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Anthropologist Sandya Hewamanne spent time in a Sri Lankan free trade zone (FTZ) working and living among the workers to learn about their lives. \"They were poor women from rural areas,\" Hewamanne writes, \"who migrated to do garment work in transnational factories of a global assembly line. Their difficult work routines and sad living conditions have been examined in detail. When I was with them I often wondered whether anyone noticed the smiles, winks, smirks, gestures, tones of voice, the movies they saw, or the songs they sang.\" Hewamanne deftly weaves theories of identity, globalization, and cultural politics throughout her detailed accounts of the workers' efforts to negotiate ever shifting roles and expectations of gender, class, and sexuality. By analyzing how these workers claim political subjectivity, Hewamanne'sStitching Identities in a Free Trade Zonechallenges conventional notions about women at the bottom of the global economy. The book offers a fascinating journey through the vibrant subaltern universe of Sri Lankan female migrant workers, from the FTZ factory shop floor to boarding houses, from urban movie theaters to temples and beaches and back to their native rural villages.Stitching Identities in a Free Trade Zonecaptures the spirit with which women confront power and violence through everyday poetics and politics, exploring how female workers construct themselves as different while investigating this difference as the space where deep anxieties and ambivalences over notions of nation, modernity, and globalization get played out.

This article examines bilateral trade relations between the two important countries of South Asia, India and Sri Lanka, in light of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) and the India–Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (ISFTA). The analysis period spans the years 1995 to 2020. The primary analysis found that bilateral trade has been sluggish and that the SAFTA and ISFTA agreements have had no discernible effect on these two countries’ bilateral trade performance. The causes of lackluster trade performance were investigated using the “revealed comparative advantage” and the “trade complementarity” indices. Clear evidence was found demonstrating that the reason for the bilateral trade’s consistent lackluster performance is due to both countries’ lack of revealed comparative advantage in the majority of product groups, followed by export similarity in the product groups where they do have a comparative advantage. The findings also confirm the suspicion of many observers that they are competitors rather than natural trading partners. Although any substantial future increase in their bilateral trade is improbable and fanciful, the paper reflects on methods of strengthening bilateral trade.

The objective of this article is to evaluate the impact of Pakistan-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on Pakistan's and Sri Lanka's macroeconomic structures. The FTA is operational since June 2005. For this purpose, the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) Model has been used and simulations have been conducted by using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model, which measures the effect of FTA on Pakistan. The GTAP is a General Equilibrium modeling structure of the multiple economies. The finding of this study reflects that Pakistan has positive impact on real GDP, trade and welfare, while Sri Lanka has negative impact on the same factors. Moreover, the results of this study are coherent with the international trade theories. This research assists the trade policy makers to adopt appropriate policies for future FTAs with South Asian economies to obtain more gains for Pakistan.

Labour-intensive workplaces in export processing zones (EPZs) are typically characterized as 'sweatshop-like', devoid of voice mechanisms. Using ethnographic data in a Sri Lankan EPZ apparel factory and focusing on social interaction on the shop floor, the findings demonstrated the way workers exercised formal and informal voice individually and collectively. These findings are understood against a theoretical dialogue between interdisciplinary perspectives of voice across different bodies of literature. Ethnographic insights on the enactment of voice illuminate the importance of worker agency and the social and cultural contextual nature of exercising voice in the workplace.

This article explores how the COVID-19 pandemic and the lock down had increased global assembly line workers' vulnerability to several forms of modern slavery. It focuses on two groups of women workers associated with global production in Sri Lanka. First, the daily-hired workers in the Katunayake and Biyagama Free Trade Zones (FTZ) and second the former global factory workers now settled in villages and operating as home subcontractors.

Government agencies, NGOs and medical personnel profess competing perceptions on Sri Lanka's female Free trade Zone (FTZ) workers' reproductive health needs. Varied statistical sources also present and interpret the overall reproductive health outcomes for FTZ workers in differing ways. In this extraordinarily saturated field of power, where different agents and agencies jostle for legitimacy to speak for female global factory workers, the overarching question is where the women workers themselves stand? How do they perceive and respond to discourses and practices within this field? What are their experiences of reproductive health and knowledge and how have their attitudes changed over time? Based on 15 in-depth interviews with workers and a reproductive health survey of 100 workers, this paper seeks to answer these questions. The analyses are also informed by numerous interviews with NGO staff, government officials, health professionals and educators. \\<{/}{p}{>}

The report starts with an overview and introduces the main findings. It addresses major constraints, instruments, and outcomes important to unleash the potential of infrastructure investments and policy fine-tuning. Chapter one discusses the infrastructure and growth nexus, given the country's macroeconomic scenario. It examines the long-term sustainability, particularly considering the Mahinda Chintana's high infrastructure investment targets, and how the country can achieve its high economic growth targets, given its historical and current investment levels. Chapter two argues that the two principal drivers of sustained high economic growth and productive employment are: (a) international competitiveness that results in export-led growth; and (b) urbanization that facilitates productive economic activity. Chapter three reviews key infrastructure sectors to identify the regulatory issues that need to be addressed and estimate the needed investment. Redressing infrastructure constraints, however, cannot be piecemeal and product specific. Instead, a sector-wide approach is needed. In light of the large investment requirement and high public debt and deficit, chapter four discusses the potential of public-private partnership in infrastructure delivery and supportive regulatory reform. Finally, chapter five concludes the analysis, summarizing major highlights.

Purpose There is a large body of literature on the link between trade liberalisation, growth and poverty. However, less attention has been paid to the relationship between trade and regional disparities. The purpose of this paper is to identify and quantify the regional impacts of trade liberalisation, particularly in the war-affected regions and to understand to what extent trade reforms can contribute to the post-war recovery process and long-term economic and political stability in Sri Lanka. Design/methodology/approach The authors developed a single country multi-regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for the Sri Lankan economy to meet the need for a detailed country study as emphasised in the recent literature. Findings Both short-run and long-run results suggest that all regions including war-affected regions in the country gain from trade liberalisation, although gains are uneven across regions. Furthermore, the results suggest that war-affected regions gain more relative to some other regions in the long run. Originality/value According to the best of the authors’ knowledge within country regional impact of trade liberalisation using a multi-regional CGE model has never been attempted for Sri Lanka. The results of this study, even though based on Sri Lankan data, will be relevant to other developing countries engulfed in internal conflicts with regional economic disparities.

Background Gender norms have been challenged by unmarried rural women’s migration for employment to urban Sri Lankan Free Trade Zones (FTZ). Men are described as looking for sexual experiences among the women workers, who are then accused of engaging in premarital sex, something seen as taboo in this context. Increased sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) risks for women workers are reported. To improve SRHR it is important to understand the existing gender ideals that shape these behaviours. This qualitative study explores men’s perspectives on gender relations in an urban Sri Lankan FTZ, with a focus on heterosexual relationships and premarital sex. Further, possible implications for SRHR of women workers in FTZs are discussed. Methods Eighteen qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted with men living or working in an urban Sri Lankan FTZ and were analysed using thematic analysis. Results Two conflicting constructions of masculinity; the ‘disrespectful womaniser’ and the ‘respectful partner’, were discerned. The ‘disrespectful womaniser’ was perceived to be predominant and was considered immoral while the ‘respectful partner’ was considered to be less prevalent, but was seen as morally upright. The migrant women workers’ moral values upon arrival to the FTZ were perceived to deteriorate with time spent in the FTZ. Heterosexual relationships and premarital sex were seen as common, however, ideals of female respectability and secrecy around premarital sex were perceived to jeopardize contraceptive use and thus counteract SRHR. Conclusion The ‘disrespectful’ masculinity revealed in the FTZ is reflective of the patriarchal Sri Lankan society that enables men’s entitlement and sexual domination over women. Deterioration of men’s economic power and increase of women’s economic and social independence may also be important aspects contributing to men’s antagonistic attitudes towards women. The promotion of negative attitudes towards women is normalized through masculine peer pressure. This and ambivalence towards women’s premarital sex are undermining the SRHR and well-being of women, but also men, in the FTZ. Awareness and counteraction of destructive gender power relations are essential for the improvement of the SRHR of women and men in the FTZ and the surrounding society.

The study deals with trade benefits from the free trade agreement of the SAARC countries. It assesses the trade potential and trade creation with member and non-member countries. The gravity model has been used to measure the bilateral trade flows and to assess the trade effect for member and non-member countries. Two analyses estimate the gravity model. The first analysis is based on cross-sectional data to capture the trade effect individually each year; and the second analysis utilises the pooled data to measure the overall trade effects and trade flows for the period 2003 to 2008. The results from the two approaches show that estimated coefficients are consistent with the model assumptions. Both analyses show that the regional trade agreement of the SAARC countries could divert the trade for member countries as well as for the non-member countries. However, trade volume will increase only if the major partners (Pakistan, India, and Sri Lanka) sign regional trade agreements.