http://repub.eur.nl/res/aut/21489/ List of Publications en http://repub.eur.nl/static-eur/img/logo.png http://repub.eur.nl http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/38413/ 2012-04-03T00:00:00Z Abstract Social security is firmly rising on the international agenda. Discourses that depart from the assumption that societies can only afford a certain level of social expenditure give way to a recognition that social security is an important investment in development. New interventions in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan express this changing vision and a larger commitment on the part of the state. This increased emphasis on the need to provide social security is appropriate, if not long overdue, given the grave insecurities that large parts of the populations of these countries experience. However, the new weight that social security has gained in national discourses also brings to light a paradox: While the state is supposed to protect people against vulnerabilities, these very vulnerabilities seem to be created or reinforced by manifestations of economic and political regimes. While this paradox has been identified earlier, its understanding is poor and has yet to be reflected in measures to provide income and employment security. This is an important gap in our understanding of social security that I address with the paper in the context of South Asian agricultural workers. The paper takes the paradoxical role of the state in both creating insecurities and having the means to alleviate them as its starting point. It aims to understand the expressions of this paradox in the life and work of agricultural workers in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan from a political economy perspective. Polanyi’s (1965 [1944]) theorisation of a ‘double movement’ towards both commodification and protection that characterises the situation of labour in market societies provides an analytical starting point. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/22704/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z ABSTRACT This chapter develops a theoretically informed explanation of control, representation and recruitment of workers at the beginning of agricultural value chains and of the income and social insecurities embedded in them. It focuses on three case studies: asparagus farming in the Philippines, tomato production in Brazil and cotton cultivation in Pakistan. Through these cases the authors analyse processes of risk allocation and representation, delegation and the removal of skilled tasks, alongside changing management models for remuneration and employment security. Socio-demographic characteristics that pre-existed workers’ recruitment are drawn upon to explain the persistence of poverty and insecurity of workers after their inclusion into global value chains. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/34798/ 2011-01-01T00:00:00Z Purpose - In this paper, we show how the translation of a logical positivist epistemology into neoclassical economics has had profound methodological consequences which over-determine an inability to predict cusps and their associated crises. Design/methodology/approach - Based on a review of epistemological and methodological literature, we argue that the financial crises of the past 20 years ought to initiate a questioning of the epistemological foundations of the discipline. Findings - As an alternative, we suggest that an economics methodology informed by critical realism would increase the probability of a timely prediction of crises. Originality/value - It de-emphasises falsification as a key criterion for assessing the quality of knowledge, provides more space for non-quantified reflections on relationships, a thicker model of human agency, a well-specified model of collective human economic behaviour as well as an endogenous possibility of dramatic change within the economic domain. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21082/ 2010-12-01T00:00:00Z Abstract: This article investigates the role of international labour migration from Pakistan’s Northwest for the sending communities’ social resilience. It focuses on the implications of male out-migration for the women who stay behind. This article refers to Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice to shed light on the gendered nature of vulnerability and resilience. Contradictions identified between heightened vulnerability at the level of individual women and strengthened resilience of the household underline the social construction of scale in the analysis of resilience. With his emphasis on material as well as symbolic resources determining opportunities and well-being, Bourdieu provides an analytical key for the identification of such ‘uncomfortable layers of resilience’. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32928/ 2010-11-04T00:00:00Z This chapter explores the impact of the global financial crisis on South Asia in terms of qualitative and quantitative aspects of employment. South Asia hosts a quarter of the world’s population and a fifth of the global workforce – as well as 40 percent of the global poor (World Bank 2010). This paper therefore contributes to an assessment of the current crisis on the livelihoods of inhabitants of one of the poorest regions in the world. It also provides more general insights about how volatilities in globally increasingly integrated markets translate into opportunities for decent work – or the lack thereof. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/21088/ 2010-09-08T00:00:00Z abstract: This article aims to conceptualize the gendered interface between social capital and vulnerability. It emphasizes Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of social capital embedded in his Theory of Practice as a fruitful analytical device for this intersection. The authors’ conceptual thoughts are based on a review of the literature on the role of migration-related social networks from mainly diverse Asian contexts and empirical fieldwork in South and Central Asia. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/20432/ 2010-01-01T00:00:00Z Migration is an important social and historical reality in South Asia. In the past decade, migration from one country to another and internal migration (i.e. migration within a particular country) have assumed different dimen- sions for people in the region. Contemporary research on migration is placed in a spectrum that ranges from exponents of economic benefits at one end, to those who see migration as a security threat, at the other. This paper combines the work of three researchers and looks at the different political locations from which the South Asian subject is induced to move. It also discusses the economic and political implications that arise from these migration trajectories. Drawing on their research, the authors emphasise the need for understanding how migration is linked to a complex set of proc- esses that reflect power relations in unequal societies. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/22393/ 2009-08-13T00:00:00Z While Pakistan’s National Information Technology (IT) Policy aims at harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development, especially in the underserved rural areas, it ignores the role of existing gender inequalities on the possible benefits of ICTs. We have investigated aspects of the ‘gender digital divide’ in rural areas of Pakistan in order to enable an evidence-based gender-sensitive revision of the policy as well as ICT-related interventions from which both females and males gain. The study took place in four of the most marginalized rural districts of the country where this divide is likely to be most pronounced. We found mobile phones to be the ICT that is most commonly available in rural Pakistan. Radios and TV sets are the second most widespread technologies in marginalised rural areas. However, mobile sets at hand are largely owned by women’s husbands, fathers and brothers, whose permission to make calls is required by a large share of all female respondents. I, therefore, argue that availability and gendered use of ICTs are two different things altogether. Social norms related to women and girls’ access to education as well as regulating their mobility prevent them from using ICTs. These norms have to be taken into account in policies and interventions to ensure women and girls’ access to and beneficial use of ICTs. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/17857/ 2009-01-01T00:00:00Z News on Pakistan’s trade performance is rarely found side by side, or even associated with, headlines on gender equality. Yet both are burning issues for Pakistani society. This article aims at highlighting their connections. Put differently, it shows how the world market is tied to Pakistani stoves. Trade is important for Pakistan’s economy due to the country’s comparative openness. The country—like most parts of the subcontinent—is a late globalizer, as compared to, for example, East Asia or Latin America. Structural adjustment programs implemented since 1988 under the aegis of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been one catalyst for trade liberalization. Trade tariffs were reduced significantly, resulting in rising trade to gross domestic product (GDP) ratios. Today, the value of exports from Pakistan surpasses 21 billion U.S. dollars. Besides textile manufactures such as cotton cloth, bed wear, and knitwear, key exports include rice as well as leather manufactures, indicating the special role of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors for Pakistan’s trade. The main export destinations include the northern markets of the United States and European countries—such as the United Kingdom and Germany—as well as the Gulf states and Hong Kong (China). Trade is more than an aggregate statistic on flows of goods and services. It means employment in export garment manufacturing for some, and job losses caused by cheaper Chinese imports for others. It may provide some consumers with access to affordable generic medicines that were previously unavailable, supply others with cheaper prices due to intensified competition, and present a third group with less choice as cheap imports gain a monopoly in the market. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32324/ 2008-10-01T00:00:00Z [Introduction:] EU-Pakistan Trade in Textiles and Clothing: A Love – Hate Relationship? European nights are intimately linked to Pakistan. A large number of the community’s citizens spend their nights on Pakistani bed-sheets. In 2005, the South Asian economy was the largest supplier of bed-linen to the union (Aziz, 2006). Sufficient basis for an intimate trade relationship, one could assume. True. The European Union (EU) is Pakistan’s largest trading partner, with textiles and clothing (T&C) accounting for almost two thirds of its sales to the union (EC’s Delegation to Pakistan, 2004). As in many close relationships, however, the EU also is the cause of a lot of pain to its partner. One sore example was the imposition of a punitive import duty on Pakistani bed-linen in 2004, accusing the exporter to dump bed-linen below cost prices at the European market. Rumor has it, that this move was actually an act of jealousy, punishing Pakistan for upgrading its commercial air fleet with US-American Boeings rather than with European Airbuses. In the following sections, a closer look is taken at the anatomy of, and prospects for, the trade relationship between Pakistan and the EU, focusing on the T&C sector. Features of both partners that have the potential to promote or constrain T&C exports from Pakistan to the EU are sketched in the next section. Therein, the focus is on EU’s trade-related policies regarding Pakistan and on the structure of Pakistan’s T&C industry. Section 3 provides an overview of the resulting exports to the common market. Section 4 outlines possible scenarios for the future of the contested relationship and their likely consequences in terms of industrial and overall development. Finally, measures that support a healthy trade partnership between Pakistan and the EU in T&C are described in the last section. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32313/ 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Introduction: News on Pakistan’s trade performance is rarely found side by side, or even associated with, headlines on gender equality. Yet both are burning issues for Pakistani society. This article aims at highlighting their connections. Put differently, it shows how the world market is tied to Pakistani stoves. Trade is important for Pakistan’s economy due to the country’s comparative openness. The country—like most parts of the subcontinent—is a late globalizer, as compared to, for example, East Asia or Latin America. Structural adjustment programs implemented since 1988 under the aegis of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have been one catalyst for trade liberalization. Trade tariffs were reduced significantly, resulting in rising trade to gross domestic product (GDP) ratios. Today, the value of exports from Pakistan surpasses 21 billion U.S. dollars. Besides textile manufactures such as cotton cloth, bed wear, and knitwear, key exports include rice as well as leather manufactures, indicating the special role of the agricultural and manufacturing sectors for Pakistan’s trade. The main export destinations include the northern markets of the United States and European countries—such as the United Kingdom and Germany—as well as the Gulf states and Hong Kong (China). http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32326/ 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Migration within and out of south Asia has been a practice steeped in historical processes. This article identifies commonalities such as the significant macroeconomic role of migration and similar main destinations for south Asia’s mobile populations. It critiques popular themes in the discourse on migration, like the focus on economic benefits of moving populations and the nation state as a reference point. The article questions the existing views of what it means for people to move from their homes, many times (but not only) across international borders. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32337/ 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z This paper looks at how Nike’s soccer ball suppliers (previous and current) in Sialkot (Pakistan) fare in relation to the company’s code of ethics. While minimum required working conditions are implemented, the criteria for social and environmental compliance are not met with. The multinational’s decision to withdraw orders from the previous supplier ostensibly due to allegations of child labour and unauthorised subcontracting hit large sections of the workforce, especially rural, low-skilled and female workers. Is it fair for multinationals to cut and run in such cases or should they find a solution to save thousands of livelihoods? http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32338/ 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z A million tonnes of cotton are hand-picked by women and girls every year in Pakistan’s ‘cotton belt’. Despite their evident contribution to the economy, the pickers’ fates remain invisible in the daily headlines on cotton production as well as in academic research. The present article tries to address this blind spot while focussing on the working conditions of Pakistani cotton pickers. It investigates the determinants of their work, wages and occupational safety and health, and questions whether the link with the global cotton chain benefits labourers in Pakistan’s cotton fields http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32599/ 2008-01-01T00:00:00Z Introduction: In order to gain a more in-depth understanding of cotton-farming in Pakistan and the communities living in Pakistan’s cotton belt, an empirical survey “Situation Review of Cotton Farming in Pakistan” has been conducted in two of the main cotton-growing districts in Punjab and Sindh. The study was commissioned by the transnational furniture company Ikea. Ikea procures cotton from Pakistan. The company considers awareness of the socio-economic conditions in the area from which this input is purchased and their improvement as part of its corporate social responsibility. Therefore, the objective of this study is to identify needs and constraints in Pakistan’s cotton sector through a socio-economic analysis. Its findings will be utilised in the formulation of programmes for improvement of socio-economic conditions in the cotton belt, in particular regarding the situation of women and children. For the study, two districts from Pakistan’s cotton belt have been selected, namely the district Rahim Yar Khan in Southern Punjab and district Khairpur in Sindh. In each district, four typical cotton-growing villages have been selected for an in-depth survey. The sampling procedures and research techniques applied are described in more detail below. As will be shown in the following paragraphs, whereas the survey results are statistically representative at the village level, they also reflect the situation in rural areas of the districts in robust approximation. ... http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32608/ 2007-07-25T00:00:00Z Abstract Processes of migration are embedded in social networks, more recently conceptualised as social capital, from sending households to migrants’ formal and informal associations at their destinations. These processes are often assumed to reduce individuals, households and economies’ vulnerabilities and thus attract policy-makers’ attention to migration management. The paper aims to conceptualise the gendered interface between social capital and vulnerability. It utilises Bourdieu’s notion of social capital as an analytical starting point. To illuminate our conceptual thoughts we refer to empirical examples from migration research from various Asian countries. Bourdieu’s theory highlights the social construction of gendered vulnerability. It goes beyond that by identifying the investment in symbolic capital of female honour as an indirect investment in social and, ultimately, economic capital. This gender-differentiated unequal investment and these capitals’ incomplete fungibility, though, makes women not just indirect members of social networks but mere objects contributing as ‘symbolic currency’ within them, often without being able to capitalise on the very relations. Based on Bourdieu’s theory, we suggest a shift from the investigation of women’s exclusion from and gender inequality within social networks to an analysis of masculine domination. It appears to be directly associated with the degree of vulnerability that women experience. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32451/ 2007-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32321/ 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract Assumptions applied in Orthodox Economic methods are criticised for being an inadequate depiction of reality. This is particularly the case from the perspective of Feminist Economics. Gender biases are reflected in the quantitative data sources and methods commonly applied for economic research. These include male biases in statistical data, a focus on outcomes rather than processes as well as the neglect of reproductive work and its interaction with market work. To overcome these problems, this paper introduces between-method triangulation, i.e. the combination of quantitative and qualitative methods of data generation and analysis, as an innovative and more realistic methodology to conduct gendered economic analysis. It draws on the authors’ recent empirical work on the Indonesian and Mauritian labour markets where between-method triangulation was employed. The approach is shown to be able to enhance empirical economic analysis by mutually validating results. Furthermore, the approach is shown to remove gender biases in economic analysis by analysing conflicting evidence and by complementing quantitative with qualitative findings in light of feminist economics theory. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32335/ 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z Th is study assesses the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on gendered labour markets in rural Indonesia. It focuses on the gender composition of the workforce, female and male workers’ employment conditions and gender wage inequality. Th e research strategy of »between-methods triangulation« is chosen, denoting the combination of quantitative and qualitative types of data generation and analysis. Two underlying mechanisms have been identifi ed. A »cost eff ect« associated with transnational corporations’ (TNCs’) greater orientation towards the world market is the preferential recruitment of, on average, lower paid female workers. In light of global competitive cost considerations, this appears as a rational strategy for TNCs. Conversely, foreign fi rms’ advanced technological endowments relative to domestic companies require a well-educated workforce with technical skills. In light of these perspectives, gender gaps in education and, on average, women’s weaker labour market attachment disadvantage female workers’ employment in TNCs. Both eff ects are mediated by a »reproductive constraint«. Th is refers to the asymmetric distribution of reproductive obligations between female and male household members, whereby female input into the domestic economy is more demanding relative to that of males. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32589/ 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract: Women’s economic empowerment can be defined as access to and control over productive resources. There are legal obstacles to it, e.g. in the form of gender-biased inheritance and labour laws, policy problems, such as in the form of trade and investment policies that ignore the gender-differentiated economic roles of women and men, as well as cultural impediments. The Gender Equality Project’s (GEP’s) funding aimed at contributing to narrow the gap in economic indicators between women and men in Pakistan through enhancing women’s opportunities for economic decision-making. In order to achieve this goal, it provided funding to 13 projects conducted by a diverse range of organisations, from small non-governmental organisations, a bank, an advocacy network to university institutes. The objective of this report is to map footprints of these grants and analyse their effect and impact regarding women’s economic empowerment. The assessment shows that the funded projects’ approaches address strategic skills for women’s economic empowerment at the micro-level, such as free movement, enhanced decision-making, access to and control over financial and other, for example organisational resources, as well as entrepreneurial including marketing skills. While these issues are innovative given the hostile environment the projects take place in, in particular the approaches addressing men’s resistance to women’s economic empowerment and strengthening female-male partnerships can be highlighted as very timely. Strategic skills, such as marketing, and business development, appear to be more important for a sustainable effect on the beneficiaries than purely technical training regarding new products and designs. It is questionable whether the latter contributes to enhanced understanding of women’s economic constraints. On the other hand, the potential to cooperate with the government – one of GEP’s objectives - needs to be critically assessed. Particularly, if the bargaining power of the government body and the partner is very unequal, it is likely that an agenda for women’s economic empowerment gets diluted in poor governance. Also, the issue of macro-micro linkages needs to be addressed in future project design. Increasing knowledge about the macro changes in the economy and politics and their bearing on grassroots level efforts to support women’s productive involvement and decision making might be an important step towards gender mainstreaming in economic policy-making. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32696/ 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract This paper gives an overview of the human and social dimensions of Pakistan’s water policies to provide the basis for water-related policy interventions that contribute to the country’s human development, with special attention being given to the concerns of women and the poor. While Pakistan may not be a water-scarce country, water stress, poor water quality, and inequitable access to water adversely affect large portions of the population. Considerably less water is available in Balochistan and Sindh. This is also the case for people at the tail end of the irrigation distribution system, and for the poor. Though women have a distinct role in water management for domestic and productive purposes, they are hardly represented in user groups. This suggests that water management, rather than water availability, is at the core of Pakistan’s water crisis. The unequal distribution, coupled with population pressure, rapid urbanisation, and increasing industrialisation, poses a serious challenge to water management in Pakistan in the 21st century. Insufficient access to and poor quality of water resources are the major obstacles to human development in Pakistan. This takes several forms. Water-related diseases such as diarrhoea, hepatitis, dysentery, and malaria are among the main causes of death. Industrial water pollution poses direct health hazards and indirectly threatens sources of livelihood, for example for fishing communities. Insufficient water for food production, loss of soil fertility through water-logging and salinity, seepage, unequal distribution in the irrigation system, and droughts lead to reduced agricultural production and thus endangers small farmers’ food security. Domestic water supply as well as irrigation management both saw a shift towards more participatory and privatised approaches during the 1980s and 1990s. Assessments are mixed about the success of the participatory schemes. Overall, the availability of safe drinking water in all provinces dropped between 1995 and 1999. In irrigation, due to a focus on physical targets rather than on capacity building in water user associations (WUAs), the positive effects of these schemes were largely appropriated by the economic and political elite, increasing the marginalisation of poorer farmers. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32699/ 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract The global environment after the expiry of the quota system in textiles and clothing (T&C) trade poses formidable challenges to human development in Pakistan. Increased quality and price competition in the post-ATC scenario provides an opportunity for some segments of the T&C sector – but a threat to the most labour-intensive ones. As quality and quantity of employment were largely ignored factors in the preparations for the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing’s (ATC’s) abolition in Pakistan, potential job and wage losses are feared, in garment manufacturing in particular. Unskilled and female workers are most vulnerable. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32347/ 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z A large number of the European community use bed-linen supplied by Pakistan. In 2005, the South Asian economy was the largest supplier of bed-linen to the union (Aziz, 2006). The European Union (EU) is Pakistan's largest trading partner, with textiles and clothing (T&C) accounting for almost two thirds of its sales to the union (EC's Delegation to Pakistan, 2004). As in many close relationships, however, the EU also is the cause of a lot of worry to its partner. One example was the imposition of a punitive import duty on Pakistani bed-linen in 2004, accusing exporters of dumping bed-linen below cost prices at the European market. It is believed by some that this move was actually in reaction to Pakistan's upgrading its commercial airfleet with US American Boeings rather than with European Airbuses. This paper takes a closer look is taken at the anatomy of and prospects for trade relations between Pakistan and the EU, focusing on the Textile and Clothing (T&C) sector.1 Features of both partners that have the potential to promote or constrain T&C exports from Pakistan to the EU are sketched. The focus is on EU's trade-related policies policy regarding Pakistan and the structure of Pakistan's T&C industry. An overview over the resulting exports to the common market is provided and possible scenarios for the future of the contested relationship and their likely consequences in terms of industrial and overall development are outlined. Finally, measures that support a healthy trade partnership between Pakistan and the EU in T&C are described. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32450/ 2006-01-01T00:00:00Z Intro: Economic Integration, Stagnating Gender Equality? During the high-level meeting in Hong Kong, WTO member countries discussed issues ranging from abolishing agricultural export subsidies and industrial tariff reduction, and market access for foreign banks and telecom providers. The human face of trade and investment flows, however, is often hidden behind economic statistics and legal formulations. This human face is gendered: Globalisation has meant different things for women and men. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32448/ 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32330/ 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z The government has realized that textile and clothing sector is one sector that offers good prospects for diversification away from traditional commodity exports, for entry into the area of manufacturers, for absorption of large pools of manpower, for crossing the big divide between the rural and urban sectors, for poverty alleviation, and for gender empowerment. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32697/ 2005-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract In January 2005, the quota system for imports of textiles and clothing was phased out and gave way to more liberalized global trade in textiles and clothing. The T&C industry is Pakistan’s main export engine. It is also a major industrial employer, and one of the few sectors that provide paid employment to female workers. The policy paper highlights the potentially negative impact of the phase out of the textile quota regime on employment-intensive garment production in Pakistan. This sub-sector also provides most employment for women workers. It demands mitigation of the expected social costs, for example, through skill upgrading, consistent implementation of existing labor laws and their extension to informal sector workers, as well as proactive policies that link Pakistani garments’ market access abroad with special regard for working conditions at home. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32698/ 2004-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract The government has realized that the textile and clothing sector is one sector that offers good prospects for diversification away from traditional commodity exports, for entry into the area of manufacturers, for absorption of large pools of manpower, for crossing the big divide between the rural and urban sectors, for poverty alleviation, and for gender empowerment.” (Ministry of Finance, 2003, emphasis added) In 2005, the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) will give way to more liberalised global trade in textiles and clothing (T&C). The T&C industry is Pakistan’s major export engine. It also is a major employer of female workers. In the context of the social seclusion of women in Pakistan, the strong representation of women in the T&C industry makes the ATC implementation a gender equality issue. So far, the labour market implications of the change in the trade regime in general and its effects on gendered access to employment, in particular, have been neglected completely. The paper highlights the potential impact of the phase out of the textile quota regime on gendered employment in Pakistan. http://repub.eur.nl/res/pub/32582/ 2002-01-01T00:00:00Z Abstract Indonesia was hit hardest by the Asian financial crisis in 1997 from which it still has not recovered. Attracting inward foreign direct investment (FDI) is viewed as crucial for the revitalisation of the Indonesian economy after the crisis. However, the implications of FDI for employment and particularly for gender-specific employment are disputed both in theory and on the basis of empirical research. This paper explores possible effects of FDI on gender-specific employment in manufacturing, assessing the assumption that FDI increases relative female employment. In order to test this hypothesis, interviews with key informants and the 1996 Indonesian manufacturing survey are analysed. The results show that FDI does not have the expected positive effect on relative female employment but it displays considerable interactions with gender-specific human capital endowment and the extent of female autonomy. They suggest a review of assumptions about the beneficial effects of FDI on female labour market integration and the positive effect of investment in female human capital on women’s economic empowerment.