ECONOMIC DEPENDENCY AND GENDER DIFFERENCES IN LABOR FORCE SECTORAL CHANGE IN NON-CORE NATIONS

This study examines two versions of how economic dependency has affected relative gender positioning in non-core nations' labor forces since the 1960s. A "new dependency" version asserts that multinational corporate investment in manufacturing has transformed the labor forces of such nations, permitting women unusual access to relatively high-paying, if ephemeral, light manufacturing positions. A "traditional trade dependency" version suggests that, despite the aforementioned transformation in some non-core nations, the dominant form of dependency in most remains traditional: they export primary goods in return for manufactured imports. This version claims that such structures not only deter women's entry into the formal labor force as a whole, but constrain those who do enter to relatively marginal agricultural positions. Panel analyses of data on non-core nations evaluates these versions and both receive considerable support.