Women Workers On Sewing Machines: A Study Of The Labor Process Of Women Tailors

As a labor-intensive industry,the garment and textile industry provides a large number of jobs for migrant workers in the coastal provinces,and with the shift of industries and proximity employment policies,more and more central townships have established private garment processing factories,which are responsible for processing incoming materials for upstream manufacturers and require a large number of female laborers,thus becoming an important channel for female workers who stay in the local area when choosing proximity employment.A study of these informal garment processing factories helps to understand the specific labor processes in the industry,to understand the deeper logic behind the willingness of women workers to work overtime,and to engage in a theoretical dialogue while presenting the Chinese field experience.Wangjiang County in Anhui province,which is nationally renowned for its clothing and textile industry,is a significant target area in the transfer of clothing and textile industries from eastern coastal regions.Using the garment processing site S in Wangjiang County,Anhui Province,as a field,this article use participant observation and semi-structured interviews to study on the labor process of the clothing processing industries,attemptting to reveal the labor landscape of the clothing and textile industry in the provincial society.The article first introduces the group of women left behind in the garment and textile industry based on the differentiated division of labor among families in the context of industrial relocation and nearby employment,which is characterized by hierarchical subcontracting and rush production.In the rural social network of the garment factories,the bosses exercise emotional labor control by creating a family-like atmosphere,encouraging the "boss game",and strengthening group identity,etc.The flexible management strategy encourages female workers to be willing to self-exploit and actively engage in monotonous and heavy labor.At the same time,this paper also focuses on analyzing the subjectivity of female workers,clarifying their idea of group warming,revealing how female workers adopt targeted strategies to bargain with factory bosses based on their own strengths and local social networks,making choices to maximize family interests in a timely manner,and expanding their social circles and experiencing both hard and pleasant labor conditions in their work.The study finds that in informal private factories,capital control and workers’ resistance are more subtle and gentle than in large manufacturing factories,and that emotional labor control can better motivate women workers than authoritarian and forceful regulations,and that with the development and growth of the local garment industry,women workers are no longer a passive employment group,but have more autonomy to choose.