Once assembled there, the items are exported to high-end markets. The firms belong in the formal sector, not the workers. In Tunisia, during the country's fastest growth period, over 54 per cent of the labour force consisted of informal workers who were subcontracted by large export-oriented formal enterprises.9 Amongst these informal workers, females are predominant, being preferred over males for a number of reasons: willingness to work for lower wages, lower propensity to organize compared with male workers, and higher degrees of pliancy.