Globalised production and networks of resistance: women working worldwide and new alliances for the dignity of labour

This article uses as its starting point the global networking activities of Women Working Worldwide, a small women’s organisation based in the UK but working with an international network of women workers’ groups, mainly in Asia but also Africa, Central America and Eastern Europe. These are groups supporting women who have been drawn into export production, working in factories supplying the world market with consumer goods such as clothing and footwear. It recounts the organising strategies of these groups and how this has led to the emergence of local and international networks supporting women workers’ rights not just as workers but also as women. It looks at how these groups have linked with Northern based campaigns, such as the Clean Clothes Campaign, and how together they have exposed the abuse of workers’ rights in international supply chains and so prompted a response from MNCs in the form of “corporate social responsibility.” In particular, the article considers the networking activity of Women Working Worldwide itself and whether involvement in the development of the UK Ethical Trading Initiative provides possibilities for utilising the power of international networking. It raises the particular problems presented by the global increase in subcontracting which separates workers from one another and makes organising even more difficult. At the same time, it highlights the inventiveness of women’s organisations in developing new and effective forms of resistance, and examines the potential for bringing these together with more traditional forms of trade union organising.