This article attempts to understand women's labour market behaviour in the context of export-oriented garment manufacturing in India, particularly women's decision to work and their alleged aversion to unionism. Asian women's submissiveness in the labour market can hardly be the result of ‘Oriental docility’ in every case. We question this assumption by looking at a small sample of 25 women in garment manufacturing firms in Hyderabad, India, and seek other explanations for women's lack of interest in unions, and note the pressures that affect them.
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