Women’s Studies International Forum, Vol. 24, No. 3/4, pp. 469–478, 2001 Copyright © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in the USA. All rights reserved 0277-5395/01/$–see front matter PII S0277-5395(01)00166-2 469 Pergamon PATERNALISM AND GENDER IN SOUTH AFRICAN FRUIT EMPLOYMENT: CHANGE AND CONTINUITY Liz Orton, Stephanie Barrientos, and Sharon Mcclenaghan VSO, 317, Putney Bridge Road, London SE1 7RL, UK Synopsis — This article examines the changing nature of gendered paternalist employment relations on South African fruit farms. We suggest that in the past family employment—in which women were de- pendent on a male partner for employment and housing—helped institutionalise an unequal gender di- vision of labour that was integral to paternalist production. Women constituted a cheap and flexible source of labour. Since the early 1980s, however, traditional paternalist production systems have been disrupted by intensified competition pressure and political reform, including the granting of new labour rights to workers. Many farmers have responded by modifying their production and management re- gimes. The key question this article examines is the extent to which these new practices are disrupting historically embedded paternalist relations from a gender perspective. We argue that new employment strategies are producing contradictory outcomes for women, opening up new opportunities, but also re- producing traditional forms of gender inequality in employment. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. INTRODUCTION Paternalist employment relations have a long tradition in South African deciduous fruit pro- duction, defining women’s subordinate posi- tion to men within employment on the pater- nalist “family farm.” South African fruit has been produced since the mid-17th century, and exported for the past 100 years. Gender ine- quality in employment was integral to pater- nalist patterns of production—women consti- tuted a cheap, flexible, and stable source of labour, dependent on their husbands for job and tenure security. 1 Since the 1980s, competi- tive and political pressures have led to a shift towards new employment strategies and man- agement practices on fruit farms. In this in- creasingly commercial environment, paternal- ist power relations are being rewritten in diverse and complex ways. The key question this article examines is the extent to which these new commercial practices are disrupting historically embedded paternalist relations from a gender perspective. We argue that new employment strategies are producing contra- dictory outcomes for women, opening up new opportunities, but also reproducing traditional forms of gender inequality in employment. The article is divided into three main sec- tions. First, we analyse the historical origins and evolution of paternalism as a gendered construct. Central to this is a focus on the fam- ily, both as a real unit of labour and as a meta- phor for the complexities of power relations on farms. We argue that family employment— in which women’s employment and housing was tied to that of her husband or partner— helped institutionalise a gender division of la- bour that was integral to paternalist produc- tion. Within this division of labour women constituted a cheap source of seasonal labour for the paternalist farm. Secondly, we outline the ways in which commercial pressures and new production strategies are disrupting tradi- tional forms of paternalism. We argue that new labour relations are neo-paternalistic in that new rights for farm workers, both in em- ployment and housing, undermine racialised power relations but do not totally displace them. Thirdly, we investigate the impact of new employment strategies on gendered ine- qualities in employment. We find a contradic- tory picture. New management techniques are providing new opportunities and skills for women on the on hand, but, on the other, are reproducing women’s dependency on their