Stratification Economics and Grassroots Development: The Case of Low–Income Black Women Workers in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic

Abstract

This article examines the implications of racial, gender, and class stratification on the economic and social opportunities of low-income women, predominantly of African descent, working in the export processing zones and as domestic workers in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Using the foundational precepts of stratification economics, this article provides qualitative empirical data from participant-observation which exemplifies the systematic processes of stratification that women workers experienced and the implications of stratification for social and economic opportunities. I find that intersectional race, class, and gender hierarchy persistent in the midst of a neoliberal market economy. In this case study, intersectional hierarchy serves to devalue the women worker's contributions to the market and suppresses their wages to the benefit of employers but to the detriment of women workers.