Working Across Borders: Global Economic Restructuring and Women's Work

This article links changes in the global economy to shifts in the performance of domestic labour that have reinforced the subordination of immigrant women and women of colour. The author provides an overview of economic shifts that have led to changes in female employment within the United States and have stimulated female migration from developing countries. She offers a critique of government reluctance to regulate domestic labour and discusses the ways in which immigration policies reinforce sex-role stereotypes. The author calls on feminist theory to attend to the problems posed by paid household labour and by the involvement of certain groups of women in the subordination of others. In light of global economic restructuring, the author argues that this requires an analysis highlighting the international dynamics that have come to shape relationships between women.