Dangerous Places and Nimble Fingers: Discourses of Gender Discrimination and Rights in Global Corporations

Citation:

Poster, Winifred R. 2001. “Dangerous Places and Nimble Fingers: Discourses of Gender Discrimination and Rights in Global Corporations.” International Journal of Politics, Culture & Society 15 (1): 77-105.

Author: Winifred R. Poster

Abstract:

This paper considers how women's employment rights are being constructed in multinational corporations by examining three high-tech organizations-a U.S. company in Silicon Valley, its subsidiary in New Delhi, India, and a comparable local Indian company. It first describes the legal frameworks for addressing gender employment discrimination by state governments in India and the United States. Then it examines how these frameworks are appropriated and negotiated within the local contexts of the workplaces in the study. Finally, it reflects on recent transnational attempts to legislate and enforce women's employment rights in multinational corporations, specifically the challenges that such attempts face in light of the three case studies.

Keywords: gender, women's rights, employment discrimination, multinational corporation, international labor standards

Topics: Economies, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Governance, Multi-National Corporations, Political Economies, Rights, Women's Rights Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, South Asia Countries: India, United States of America

Year: 2001