Globalization has for decades been associated with a rise in the female share of employment or feminization. This study finds that since the mid 1980s, export growth in developing countries is associated with feminization in some countries and a defeminization in others. Focusing on Southeast Asia and Latin America, it uses a fixed-effects econometric model to test whether the technological conditions of production (labor or capital intensity) rather than export growth account for shifts in the female share of employment in manufacturing. It finds that the capital intensity of production, evidenced by shifts in labor productivity, is negatively and significantly related to shifts in the female share of employment in manufacturing, while exports are statistically insignificant. The study concludes that an anti-female bias exists in labor demand changes that result from output or employment shifts in developing countries when manufacturing becomes more capital intensive, a process likely related to industrial upgrading.

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This article presents a framework to analyse the gendered impact of COVID‐19 on workers in global value chains (GVCs) in the business process outsourcing, garment and electronics industries. Distinguishing between the health and lockdown effects of the pandemic, and between its supply‐ and demand‐related impacts, the authors' gendered analysis focuses on multidimensional aspects of well‐being, understands the economy as encompassing production and social reproduction spheres, and examines the social norms and structures of power that produce gender inequalities. Their findings suggest that the pandemic exposes and amplifies the existing vulnerabilities of women workers in GVCs.

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autrices remercient Sarah Annay Williamson, qui a conçu les illustrations et leur a apporté une aide précieuse dans leurs recherches. Elles remercient également les rédacteurs invités et les évaluateurs anonymes, dont les observations les ont aidées à améliorer cet article.Les articles paraissant dans la Revue internationale du Travail n'engagent que leurs auteurs, et leur publication ne signifie pas que le BIT souscrit aux opinions qui y sont exprimées.