001年接受提供美国市场出口优惠的新自由主义“非洲成长暨机会法案”以来，该国的成衣产业便急剧扩张，并成为该国的首要雇主。在其他地方，大规模的妇女就业于低薪工厂，已引发性别与年龄关係的空间再结构。赖索托则具有历史上随着男性移工调适的社会空间关係、当前高度的男性失业，以及令人担忧的爱滋病盛行等特殊脉络。本文根据四十位女性工厂工人与三十七位受抚养家属的半结构式访谈，运用关係性的时空分析，探讨工厂工作的财政及时空面向如何接合，以改变女性与文化上注定成为其责任的人们之间的关係，亦即儿女、患病家属以及她们（通常位于农村）的家乡社群。本分析凸显出此一雇佣工作不仅只是增加了女性的责任，更在实质、社会与情感角色转换成以经济责任为主时，改变了她们的如何能够承担社会再生产的方式。

Keywords::

• neoliberalism
• garment sector
• time-space
• social reproduction
• Lesotho

Palabras claves::

• neoliberalismo
• sector textil
• tiempo-espacio
• reproducción social
• Lesotho

关键词:::

• 新自由主义
• 成衣部门
• 时空
• 社会再生产
• 赖索托

Acknowledgements

Funding for this project was provided by Brunel University. We are grateful to our research assistants, Tsepang Thaanyane, Maseqobela Mohale and Tsoana Molauli who helped conduct the interviews; Likeleli Mariabene who transcribed and translated the recordings and to all those who were interviewed for this research. We would also like to thank the anonymous referees for their insightful suggestions.

Notes

^1. Emphasis on low wages may reflect the paucity of opportunities to make such concerns heard.

^2.Stoep is Afrikaans for a porch or set of steps at the entrance to a house.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Nicola Ansell

Nicola Ansell is a Reader in Human Geography at Brunel University, London. Her research interests focus on the impacts of social and cultural change in the lives of young people in southern Africa. Specific research projects have looked at the impacts of AIDS on young people’s migration; the ways in which education sectors are adjusting to the needs of AIDS-affected young people; the impacts of AIDS on young people’s current livelihoods and future food security and the impacts of Lesotho’s garment industry. She has authored a book on children, youth and development (Routledge 2005) and runs an MA programme on Children, Youth and International Development.

Seroala Tsoeu

Seroala Tsoeu-Ntokoane teaches at the Department of Political and Administrative Studies, National University of Lesotho. She earned her MA at the School of Politics, University of Kwazulu Natal, and is a Doctoral student at Department of Politics, University of Johannesburg. She has conducted research in various areas including local government service delivery, local economic development, telecom regulation, the garment industry, food aid programmes, political constitutionalism and African parliaments. She is currently researching policy options for youth unemployment in Lesotho.

Flora Hajdu

Flora Hajdu is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Department for Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. With a background in Geography and Anthropology, Flora Hajdu did her Ph.D. on rural livelihoods in South Africa. Her postdoctoral research has focused on livelihoods, discourse and policy in South Africa, Lesotho, Malawi, Tanzania and Uganda. Her current research projects focus on the effects of large-scale agro-investments on local livelihoods in Tanzania and the discourse surrounding climate compensation-related afforestation projects in Uganda.