During my morning drive to the office from my home in Hlaingthaya Township, Yangon I wait at busy intersections as waves and waves of young women cross the main road from the residential (squatter villages) side to the Industrial Zone side. Most of them, wearing matching uniforms, climb into ferry trucks or walk to their factory jobs.
Every Sunday, Opportunities NOW hosts an entrepreneur training in Hlaingthaya for young people who are looking for a way to change their lives. Most of our students are these young women who work in the many factories within the township. Already working 6 twelve-hour days, yet they are willing to spend their one weekly rest day being equipped with the knowledge and support needed to start their own business. During our lively 3-hour classes, their smiles and laughs do not reveal that the other 6 days of the week, these girls live and work in a state of constant stress and fear.
Oxfam has just released this study on income and gender inequality in Asia, called “Underpaid and Undervalued”, which includes a case study highlighting the plight of Myanmar garment factory workers.
The report mournfully states that:
“Asia’s economic success has been paid for by poor women, who work long hours for poverty pay and do the majority of unpaid care work.”
The Myanmar case study provides a glimpse inside the depressing, and off-limits to outsiders, garment factory conditions as well as the challenges that women face to escape them.
“[Interviewees expressed] concern about low wages, long hours and safety issues. Even with overtime, most said they could not afford housing, food and medicine with the income they earned at the factories.”
So why would people choose to remain in this situation?
The answer lies at the complicated intersection of internal migration, labor laws, poor worker’s rights education, and Yangon employment realities. Most of the population growth in sprawling Hlaingthaya township is from migrants from less-developed areas, lured to the industrial zone for its abundant employment opportunities. But once arrived the situation becomes bleak; housing is often a bamboo squatter hut without sanitation or utilities, and their employer is a factory with no shortage of available labor who has been confidently skirting the (inadequate) legal system to exploit workers.
The reality in Yangon is that unemployment is not the biggest threat. But rather under-employment, well characterized by these women who have a full-time job, plus overtime, and yet fail to achieve a living wage.
And the fear… Sick today? If you don’t show up then you are replaced. Want to register a complaint? Who will listen? There are always more workers in the queue. This reinforces the sense that the worker has no voice. Like this woman:
“They think that we are like animals. I know I have no rights to make a complaint, so I have to bear it. I have been working here so many years and we try our best to meet the production targets so that we won’t be told off, but sometimes it [the yelling] is unbearable.”
Actually she does have rights, but she has not been informed of them, nor been provided a grievance reporting system. Even if she knew though, she would be bullied out of taking action. However, projects like SMART Myanmar are trying to help in areas like worker’s rights education.
“With this [overtime hours], and a complex system of bonuses, workers were able to boost their income to an average of $3.70 a day ($98 per month / MMK 122,000).”
The case study does not mention that this $3.70 per day exceeds the recently codified national minimum wage. We already saw that this is not enough to meet the needs of even a small family. And factories have already refused to comply with the minimum wage law in some cases. The supermarket nearest my house, always busy and facing no competition, shuttered its doors out of protest to the new wage turning scores of under-employed into jobless.
“[While overcrowding is an issue and emergency exits blocked] most said they would not know what to do in the event of a fire; 80 percent had never had any fire safety training.”
Shockingly, even with the dehumanizing yelling, the dangerous conditions, and long hours, some don’t envision a future outside of the factory.
“For myself, I am thinking about taking a sewing class, which would take two months. After that, I would like to work in the factory during the day and run my own business providing sewing classes on the weekends.”
She deserves better than that! She deserves to be in an enabling environment that offers more hopeful options than the “factory + x” a.k.a a side-business to compensate for the factory income shortage.
How can we help her imagine and realize a future that doesn’t involve the stress and fear of a life spent in the factory?
Opportunities NOW knows that one solution is to draw out the entrepreneurial spirit in these women and inspire a future where, through a small enterprise, they are in control of their secure financial future. It does not take a large or extremely successful venture to generate profits exceeding what a factory job can provide. But it does take a giant, courageous leap of faith for a young woman to leave the stability of daily employment for the uncertainties of business startup. And while we want for them to be free of factory life it doesn’t necessarily mean leaving the factory immediately. Putting the power in their hands, we are working with students to design viable business plans that allow them to stay in their full-time job for as long as they desire, until they are ready to pursue the growth of their small enterprise. At this point the enterprise becomes a significant contributor to the local economy, creating more jobs, adding value to the community. We are there every step of the way to offer the support, access to finance, and mentoring that small enterprises need to succeed. With newfound confidence and an inspired future, the women never have to look back.
