International organisations such as The World Bank argues oil palm brings development by providing numerous jobs for the rural poor, even under the form of large-scale plantations. Jobs are certainly important but as reported in several articles, these jobs are often of poor quality (both in terms of pay and job security). More importantly, and as we found in recent research carried out in Mexico and Guatemala, these jobs reproduce old forms of inequality at the work-place: women work for men, indigenous men work for mestizo men and Guatemalan migrants work for Mexican peasants, but rarely the other way around. This is in line with previous research carried out in Indonesia by, for instance, Tanya Li and Rebecca Elmhirst et al. Can we really say oil palm brings development while social inequalities remain untouched?

Some references:

Article Development without change: Oil palm labour regimes, develop...

Article Gender and generation in engagements with oil palm in East K...

Article Intergenerational displacement in Indonesia’s oil palm plantation zone