Women Workers and the Politics of Claims-Making in a Globalized Economy (Research Note)

The paper analyses the evolving politics of claims-making by women workers in the global South in the context of a globalized economy. It addresses the following questions.

• What kinds of claims are prioritized in relation to women workers?
• Who is making these claims?
• To whom are they addressed?
• What strategies are pursued to advance these claims?
• Which claims are heard and acted on—and which go unheard?

The paper considers three categories of women workers: those working in global value chains, those working for domestic markets and those working as cross-border migrants; it also distinguishes between claims made by, with and on behalf of women workers. The analytical framework weaves ideas on the politics of gender-equality claims-making (Htun and Weldon 2010) with work on the politics of recognition, redistribution and representation (Fraser 2005) and analysis of the strategies deployed by transnational networks (Keck and Sikkink 1998).