Under the prevailing global capitalist model, increased access to the formal economy for women is touted as a panacea to women´s empowerment and gender equality. Despite an unprecedented increase in women's participation in the global workforce and international labor standards, women are often assigned to precarious and exploitative low-wage work with little opportunity for social mobility. This thesis examines the effects of U.S.-Colombia Free Agreement and Labor Action Plan on women workers in Colombia's cut flower export-oriented industry. The impacts of free trade on women are contradictory, and despite hopes for the Labor Action Plan, women in the cut flower industry have seen little improvement in the working conditions and gender inequality. I explore the ways in which women actively resist exploitation and argue that women face powerful structural barriers to collective action under the imperialist and racist order of the capitalist patriarchy enshrined in Free Trade Agreements.

The thesis is an investigation of global exploitation of nature, use of productive landscapes and itsremaining structures as the cultural historical environment. The further aim has been to seek analternative approach against a large-scale utilization of the environment through an elaborativeprocess of an architectural intervention, combining public space and local production. The thesisbackground is exploring the human activities and outcomes in exploited landscapes and is departingfrom the issue of an anthropocentric approach toward the environment. Further on, it analyzesdifferent mindset on natural resources in relation to the building of civilization and society, the ruralcontra the urban. Against the background of a linear withdrawal of resources and in the long-termlandscape productive decline, the aim is to prototype a productive infrastructure that works in acyclical manner, re-using energy and being less dependent on resources at a large-scale. Departingfrom the regional environment in Umeå and its traditional agricultural and former industrial use ofthe landscape, the intervention is tested by considering the principles of sustained life by theimmediate landscape. The aim has been to analyze and translate principles at the scale of landscape,farm and unit into a reproducible, productive infrastructure that harvest energy from recreation,cultivation, production and the condition of the topography.

Thesis advisor: Lisa Dodson / In the United States, the majority of youth who become victims of sex trafficking are U.S. citizens. Most "at-risk" are those involved in the foster care system, the sexually abused and/or those surviving without stable housing- otherwise known as the homeless. Through in depth interviews with homeless teenage mothers, this study analyzed the connection between housing vulnerability and sex trafficking. The major finding of this study suggests that young girls are pushed into homelessness and sexually exploitative situations when they experience a loss of familial support. Without familial support, young, homeless girls are forced into a patriarchal street economy that limits their options for economic opportunity: men sell drugs, women sell their body. Participants also discussed the perceived effectiveness of structural interventions, including welfare, housing shelters and educational programs. By exploring the intersection of homeless teenage mothers and domestic sex trafficking, this study adds to a stronger dialogue between the homeless and human trafficking fields. Additionally, this study brings attention to the fact that young, American girls are just as vulnerable to sex trafficking as the international victims highlighted in most of the popular media and literary scholarship. Lastly, several interventions are proposed for working at the intersection of homeless youth and sex trafficking. / Thesis (MA) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Sociology.

Thesis advisor: S Anukriti / Thesis advisor: Robert Murphy / It is widely believed that natural disasters increase human trafficking from the affected region or country; however, credible analyses of the causal relationship are lacking. This paper estimates the causal effect of natural disaster occurrence on economic factors and the probability of human trafficking. I find that there is a significant, positive effect of disasters—as measured by an indicator for occurrence as well as disaster intensity—on human trafficking. Moreover, disasters negatively impact economic outcomes, suggesting a potential mechanism through which disasters indirectly affect trafficking. These findings are policy-relevant for anti-human trafficking and disaster relief organizations as they provide empirical evidence for a previously hypothesized relationship and may help prioritize the underemphasized rise in trafficking during times of inevitable chaos. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2016. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Arts and Sciences Honors Program. / Discipline: Economics.

The research conducted for this thesis is an exploratory study of migrant workers' experiences in UK food supply chains. This thesis provides an original contribution to criminology by discussing how some food supply chain dynamics result in various exploitative and harmful labour practices against migrant workers. Data consisted of semi-structured interviews conducted with migrant workers in the UK, as well as individual and group interviews with food supply chain stakeholders, including representatives from industry, regulation, and labour movements. This research conceptualises labour exploitation as a continuum, with severe practices including modern slavery on one extreme and 'decent work' on the other. There are a range of practices in-between these two extremes that risk being overlooked, whereby 'routine', banal exploitation is embedded and normalised within legitimate supply chain processes. The argument developed in this thesis is that a stronger emphasis is needed on the harmful consequences of routine, mundane, everyday labour exploitation in order to understand how they can result from legitimate supply chain dynamics. The key contributions of this thesis can be summarised under four themes: developing a more rigorous analysis of 'routine' labour exploitation and harm against migrant workers; understanding how legitimate food supply chain dynamics can facilitate exploitation and harm; explaining how the regulatory framework may unwittingly result in further exploitation and harm to migrant workers; and recognising the complexity of the relationship between migration and labour exploitation. The thesis findings contribute to predominant discussions of labour exploitation that typically focus on severe exploitation such as modern slavery and emphasise rogue individuals or criminal networks as the main perpetrators. The research findings demonstrate that a significant amount of routine labour exploitation and harm remains 'under the radar' in the context of legitimate supply chain practices. Police action and supply chain regulation typically focuses on the most severe labour exploitation, which results in routine exploitation being largely unaddressed. Therefore, labour exploitation has implications for the nature, organisation, and control of harms facilitated by businesses and supply chains. It is important for criminology and society to not disregard routine labour exploitation, as these practices can result in numerous harmful consequences for workers. Since the public profile of labour exploitation continues to grow, a stronger focus is needed on the routine and banal aspects, not just the most severe practices.

This thesis shows that exploitation can arise from a just background, via just steps, when we exercise our moral rights. The theory rests on the idea that exploitation can arise via a special category of luck, which I call socially constructed luck. By taking into account what John Rawls calls background justice and what G.A. Cohen refers to as an accumulation problem, I argue that socially constructed luck is brought about through a cumulative process of people freely exercising their moral rights in the pursuit of their own conception of the good life. Unless the negative effects of this type of luck are offset, exploitative interactions can arise where people have no reasonable alternative but to enter a particular transaction. Socially constructed luck can play a direct role in privileging some individuals at the expense of others and allows for the extraction of surplus benefits. Importantly, by showing that luck egalitarianism should be understood within a conception of exploitation, the thesis not only provides a deeper understanding of how the luck egalitarian and relational egalitarian views align, but also justifies the introduction of a basic right to a reasonable alternative.

abstract: This study examines the representation of Asian online brides by studying the images and profiles that are advertised on Asianonlinebrides.com. To do so, I combined the history and growth of the Human Trafficking industry, the idea of the Asian “exotic OTHER,” the power and structured/constrained agency, and social construction of gender theories. In particular, I utilized a mixed methods approach for data collection. The content and visual analysis in this study provided the two sides of the analytic coin: the written and the visual. I am particularly interested in the narrative comments offered by the prospective brides, e.g., what they state to be their preferences in their dream man/husband, and the personality traits, and characteristics that they write about themselves. The following were examined: the gender displays, picture frames, feminine touch, and the ritualization of subordination. For example, body language, clothing, skin, hair color, and texture, bone structure, posture, etc. I argue that this data alerts us to the whole host of ideas, assumptions, social, cultural, and gender constructions. The power relations that exceeds the text and inform us of these online brides. The findings have indicated that these women are vulnerable and caught within oppressive social structures. They have nevertheless utilized those structures to their advantage. By doing so, the brides have acted as assertive agents in that they have looked out for the interests of both themselves and their families. Moreover, a significant body of data was provided first hand through the written and visual narratives of the online brides. These brides have offered valuable insight into the field of Asian online brides. Their stories have presented a unique perspective to the online brides’ process that can only be captured through the narratives provided in this research. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Justice Studies 2019

Long dismissed as a third world issue, the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) has been a significant problem across the United States over the past two decades, causing major concerns for child welfare stakeholders. The literature has shown a broad range of adverse consequences associated with CSEC. These include—but are not limited to—malnutrition, severe trauma, physical and sexual assault, sexually transmitted diseases, unwanted pregnancy, and medical neglect. The purpose of the study is to assess the readiness level of a large county in Southern California with regards to the well-being of children with a past or current record of victimization from commercial sexual exploitation. Embracing the Community Readiness Model, this case study aimed to evaluate (a) the county’s level of knowledge about programs and services to address CSEC, (b) the county leadership’s attitude toward addressing CSEC, (c) the county’s attitude toward addressing CSEC, (d) the county’s knowledge about CSEC, and (e) explore the county’s range of resources available to address CSEC. Results indicated that the county’s overall readiness score was 4.1 out of a possible 9. That is, the county had a low readiness level with respect to addressing the challenges associated with CSEC within its boundaries. Implications of the findings for theory, research, policy, and macro social work practice were discussed. Keywords: commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), community readiness model

Organisational ambidexterity is considered a key to company survival and performance. Despite this, organisational ambidexterity is still a poorly understood phenomenon, especially in an SME context. The purpose of this study was therefore to investigate how the compliance with ambidextrous elements is perceived at different levels in manufacturing SMEs, to increase the understanding of organisational ambidexterity in this context. The empirical data was collected through a combination of questionnaire and interview. The case companies in this report perceive that they comply stronger with contextual elements than with structural elements. The strong compliance with contextual elements is motivated by the lack of hierarchies, flexibility in the company, different management structure and low number of employees. This allows employees to perform the contextual elements such as initiative-taking, cooperating, brokering and multitasking. The structural elements including e.g. vision, values, strategies, senior team responsibility and alignment are perceived differently at different  hierarchal levels, indicating that there are subcultures within the hierarchal levels within a company. The biggest difference can be found between the middle managers and the top managers,. Workers perceive that they are not included in explorationb within the company, and that the exploration occur more sporadically than those for exploitation. The definitions of exploration and exploitation vary between the companies which results in a lack of consensus. This makes it difficult for the companies to perform the changes necessary in order to develop and achieve long-term sustainable growth i.e. economical sustainability. The managerial implication of this report concerns four actions: (1) create a common definition for exploration, (2) develop goals for exploration, (3) communicate for buy-in and (4) involve all employees.

As a result of the development and recognition of human rights and of the principle of normalisation, in recent decades sweeping changes have occurred in the living conditions of many people with intellectual disability. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Mentally Retarded Persons (1971)contains statements to the effect that, as far as possible, the lives of disabled persons should resemble those of their non-disabled peers, and this presumably extends to sexual expression. However, the words “as far as possible” imply that in some circumstances, limitations on a right may be justifiable. One such circumstance is where a competing right exists, for example, the right to sexual expression has to be balanced against a right to protection. Under some conditions, the provision of protective measures may fall to the criminal justice system, which may be used to afford protection to persons with intellectual disability. Australian jurisdictions have used three different approaches in current legislation: to set a minimum standard of sexual knowledge that must be present before the person is deemed capable of consent to sexual activities; to prohibit sexual relations with persons holding power or authority over the person; and to proscribe all sexual exploitation. This thesis contains proposals for reforms to each category of legislative provisions. First, it is suggested that the standard of knowledge required to support consent should more closely resemble the knowledge required for informed consent to medical procedures. Second, restrictions on sexual activity with persons with intellectual disability based on employment status should be relaxed where the role of the staff member does not confer power to coerce people with intellectual disability. Third, with regard to the prosecution of offences against incapable persons with mental impairment, it is proposed that the charge should be sex without consent. On the other hand, it is argued that prosecution under criminal law is inappropriate where a vulnerable but capable person is deemed to have been exploited. The thesis contains a number of further recommendations for the reform of anomalies which exist between the general law of sexual offences and those committed specifically against persons with mental impairment. It is suggested that marriage be abolished as a defence to sexual acts with an incapable person and that offences against persons with mental impairment carry equivalent penalties to general sexual offences. On the basis of literature reviewed in this thesis, two additional proposals have been made. First, that education in the sexual rights of persons with intellectual impairment should be given to carers so that they do not unduly inhibit the development of sexual relationships by that person. The second proposal is that reform should be accompanied by the provision of repeated, appropriate, detailed and specific sex education of all persons with intellectual impairment and that this education should be based on needs identified in the aforementioned research. The tentative outcome of proposals contained in this thesis is that persons capable of consent would enjoy enhanced freedom to exercise their right to sexual expression, and those incapable of consent would be afforded more certain protection.