The Power to Choose: Bangladeshi Women and Labour Market Decisions in London and Dhaka by Naila Kabeer, London: Verso, 2000, 464 pp., isbn 1-85984-804-4.

Naila Kabeer’s book The Power to Choose: Bangladeshi Women and Labour Market Decisions in London and Dhaka provides a fascinating insight into the dynamics influencing labour market choices made by Bangladeshi women garment workers in Dhaka and London. Based on in-depth interviews with workers in both locations, the book begins by describing the global restructuring in the garment industry and its effect on the employment opportunities of workers in Dhaka and London. In chapter 2, Kabeer argues that a theoretical perspective integrating sociology with conventional economics is required to analyse effectively the cultural nuances determining workers’ labour market choices and interests. The next three chapters present the Bangladesh component of the research, while the following three deal with London. While noting similarities determining labour market decisions, Kabeer also highlights differences. These are further analysed in the final three chapters, with chapter 11 returning to the broader issue of the implications of the study for global interests and concerns. The major argument stemming from Kabeer’s study is that while living in “two cultures,” “many echoes” frame the employment decisions of Bangladeshi garment workers in the two cities. Calling these “meta-preferences” of class, gender, race and social upbringing, Kabeer argues that because they determined Bangladeshi women’s work, their labour supply did not necessarily reveal a “choice” but instead a “fait accompli” of societal norms and values. However, although noting the similarities between Dhaka and London women due to meta-preferences, Kabeer simultaneously identifies a paradox between the two groups by weaving the concept of purdah or the “territorial regulation of female sexuality and the institutionalisation of male power,” into the analysis. Whereas purdah mainly restricted London Bangladeshi women’s employment to “inside” or home work garment activity, Bangladeshi women in Dhaka renegotiated purdah with their husbands and community to legitimize “outside” work in garment factories. Using women’s testimonies, Kabeer shows how home work became the only option available to London-based Bangladeshi women because of a “double closure” of gender and racial labour market segmentation arising from both purdah and meta-preferences. Although their labour supply was “segmented” to the garment industry, changing social norms and values about women’s work nonetheless enabled Dhaka women to renegotiate purdah, broaden their meta- preferences and hence their labour market choices. In summary, Dhaka women living in developing Bangladesh, not London women living in industrialized Britain, had more labour market choice. Kabeer proposes a number of explanations for this paradox. Firstly, she notes that whereas in Dhaka the garment industry was identified as a “female” industry, the social context in Britain meant that labour market options for London-based Bangladeshi men were also restricted to the garment industry. Hence Bangladeshi women in London competed with men as well as with others for garment jobs. As a result, the combined effect of meta-preferences and purdah resulted in further segmentation of their work “choice” to home working rather than factory work, because factory jobs were also highly sought after by Bangladeshi men living in London. Secondly, the worth of Bangladeshi women’s work was enhanced by the lack of an external safety net provided by the state or the community. For example, whereas the children of London-based Bangladeshi women received state-provided education regardless of their work status, women in Dhaka did not enjoy this privilege. Coupled with high rates of unemployment amongst men, women’s work in Dhaka increased in value because it provided for their immediate and extended families. This aided in renegotiating purdah and meta-preferences to broaden women’s labour market options and include external factory work. Thirdly, Kabeer argues that London-based Bangladeshi women were also caught in a “time-space” compression, the result …