Another interesting talk at the Friends Meeting House, Upper
\nGoat Lane, Norwich at 1pm on Friday 17th February 2012.<\/p>\n
The talk will be given by Professor Ruth Pearson.<\/p>\n
The title of the talk will be: “Burmese Migrant Workers in Thailand –
\nSuspended Between Two Worlds” and it is very timely given the current
\ninterest in Burma’s tentative moves towards democracy.\u00a0 The two million plus
\nBurmese migrant workers\u00a0 in Thailand\u00a0 remain hidden from the Western gaze,
\nunlike the 150,000 plus people in displaced persons camps at the border.
\nFor over a decade migrant factory workers, in the main young women, have
\nacted as a hidden workforce in a number of export factories, particularly in
\nthe garment, jewellery and footwear sectors.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
This talk unravels some of the
\ncomplexities of this situation, and looks at the challenges facing these
\nwomen as they move through their life stages and have families and children
\nof their own. Although\u00a0 Burma is taking tentative steps towards the
\nrestoration of democratic intuitions, much to the delight of would be
\nWestern foreign investors, it will take decades to restore economic
\nopportunities for the bulk of its population – and mean while migrant women
\nremain suspended between two worlds.<\/p>\n
Ruth Pearson is\u00a0 Professor
\nof International Development at the University of Leeds, having moved there
\nafter establishing the thriving programmes in Gender and Development at the
\nUniversity of East Anglia. She is an economist by training, and has
\nundertaken widespread research on issues of women, work and employment in
\nthe global economy, mainly in Latin America, though more recently in South
\nEast Asia and Europe, including the UK. She is a board member of a number of
\norganisations including WEETU, HomeworkersWorldwide, the Women’s Budget
\nGroup and Rosa, the UK Women’s Fund. She has also been a consultant and
\nadvisor on gender issues to\u00a0 UNDP, UNWomen, Oxfam, DfID , CIDA\u00a0 and the EU.<\/p>\n
All welcome best wishes, Marguerite Vice-Chair UNA Norwich & District Branch<\/p>\n