Gender, work, development and the politics/practices of reproductive health in a neo-liberal economy

Histories of women, development, and population policies are typically framed in terms of reproductive discourses and practices, emphasising women’s roles in gendered domestic child-rearing and reproducing the next generation of citizens and workers. Our chapter seeks to revisit this issue by centring on the role of women as labourers in late 20th-century Sri Lanka. We explore how neo-liberal economic and labour policies accompanied and became intertwined with economic development goals, reproductive policies, and public discourse around young women’s sexuality starting in the 1970s, deeply affecting the reproductive health and workplace rights of female workers in Export Processing Zones (EPZs)/Free Trade Zones (FTZs). Notwithstanding our focus on Sri Lanka, we argue that this intertwining of policies affecting women, work, and health also has resonance in other settings.