News - The Partnership for Sustainable Textiles (Textiles Partnership) 09 January 2019 Review of the Speakers Tour on ‘Violence against women in the workplace’ with Indian activists Mary Viyakula (left) and Deepika Rao (right) after the lecture at Reutlingen University of Applied Sciences. Photo: © Volker Rekittke, Swabian dailyFrom 5-16 November 2018, the two Indian speakers travelled as part of a Lecture tour Mary Viyakula of the organization SAVE (Social Awareness and Voluntary Education) and Deepika Rao Cividep India across Germany to report on gender-based violence at work in the Indian textile industry. They vividly described the precarious situation of women and reported on approaches to how women workers in the clothing industry defend themselves and how we can support them from Germany. The tour was made by the Civil society organisations in the Textile Alliance 450 people were reached at stations in Halle (Saale), Leipzig, Reutlingen, Augsburg, Munich, Hamburg and Bremen. The speakers Mary Viyakula is Managing Director of SAVE, a non-governmental organisation based in Tamil Nadu, India. The NGO's office is located in Tiruppur, known as the City of T-Shirts. As Programme Director, she leads the Labour Resource Centre (LRC), a SAVE training programme that educates workers about their rights and includes training for trade unions. For more than 15 years, she has been campaigning for the rights of workers in the textile industry in Tiruppur. As a success, she notes that Tiruppur is now free of child labour, also thanks to her work. She has also conducted numerous surveys on the working conditions of women in spinning mills and factories. SAVE also coordinates the training activities of the Alliance Initiative on Forced Labour in South Indian Spinning Mills, which was introduced into the Textile Alliance by FEMNET. Deepika Rao has been working for three years Cividep India. The NGO in Bangalore, Karnataka investigates the working and living conditions of workers in global supply chains. Cividep uses the results of this research to advocate for better wages, safer jobs and against discrimination in factories that produce for global brand companies. Most recently, Deepika interviewed many migrant workers in Bangalore's textile industry. Before joining Cividep, Deepika worked as an engineer on cargo ships for several years. Gender-based violence in the textile industry: The sad normal state According to a study by the International Labour Organization (ILO), 30% of women worldwide are affected by gender-based violence. The Fair Wear Foundation has Study found75% of Bangladesh's garment workers have already been harassed at work. Gender-based violence is therefore a normal daily condition for women in the clothing industry. Therefore, a convention on the prevention and remedying of gender-based violence in the workplace is currently being discussed within the ILO. This would be an important step. In her lecture, Mary Viyakula first showed the different forms of how gender-based violence can be expressed. This is not just about physical violence and sexual harassment - gender-based violence starts earlier and often has a less visible effect. Young women are deliberately hired in clothing factories, as they often know little about their rights, complain less and organise less in trade unions. They usually earn less than their male counterparts. If you become pregnant, you will often be quitting your job. If they continue to work, the working conditions do not provide reasonable circumstances for pregnant women. Necessary breaks are not allowed and there is no maternity leave and no childcare facilities. A study by Sisters for Change, which surveyed women workers in garment factories in Bangalore, found that 62% of those surveyed had been threatened or intimidated by violence. 5.4% were forced into sexual intercourse. In Tiruppur, SAVE investigated exactly who is using this violence against women and identified the direct superiors and managers in the textile factories as perpetrators. Source: Eliminating Violence against Women at Work – research by Sisters for Change, UK and Munnade, Bangalore, 2016 It became very emotional when she reported on some examples from her work: - For example, a young woman was detained and raped for months in a factory. Finally, she turned to a factory food supplier who reported the situation to a tea vendor outside the factory grounds. This in turn informed SAVE. Mary Viyakula pretended to be the worker's sister and thus got access to the factory. In this way, SAVE collected the necessary information to report the case to the competent authorities. The young woman was then taken out of the factory. She is now studying chemistry at a local university and continues to be supported by SAVE. Due to the complex situation, it is not possible to identify a single cause of gender-based violence. Traditional patriarchal social norms for centuries play an essential role. However, this also becomes clear: The socially favored oppression of women is useful to textile factories, as they are less resistant to violence because of their vulnerable social position. Solutions: Internal Complaints Committees and Training Since 2013, there has been a law in India against sexual harassment of women in the workplace (original title: Sexual harassment of women at workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013). According to this law, every organization from a certain number of workers must have an Internal Complaints Committee, which handles complaints of sexual harassment. SAVE and Cividep support the establishment of these committees in textile factories. As a core of the Alliance Initiative against Forced Labour in South Indian Spinning Mills, SAVE trains workers in 300 spinning mills to establish such a committee, conduct independent elections for occupation and ensure operability. These are important steps against gender-based violence. The special situation of migrant workers In her presentation, Deepika Rao focused primarily on the problems of migrant workers. In India, many workers migrate from the poorer regions in the north and north-east of the country to Tiruppur and Bangalore to work in the textile factories. Most of these workers are recruited by recruiting companies in rural structures, often making false promises to them. Arriving in the factories, they usually live in factory-owned accommodation, so-called hostels, which they rarely leave. Deepika Rao describes that she was often only able to use a few hours on Sunday to interview these workers, when the workers were not in the hostels or in the factory. Due to cultural and linguistic differences, these workers often live in isolation. Here, too, the factories take advantage of the low social position of these workers. A survey of migrant workers in Tiruppur showed that only 3% of them received the prescribed minimum wage. In addition, many workers return to their home region after a year of hard work, which makes it very difficult to organise in trade unions. . Also within Tamil-Nadus there are many workers who come from rural areas to work in the textile factories. During the lectures, the audience often wondered whether it would not make more sense to inform the young women about their rights and the situation in the spinning mills before their arrival in the spinning mills. Mary explained that SAVE does this too. However, this is a Sisyphos task, as the workers are recruited from many areas and increasingly from ever further away. Mary said: It feels like you're running around the bush. A schematic depiction of the situation of migrant workers Deepika Rao used to illustrate her explanations. Source (and more info) The burning question: What can we do? At each presentation, the first question asked to the two speakers was what, from their point of view, the people in Germany could do to improve the situation in the production plants. Both emphasized that it makes sense to buy clothing with credible sustainability labels. However, this is only a beginning, which above all signals that the topic is important to you. More is needed for systemic change in production plants. Mary Viyakula said that the brand companies should be asked directly how the clothing is produced. For example, by contacting the sales staff directly. Those who want to do more should support the work of NGOs in the producing countries. Text: Tim Zahn, coordinator of the civil society organisations in the Textile Alliance, FEMNET e.V.
