'Relational #WellBeing of Female #Workers in Low-Skilled Jobs in #Ethiopia' - an article in 'Zanj: The Journal of Critical #GlobalSouth #Studies' by Pluto Journals on #ScienceOpen: https://www.scienceopen.com/hosted-document?doi=10.13169/zanjglobsoutstud.8.1.0009
ScienceOpenRelational Well-being of Female Workers in Low-Skilled Jobs in Ethiopia<p xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" class="first" dir="auto" id="d5717520e149">With the expansion of global production networks (GPNs) in Africa, more women are
becoming employed in low-skilled and labor-intensive jobs. Most studies on workers
in GPNs focus on work conditions and their impact on production and network effectiveness,
while placing less emphasis on the relational well-being of local industrial workers.
Employing a relational well-being approach that considers the multiple dimensions
of people’s lives (the material, subjective, and relational), we explore how female
workers experience their well-being in foreign-owned flower and apparel sectors operating
in Ethiopia. Based on in-depth interviews with thirty-nine female employees, we find
that women value the different types of social relationships they have. Coworkers,
friends, family, and members of the broader community are important for the women’s
well-being, supporting them materially and subjectively, and enabling them to cope
with work and life difficulties. Relationships with supervisors and employers, however,
can negatively impact well-being, especially through the stress they can cause, while
the social and political environment also has a negative effect on overall well-being.
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