Speaking For Other Women (or Is There A Feminist Side To Sweatshops?)

Fashion Is Freedom
Aug 31, 2018 · 3 min read

While doing some research for an article, I came across this opinion piece published on The Hill.

I must confess, the title left me sceptical of the content to follow and I struggled to reconcile what I considered to be two diametrically oppposed concepts — a feminist side to sweatshops? Not possible, I stubbornly decided.

In her article, Chelsea Follett talks about the economic opportunites that factories provide for rural women.

In developing countries, sweatshops can and do offer an escape — or at least, the beginnings of an escape — from poverty. Rural women have so chosen to exercise their fundemental right to work by migrating to cities and seeking employment where it is available.

Speaking For Other Women?

  • So I wondered, are we misguided in our attempts to want reform in the garment industry?
  • In fighting for labour rights, am I speaking for other women without their consent?
  • Am I deciding — from my position of comfort and privilege — that they need rescuing?
  • Where is the line? Where is the line between necessity and choice?

Let’s take Bangladesh for example. A female-led workforce in the garment industry has bolstered the status of women in a country where traditional gender roles still hold some sway. Still, rural women have become active agents and ‘visible earners’, continuing to advance their own rights and the rights of their mothers, daughters, sisters, friends, workmates and peers.

  • However, to what extent (if at all) is this freedom of choice forcibly negated by the abhorrent working conditions, the pittance they earn and the abuse to which they are subjected?
  • Does the beacon of feminism shine bright when women enrich the workforce with their presence, and is this light snuffed out at the doorway of each sweatshop, deprived of progress by greedy corporations and predatory supply chains?
  • Do Bangladeshi garment workers even frame their employability as a feminist triumph? Despite the country’s impressive economic growth, 73 million people still live in poverty.
  • So where does feminism stack up against the bitter struggle of the everyday, of windowless buildings and endless hours? Of impossible workloads and tyrannical supervisors?

Is There A Feminist Side To Sweatshops?

I don’t know that sweatshops have a feminist side. I’m inclined to say no. But I also understand that in speaking out against sweatshops, I am — in some small way — speaking for others and it’s a significant responsibility. These are women I don’t know, women who don’t know me. Women for whom a job in a sweatshop is the singular means of survival, of putting food on the table, keeping their children clothed and ensuring they have access to education.

They are making intimate decisions from which I am so far removed, sometimes cornered in desperate situations which I can barely even fathom.

But it doesn’t mean that the glaring injustices of the world don’t touch us deeply.

The Reality & The Middle Ground

There is no shortage of proof that labour rights are systematically violated in many sweatshops around the world. Labour investigations, documentaries and deep-dive commentary have all corroborated the despicable treatment of garment workers and their squalid working conditions. These are often accompanied by first-hand accounts from garment workers themselves, especially women who are physically and morally abused.

Demanding reform and responsibility in the garment industry is not about dismissing the independance of these women. It’s about acknowledging continued bad practices, and standing up to unceasing human rights violations.

If we want better, they deserve better.

While I still worry about taking away someone else’s agency by speaking on their behalf, I am assured enough in my convictions that modern day slavery — all for the sake of being stylish — is simply unacceptable; assured enough to speak for my beliefs and in doing so, maybe speaking for someone else.

Fashion Is Freedom

Written by

Founder of Fashion Is Freedom. Women’s Empowerment. Labour rights. Responsible Consumerism. #JustOneDress www.freedomfif.com

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