Economic Globalization, HIV and AIDS and Gender Dimensions in the Lesotho Textiles and Garment Industry

Abstract

The Kingdom of Lesotho is also experiencing the third highest HIV and AIDS prevalence rate (23.2%) in the world, which poses an internal threat both to the industry and to the workers. The objective of this chapter was to examine workers' economic opportunities, the interplay of HIV and AIDS as well as threats to economic opportunities provided by the industry. This chapter is based on data collected for a study on the economic crisis, globalization and HIV and AIDS nexus in the textiles and garment industry in Lesotho. Data for this chapter were generated from two of the three instruments of the main study using a multistage sampling technique. Data collected were analysed quantitatively using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). The result shows that despite the economic crisis, the textiles and garment industry has enhanced the employment of many Basotho (people from Lesotho), especially women. Although workers were economically empowered, HIV and AIDS and the global economic crisis were threats to the industry and workers alike. There is signiicant rural-urban migration to the industry with almost half of the workers staying away from their traditional family homes.

Experiences of childlessness and adoption in marriage among Basotho: A two-cohort phenomenological study

“…Meanwhile, childhood vulnerability has reached alarming incidence in Lesotho. Ranked 159/189 in Compound Human Development Indicators with up to 60% of the population living below the poverty datum line, Lesotho's women and children are disproportionately impacted by poverty and its correlates (Tanga et al, 2017). Baby dumping, abandonment and neglect have reached disquieting levels, often under circumstances which threaten babies' lives (Thabane & Kasiram, 2015).…”