Fashion is a sector dominated by women, who represent 87% of the industry’s workforce. Despite this female predominance, this environment is still marked by various forms of disrespect. This manifests itself through harassment, precarious employment and degrading working conditions.
The sector is marked by indicators such as the strong presence of informality, low presence of women in leadership positions (less than 25%), and, in the case of Brazil, the resumption of already extinct practices, such as the sharing of a plate of food between mother and child in sewing workshops.
Second lifting carried out by the Instituto Patrícia Galvão e Locomotiva, more than 76% of women have already suffered harassment or prejudice at work, and 36% say they have already suffered prejudice or abuse because they are women. According to CUTbullying “presents itself as a cruel form of exploitation of power, based, in particular, on social, economic and gender issues”.
A fashion industry follows this trend. In the Federal District, in 2022, a Labor Court recognized the right to indirect termination of a seamstress victim of moral harassment. She alleges that the owner called her names such as “capybara” and “cow” in front of her colleagues.
In 2023, the Guararapes factory, in Natal, was reported for sexual harassment and limiting access to the bathroom. This was not the first time that the company was indicted by the Public Ministry of Labor of Rio Grande do Norte (MPT/RN). In 2017, more than 50 small outsourced sewing factories under the Pró-Sertão Program, of which it is part. The decision, however, was reversed in 2019.
Also in 2023, this time in the capital of São Paulo, a delegation from the National Human Rights Council (CNDH) identified slave labor in 150 workshops. The key point to understand why these cases happen year after year, in all regions of the country, is: precariousness.
Sewing is historically marked by home work, carried out by women. And, even today, the sector remains largely fragmented. “In this organization of production in the sector, major brands and retailers concentrate the core activities of product conception, design and advertising, while the merchandise production process itself occurs in a dispersed manner among a wide network of subcontracted companies” , highlights the article “Sewing gender: work process in the Brazilian clothing industry”.
Patrícia Lemos, one of the authors of the study and researcher at REMIR – Network for Studies and Monitoring of Labor Reform, points out that Brazil copies the dynamics of fast fashionin which price and sales control is carried out by large retailers. “Several collections every two weeks, a very large volume of products and very low prices”, he explains, “it is a mode of production that is associated with a way of life of consumption and exploration”.
The social worker at the Migrant Support and Pastoral Center (CAMI), Carla Aguiar, details a little more about exploitation: “post-pandemic, labor exploitation became stronger. When it comes to women, we receive a lot of violence, from psychological violence to sexual violence.” There are also cases of recruitment of minors and the return of a worrying indicator: that of mothers who need to share a plate of food with their children, as they do not work (so they do not receive food, in the logic of the workshops).
Most of the migrant seamstresses in São Paulo are Bolivian and mothers. “At least 85% have children and this is an aggravating factor, because they end up accepting a lot more things because they have children to raise and are afraid that they might suffer, for example, going out on the streets, not having a place to sleep”, says Carla.
Working in exhausting conditions, with long hours, which continue at home, where the seamstress becomes a cook for the family and a teacher for the children, brings physical and emotional damage. Patrícia points out that the sewing machine causes many accidents, due to repetitive actions and sitting in the same position for hours on end. “There are respiratory problems due to the chemicals eliminated in the process of handling synthetic fabrics, there are problems with urinary infections, due to holding urine”, he reports.
Laura Marquina, psychologist and coordinator of CAMI’s conversation circles, highlights sadness and depression in the seamstresses’ reports. “They say ‘people admire the clothes in the window, I was the one who sewed this clothes, but why can’t I wear them? When will I be able to wear it?’”, he recalls. In addition to the high workload, the machismo it also puts control of the savings, the freedom to leave these women and even the CNPJ under which they will work in the hands of the husband, “head of the family”.
Where are the brands?
According to the Brazilian Fashion Transparency Index 2023 (ITMB23), only 3% of the 60 brands analyzed reveal that they consult women, women’s organizations, female human rights defenders and gender experts at all stages of the due diligence process. This process helps companies identify, prevent, mitigate and account for the way they deal with real and potential adverse brand impacts.
In CAMI’s experience, Carla states that there are few times that companies in the fashion industry have contacted the organization to carry out lasting projects, or to hire migrant labor. “Large companies come to us for specific projects or because they have undergone TAC (Term of Adjustment of Conduct)”, he reports, “some companies offer courses for CAMI seamstresses, but they are not in the fashion industry”.
In research carried out with unions in different regions of the country, Patrícia noticed a trend that caught her attention. “Even when migrant women want to look for better alternatives, job offers for them are limited to sewing. Even though they are documented and have a good command of Portuguese, they suffer prejudice and have no negotiating power, no structure that guarantees better working conditions”, he highlights.
This year, the CAMI conversation circles for seamstresses celebrate their 10th anniversary. It is an initiative carried out at the request of the women assisted and is one of the ways found by the organization to help train and empower them, so that they know their rights and can have decent work.
The Pixel Project lists 16 actions what the fashion industry can do to end gender-based violence. These include: making harassment prevention training mandatory, educating workers about their rights, creating a safe complaints mechanism, prioritizing the environmental safety of workers in the textile sector and including responsible termination policies in contracts.
There is no reason not to improve gender and racial equality rates. There is no room for excuses, lives are at stake. “These beautiful clothes that men and women wear are made by these workers who hardly sleep, who hardly care for their children, it is these fighting hands that are making fashion grow”, points out Laura.
In an interview with ITMB23, Dilma Chilaca, leader of the Center for Immigrant and Refugee Women (CEMIR), was asked “what advice would you give to fashion brands that want to improve inclusion, gender equity and working conditions for immigrant women? and refugees in their supply chains?”, in which she responded “to be more transparent, to monitor and listen to the voices of everyone who is part of it”.
