Cut-flower production in Colombia - a major development success story for women?

Starting in the 1970s, the production of cut flowers for export has spread in Colombia's central high land, the Sabana de Bogota. Creating some 75 000 jobs by the mid-1990s, the Colombian Bower industry has been described by the World Bank as one of the major development success stories of the last two decades. In the first part of the paper the author examines possible re asons for this success, considering Colombia's position on the global marke t as well as economic restructuring, demographic, and social changes in Col ombia which explain not only why Bower production fits well into government restructuring plans, but also the availability of cheap labour-one of the key factors in international competition. As 60% to 80% of the workers in t he cut-flower industry are female, the main focus is on the rising number o f women seeking employment. In the second part of the paper the author atte mpts to show how the benefits and costs of employment by the flower industr y are perceived by the different local actors. Drawing on monographs writte n by local researchers, focus-group interviews with workers, and expert int erviews, she discusses different themes, for example, employment practices, working conditions at the farms, and housing conditions in the worker's co mmunities, changing gender relations, and women's emancipation and their ne w dependency on the firm. The flower industry is shown to draw on economic and social changes in wider Colombian society and to reinforce some of thes e changes. The women workers, although gaining income and status and findin g industrial-type working relations, pay with a double work load and by liv ing in difficult social and environmental conditions entailing constant hea lth and unemployment risks.