In Pakistan, cotton is picked by women who witness first-hand the social and environmental challenges of the global textile industry, which the BCI, a multi-stakeholder initiative (MSI), aims to mitigate. Scholars have yet to investigate the ability of MSIs to achieve change as experienced by the cotton-pickers themselves. This article offers an original perspective on how relational agency is exerted between an MSI, implementing partners and cotton-pickers, through the mutually interacting work of creating boundaries around an institutional space. This helps explain how, in an otherwise highly restrictive context, women’s agency is leveraged. Based on 40 qualitative interviews with the BCI cotton-pickers and their implementing partners, the study finds that, through institutional work, cotton-pickers have upgraded their working practices. However, the MSI’s impact depends on its ability to maintain its boundary and corresponding practices. By implication, the women’s poverty continues to be a highly significant limitation on the improvements to their lives.

中文翻译：

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多方利益相关者倡议范围内的机构工作：实践中执行伙伴和女性采棉工的关系机构发生变化

在巴基斯坦，采摘棉花的妇女亲眼目睹了全球纺织业面临的社会和环境挑战，而 BCI 是一项多利益相关者倡议 (MSI)，旨在缓解这些挑战。学者们尚未研究 MSI 实现变革的能力，就像采棉者自己所经历的那样。本文提供了关于如何通过在机构空间周围创建边界的相互作用来发挥 MSI、实施伙伴和棉花采摘者之间的关系代理作用的独到视角。这有助于解释在高度限制性的背景下如何利用妇女的能动性。基于对 BCI 采棉工及其实施伙伴的 40 次定性访谈，该研究发现，通过机构工作，采棉工改善了他们的工作实践。然而，MSI的影响取决于其维持边界的能力和相应的实践。言外之意是，妇女的贫困仍然是她们生活改善的一个非常重要的限制因素。