Abstract
The expansion of export-oriented manufacturing and the globalization of production sparked along standing debate on the consequences of the feminization of labour for women’s empowerment and gender equality. This paper examines the impact of Better Work, a policy intervention consisting of factory-level assessments of labour rights compliance, training, advisory services, and capacity-building at firm, national, regional and global levels, in Haiti, Nicaragua, Indonesia,Vietnam, and Jordan. By taking differences in educational levels and stage in the life cycle as likely determinants of disparities among sub-groups of women, the analysis focuses on three key dimensions of empowerment: (i) Work attributes, namely take-home pay, hours of work and promotions; (ii) voicing of concerns, particularly about overtime work, sexual harassment, verbal and physical abuse; and (iii) health and wellbeing, comprising of physical and mental health indicators. Better Work appears most successful in fostering improvement in objective work attributes, particularly take-home pay and hours of work and concerns about overtime, with women in relatively more vulnerable positions benefiting the most. Gender disparities remain in terms of opportunities for upward mobility, pointing to the need to better address their determinants and to foster more inclusive leadership.