Gender and Ecuador"s new export sectors : a rapid rural appraisal study

Key findings were as follows. (1) The proportion of women in NTAE subsectors reflects Ecuador"s gender-based employment patterns. In general, Sierra firms have much higher proportions of women, who were also concentrated in labor-intensive work -- clothing maquilas and fruit/vegetable processing in the Sierra and fish/shrimp processing on the Coast. By contrast, capital-intensive jobs (e.g., Coast fruit and vegetable processing) are filled mostly by male workers. (2) The situation is favorable for women in the export flower sector, where they constitute over 60% of the labor force and enjoy above minimum wage base rates and full benefits, but exposure to pesticides poses a problem (as it does for day laborers in Sierra vegetable firms). (3) Because of frequent and unpredictable overtime, marriage and child care present special problems for NTAE processing workers. (4) In all types of firms, women were more likely to be temporary employees. (5) Women"s wages both contribute to family social welfare and increase women"s self-esteem and their voice in major household decisions. The report compares these results with Alberti"s study on women"s participation in NTAE in Central America. It then goes on to identify the types of indicators needed by the Mission for gender-sensitive monitoring, and to present recommendations for proposed USAID projects.