FRC member, Aleydis Nissen, wrote feature articles on conflict resolution in the Kenyan floriculture industry and the South-Korean electronics industry. The first article has been published in Knack magazine and the second article in the new issue of Eos magazine. She pays special attention to the difficulties that women experience when they try to remedy corporate human rights violations.
‘Women face specific barriers in gaining access to justice because of a number of factors, including gendered roles, social stigma and power balances.’ Nissen says. ‘In the South-Korean electronics factories, female workers are often hired over men, as they are believed to be ‘better suited’ to perform repetitive tasks, such as manufacturing and testing chips, batteries and displays. It is further perceived that women are easier to control and less likely to insist on their rights and to join trade unions.’
The Kenyan floriculture industry is also gender-segregated. ‘Women are concentrated in the more numerous lower-paying jobs, such as planting and picking. Many workers are single mothers who have migrated from non-flower growing regions to flower growing areas in Kenya. Their state of dependence is an effective disincentive to raise concerns about any violations of their rights taking place during or outside their working hours. They risk being sent out of the company-provided facilities and having to uproot their children if they complain. ’
FWO funds Nissen’s postdoc research ‘When Corporations Disrespect Women's Human Rights: Access to Remediation’. This research involves the secondary use of case study research data that she collected in Kenya and South Korea for her previous research on the accountability of emerging market corporations.