The Rise of Violence Against Women in Clothing Factories

Before we find them in shops around the world, clothes and shoes have passed through the hands of many women. Most of them face systematic exploitation and a hostile working environment due to discrimination, disrespect and abuse in garment factories. Fashion brands, with their expensive advertising campaigns, try to convince society that they produce and sell in a "sustainable" way, some even incorporating the word "feminism" as a slogan on their T-shirts. However, the reality of women workers in garment factories around the world does not correspond to this image at all. In 2019, a Bangladeshi court sentenced 16 people to death for burning alive Nusrat Jahan Rafi, a minor who reported sexual harassment by the headmaster of her Islamic school. The vileness of the murder brought thousands to the streets and prompted the country's prime minister to speak out, helping the case to be resolved in a matter of months. This is a record time for the prosecution of such cases in this Asian country, where patriarchal society and orthodox religious tradition silence systematic violence against women. The textile industry, the main export sector with 76% of the country's foreign exchange earnings, is experiencing its own small and slow #MeToo to improve conditions for Bangladeshi women workers. "When factory owners decide they are going to retaliate, they make sure you never work in a garment factory again," Dolly Akhtar, a former worker and survivor of abuse in several garment factories in Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, told The Guardian. A decade after her attempt to denounce male violence in the workshops where she worked, when she was just 16 years old, Akhtar has since 2015 been a champion of the defence of women garment workers through the Sommilito Garments Sramik Federation, one of the largest unions in the overpopulated Asian country. An estimated 2.5 million (80% women) garment workers in Bangladesh support a pillar of the national economy through more than 4,200 garment factories in the country. These are the legal factories, but there are many, many more undeclared workshops in the back streets of the cities' old quarters, as evidenced by the ongoing disasters associated with overcrowding and lack of control that have been recurring since the famous Rana Plaza collapse. Feminism Takes Timid Steps in India India is missing more than 63 million women. In 2013, more than a thousand workers died buried in the wreckage of illegal workshops producing clothes for brands such as El Corte Inglés, Primark and Mango, among the best known. Since then, trade unions have improved safety. But there has been little improvement in the protection of women in a sector in which they are in the majority, but in subordinate positions, which contributes to their vulnerability to different forms of male violence. In 2018, the Me Too movement erupted in India with an avalanche of public accusations and formal complaints by women from the socio-economic elites of the Bollywood media and entertainment industry. However, the middle and lower-middle-class were excluded from the spotlight, as was almost the entirety of Bangladesh, a country without an organised entertainment industry like its neighbour. Keeping Up with Western Consumption Due to the high and constant demand created by the dynamics of consumption in Western countries, garment manufacturers are under pressure to meet high production targets at very low costs. The production cost factor is a determining factor when choosing suppliers. The same report states that "only 2.9-4.2% of the consumer price goes to workers' wages". Fast fashion is constantly seeking to speed up production cycles while shortening delivery times. For Global Labor Justice, these demands lead supervisors and managers of garment factories to engage in psychological and sometimes physical "disciplinary" practices towards workers. Ieva Zilinskaite of Lund University and other academics argue that the system employed by this form of production and (hyper)supply and (hyper)consumption is unsustainable. A woman garment worker can work up to 60 hours a week, overtime is not paid and her salary is not enough to support herself and her family. In contrast, Inditex achieved record revenues in the first quarter of 2018 of $6.6 billion, increasing the personal wealth of owner and chairman Amancio Ortega by $73.9 billion, according to figures presented by Hoda Katebi. In Sri Lanka, young girls are constantly harassed, while adults are humiliated because of their age. "My supervisor came to my workplace at 5:30 pm. He told me to get up from my chair and not to go to work from the next day. 'Go and die at home,' he shouted at me. Another worker joined in and asked, 'Why do you come to work if you are so old? Supervisors, aware of the economic needs of women workers, take advantage by offering benefits such as increased wages, shorter working hours and promotions in exchange for sexual favours. Refusing these offers can lead to serious consequences, as from a position of power the supervisor has the authority to fire them without notice, make it difficult for them to be hired in other factories, increase their garment quotas and working hours. Gender Equality as one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals The UN promotes equality for girls and women and their "access to education, health care, decent work, and representation in political and economic decision-making processes". This is the only way to ensure "sustainable economies" for the benefit of society and humanity. The establishment of "new legal frameworks on women's equality in the workplace and the eradication of harmful practices against women is crucial to end the gender-based discrimination that prevails in many countries around the world".