Pietra Rivoli and Jane Collins: The Race to the Bottom

Antipode, 2006

Advances in electronic government, digital divide, and regional development book series, 2018

Systemic manifestations of women's subordination, such as the glass ceiling, are still a reality in organisations. Yet, the glass ceiling effect in the Global South is often conceptualised vis-à-vis (white) women's experience in 'gendered organisations' and women's domestic role in the Southern societies. In this context, this chapter, based on a fieldwork research conducted in Sri Lanka's apparel industry, critically examines the glass ceiling effect of glass ceiling on women's career advancement in the Global South. Alongside the notion of 'universal' patriarchy, it problematises the 'universal' structure of the glass ceiling. And it shows that (un)doing factory women's collective identity-as lamai (little ones)-and the glass ceiling intermingle in the process of women's subordination in the apparel industry. The chapter concludes that, in the apparel industry, the role of managerial women -as well as of men in (un)doing factory women's collective identity-is crucial in keeping the glass ceiling in place.

International Sociology, 2008

Cuadernos de relaciones laborales, 2024

The fashion industry is one of the sectors with the largest volume of business in the world. Revenue in the Fashion market is projected to reach US$0.99tn in 2023. 1 This market is also one of the most important springboards for innovation, creativity and cultural production. That attracts, therefore, a lot of investment since the fashion world is also connected to the world of accessories, and lifestyle (travel, food, real estate, etc.). However, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the fashion industry suffered a major slowdown in its growth. Many companies closed down. The Business of Fashion published in 2021 the report "The State of Fashion" 2 . The report argues that the fashion industry has suffered its worst year on record during the pandemic period in 2020. However, it is not only an economic crisis for the fashion industry, COVID-19 has really resulted in a global humanitarian crisis for millions of textile workers whose livelihoods are affected. Moreover, many experts believe the pandemic has highlighted (more prominently) the exploitative nature of the world's garment supply chains, which have undergone a radical transformation in recent decades. 3 The fashion industry is at root an exploitative system based on the exploitation of a low-paid and undervalued workforce in producing countries, according to Dominique Muller at Labour Behind the Label 4 : "the system is created in order to protect those at the top while allowing workers to take the biggest hit". 5 The problem of job precariousness in the fashion industry is nothing new. The pandemic has only accentuated an existing critical issue. This and many other contradictions, in particular in the field of luxury fashion, are the central theme of Giulia Mensitieri's book that I discuss in this review: The most beautiful job in the world, published in firstly in French in 2018 and then translated to other languages. Giulia Mensitieri is a social anthropologist and ethnologist affiliated with the IDHES of Université de Paris-Nanterre. Her field of investigation has been luxury fashion, which she considers a paradigmatic field of contemporary capitalism regarding material and immaterial productions, global circulations, and inequalities. 6 This book, which unfolds through the stories of various people working in 1 Fashion -Worldwide.

The summary of the travels of a T-shirt in the Global Economy written by Professor Pietra Rivoli

2018

Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, 2019

The Business History Review, 2019