Homeworkers in Global Supply Chains: A Review of Literature
Homeworkers are subcontracted workers who produce or add value to goods or services from their homes or areas around their homes. This review summarizes literature from 2000 to 2017 relating to homeworkers in global supply chains. This review was guided by the following questions: What are the vulnerabilities of homeworkers in global supply chains? What mechanisms exist to provide legal and social protections for homeworkers and to secure their livelihoods? How have homeworkers made gains through organizing and agency, and what challenges do they continue to face in this area? This review is divided into seven main sections: emergence and growth of homework in global supply chains, characteristics and prevalence of homework, working conditions of homeworkers in global supply chains, policy responses, legal and governance frameworks, corporate social responsibility, and homeworkers’ organizing and agency. It concludes with a summary of where the literature on homework converges and diverges and proposes new avenues for future research in this area.
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