Campaign #Against violence against textile workers We will clarify the background, consequences and extent of violence against women in the textile sector in India and Bangladesh. With our awareness-raising and campaign work, we put pressure on politicians and companies, raise awareness among consumers, show solidarity with local women and send a signal against violence and exploitation. From October 2018 to March 2021, FEMNET carried out the #Counterviolence against textile workers campaign, whose goal was to make gender-based violence (GBV) in the workplace accessible to a wider public in Germany and on the ground in India and Bangladesh. A study by our partner organisation BCWS and the report ‘Breaking the Silence’ based on it shed light on the oppressive situation of women, also on the basis of real fates. We confront the public, politics and business with these facts. In Germany, we organize lecture tours and information events in which women from the producing countries report on their personal struggle against violence. We are reinforcing these activities through wide-ranging media work to effectively bring the issue to the public. Through advocacy, press and campaign work, we want to exert targeted pressure on business and politics and call on textile companies to eliminate the grievances in the factories of their suppliers and integrate them into the on-site projects of our partners.
© Volker Rekittke, Schwäbisches Tagblatt Speakers Tour on the topic of "Violence against women at work" with Indian activists From November 5-16, 2018, the two Indian speakers Mary Viyakula from the organization SAVE (Social Awareness and Voluntary Education) and Deepika Rao from CIVIDEP travelled on a lecture tour across Germany to report on gender-specific violence at the workplace in the Indian textile industry. They vividly described the vulnerable situation of women and reported about approaches how women workers in the garment industry can defend themselves and how we can support them.
