Ultimate Irony: These Women Make $70 Feminist T-Shirts For Less Than $1 An Hour

[polly7]

NEWS · POVERTY · RIGHTS
November 11, 2015 by Amanda Froelich

“We don't feel like feminists. We don't feel equal. We feel trapped.”

The picture above depicts the opposite of what feminism looks like. Why? Because the women in the photo – some of the thousands that work in a sweatshop in Mauritius – are paid less than an hour per day to produce shirts which are sold for £45 ($70).

According to investigative journalist Ben Ellery, who shared his findings with The Daily Mail, women in the Indian Ocean sweatshop] sleep in dormitories that house 16 women at a time and work long hours away from their family. They’re also paid roughly a dollar an hour to print shirts that read “This is what a feminist looks like.” Ironic, much?

The t-shirts may carry a defiant slogan, but the women who create them feel anything but empowered. One month of this labor earns them only 5,000 rupees – the equivalent of £120 ($182).

“We do not see ourselves as feminists. We see ourselves as trapped,” said one of the thousand machinists. “How can this T-shirt be a symbol of feminism when we do not see ourselves as feminists?”

Perhaps the most painful part? The shirts are sold in conjunction with the charity Fawcett Society (whose slogan is “Working for women’s rights since 1886”).

Said Fayzal Ally Beegun, president of the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers Union:

“It would take a woman working in the factory nearly two weeks just to buy one shirt. What is feminist about that? These women have nothing in this world. They are paid a pittance and any money they do receive they send back home.

They work very long hours and have no lives other than their work. They are on four-year contracts that mean they don’t get to see their families in that time. What kind of existence is it when you are sharing your bedroom with 15 other women?”

Full article: http://www.trueactivist.com/ultimate-irony-these-women-make-70-feminist-t-shirts-for-less-than-1-an-hour/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TrueActivist+%28True+Activist%29

[randys1]

1. Almost inevitable in a capitalistic world. Gotta dump capitalism.

[polly7]

2. No, it's not inevitable.

Companies like this could pay living wages - look at the profit they're making.

Govt's in these countries could try to end this cheap/slave labour, but with all these new trade agreements they can be sued by these big companies and corporations for even 'loss of expected profits'. Do you think the giant companies and corporations will willingly do the humane thing and take care of their own workers? I don't have much hope for that. It's why they've outsourced the manufacturing of these T-shirts in the first place, to take advantage of them.

FAIR TRADE.

[randys1]

3. Capitilism with little to no restraint makes this inevitable. With TPP these practices will move to

USA next.

[TexasBushwhacker]

5. FWIW, none of the shirts at the Fawcett Society website

sell for £45. All are less than £20. I don't like sweatshop labor, but I wonder if the Fawcett Society is being set up.

[polly7]

6. True Activist got this from the Daily Mail article ...... I really have no idea about DM as a source

you could be right.

Here is just something else from theirs:

Outside we spoke to one 30-year-old worker. She told us: ‘I have worked here for four years and I have not been able to see my son or husband in Bangladesh during all that time. We work very hard, sometimes 12 hour days, for not much money. I send all my money home and could not afford to fly back and see my family.

I've not been able to see my son or husband in Bangladesh for four years

‘It is awful but we have no choice. In my country, the rupees I earn here are worth three times as much as they are in Mauritius.
‘How can this T-shirt be a symbol of feminism?

‘These politicians say that they support equality for all, but we are not equal.’

CMT has an annual turnover of £125 million. It produces 40 million T-shirts a year for clients including Topshop, Next and Urban Outfitters.

It employs 13,000 staff at its factories and about 4,500, all foreign, are housed on site. Migrants come from countries including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, India and Vietnam.

There are around 2,800 female machinists. Workers are expected to produce around 50 shirts a day and face discipline if they do not reach their target.

Mr Woo said: ‘The Mauritian government has set out a minimum wage that we must pay and we abide by their rules.

Last night Dr Eva Neitzert, deputy chief executive at the Fawcett Society said: ‘As a charity that campaigns on women’s rights in the labour market, we take ethical standards very seriously. We have been assured by Whistles that the “This is what a feminist T-shirt looks like” range has been produced to ethical standards.’

Dr Neitzert said they had originally been assured the garments would be produced ethically in the UK, and when they received samples in early October they noted they had in fact been made in Mauritius.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2817191/62p-HOUR-s-women-sleeping-16-room-paid-make-Ed-Harriet-s-45-Feminist-Looks-Like-T-shirts.html

It does sound like they are going to investigate it all ..... hopefully things will improve.