Homeworkers in Global Perspective.

The last 20 years has seen the rise of the "flexible" worker on a global scale as the patterns of work and of employment for men and women in forms established by the first industrial revolution have begun to disintegrate. The rise of international chains of production, sub-contracting, short-term and part-time work have been paralleled by the increasing numbers of women engaged in paid work - a process often referred to as the feminization of the global workforce.

Yet most discussions of either the historical processes involved in the first industrial revolution or the ramifications of globalization are presented in gender neutral terms. The role of women as workers, if …