However I have found a challenge for my feminist values, when it comes to purchasing my work gear. Turn over the collar of any given synthetic, wicking fabriced, stretchy, built in bra shelf, workout top, and you'll find three familiar words, "Made In China".
As global corporatisation increases, manufacturing of clothing and other items is increasingly moved away from rich countries, such as my home Australia, but also America, the UK and the richer parts of Europe. Where does this manufacturing go? Factories find themselves in Thailand, Turkey, Vietnam, Korea, and of course that manufacturing monolith, China.
So why is this a problem? And why does it pose a problem for me as a feminist? Well, lets face it, it isn't like global megacompanies like Nike and Addidas move there factories into South East Asia because they prefer the weather. They move their manufacturing to places like China and other parts of Asia and Europe because of the cheap labour, employer friendly industrial relation laws, and lack of restriction is regards to occupational health and safety, minimum wages, and in some cases child labour.
In my former life I was a trade union official. I understand first hand how important strong industrial relations laws can be for the protection of working people, and how easily employers (even nice ones) can slip into ill treatment of their workers, where profits could be maximised.
It isn't just an issue of paying people small wages in places that, as many travellers know, dinner is cheap. Its also about safety, dignity, a living wage, access to family and other support networks, employee empowerment, and other human rights.
It is well documented that conditions in some overseas factories can include the use of children as labour, very long hours of work, working in cramped, hot and unsanitary conditions, women being dissallowed to go the toilet when they need to, very low wages, and appalling safety procedures.
APHEDA, a charity in Australia which works on development and industrial issues overseas, tells horrendous stories of the terrible circumstances many such garment workers find themselves in. One such real life story was that of a fire in a garment factory. Workers from the factory tell how they struggled o get to the insufficient number of doors, only to find them locked, by an employer who feared they would steal his sewing machines. One staff member goes on to tell how she went to the second story window with others, and jumped out in order to save her life. She was spared because her fall was broken by the bodies of her workmates, many of whom died.
Clearly this is one extreme example, however generally poor and unsafe conditions, lack of industrial rights, and poor wages are all too common.
As a feminist I can't wear the fact that my choices could mean that another woman on the other side of world has to work 18 hours for little pay, to support the children she rarely sees, and faces the daily possibility of injury for which she will never be compensated. I simply can't let my working gear be subsidised with another woman's life.
Most compainies will tell you that they have moved their product manufacturing to China (or wherever else) because it is either too expensive to make cloths near where you live, or because there isn't the infrastructure (read, its too expensive to make them here). They claim they need to utilise cheap labour in order to offer you, the consumer, a cheaper product.
Now I don't know about you, but I struggle to afford the prices of many clothing companies, and certainly don't think that a 'cheap' product is worth the social price.
So that's all well and good, but what do we do? And here is where my former life comes in handy.... every union activist has a list of "What can we do?"!
- Educate yourself - check out an of the links at the end of this post for more information about what's going on in manufacturing around the world.
- Ask manufacturer's about their workers' conditions. I have also done this and will post some replies... feel free to post any replies you get in the comments section, or send them to me, and I will post them on your behalf. Most brands have a customer service phone number or email address, found either on the product, in store, or online.
- Buy second hand - its cheaper anyway
- Buy fair wear clothing - clothing that is accredited fairwear, nosweat, or union made
- Join, donate too, or volunteer with an organisation involved in trying to fix this problem. APHEDA is a good choice in Australia, and there are many others around the world.
- Talk to your friends about the issues
http://www.apheda.org.au/
http://www.laborstart.org/
http://www.itglwf.org/
http://www.itglwf.org/Focuspage.aspx?issue=4&langue=2
http://www.nosweatstuff.com.au/
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