Gender, flexibility and global value chains

Gender is often overlooked in the analysis of global value chains. Analysis of value chains incorporates all aspects from design, through production t o final distribution and consumption. These activities are embedded within prevailing gender relations that affect value chains at every node. Convers ely the operation of value chains can affect the prevailing gender division of labour in different localities. This article provides an initial contri bution to an analysis of gender and value chains, drawing on the example of the horticultural value chain linking South Africa and Chile to European r etail. It explores how flexible female employment at one end of the chain p rovides supply flexibility in the global chain. At the other end, supermark ets exploit changing working and consumption patterns to sell high value-ad ded food, previously prepared In the home. Examining the gender dimension p rovides a much more comprehensive analysis of value chains, through which a ll aspects of their functioning can be better understood.