Cut-Flower Exports, Female Labor, and Community Participation in Highland Ecuador

Resumen

In the 1980s and 1990s Latin American economies and societies underwent a profound transformation caused by the advent of economic neoliberalism. Upon the recommendation of the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and bilateral donors, most Latin American governments implemented structural adjustment programs as a cure for the ills of import-substitution industrialization and burgeoning foreign debt. Along with short-term stabilization measures, these programs included broader reforms designed to reduce state economic intervention and increase national integration with global markets. At the regional level, they reduced inflation rates and triggered a rapid growth of exports and foreign direct investment (Mortimer, 2000; Macario, 2000). They failed, however, to produce a significant positive effect on national economic growth and employment. Indeed, urban unemployment rates increased in the 1990s (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, cited in Stark, 2001: Table 4). Moreover, structural adjustment led to a decline in real minimum wages and cuts in government social services. The result was an increase in income inequalities