The Feminization and Racialization of Labour in the Colombian Fresh-cut Flower Industry

Abstract

This article examines the basic features of the working and living conditions of the mostly female labour force of the Colombian flower industry. It argues that in this export industry, critical feminist thought on neo-liberal international trade and the feminization of labour is valid only for workers in the lowest ranks of the industry, the majority of whom are racialized women from low-income, peasant, indigenous, or mixed-race rural backgrounds who face precarious forms of labour. Meanwhile, an elite group of women from urban-middle and upper classes with Western education and European or mixed-race backgrounds work in management, participate in the growers’ associations and oversee the exploitative conditions and health risks that flower production creates for their racialized lower class ‘sisters’. This case emphasizes the importance of considering the intersections of socio-economic status and race, together with gender and other structures, in order to determine who benefits and loses from production for the global market. The article also introduces the concept of ‘racialization of labour’, arguing that the jobs created in the industry are not only feminized but racialized.