A Glimpse Into the Garment Industry: Exploitation of Vietnamese Women
- Girl Up Edmonton
- Nov 1, 2023
- 2 min read
Written by Tila Tran
Vietnam’s garment industry has emerged as the fifth-largest garment supplier in the world in the past few decades. At this time, Vietnam's economic integration and trade liberation have created several opportunities for the garment industry, however, it has also placed new expectations on business. Underneath its global success, Vietnamese women are exploited.
A study conducted by Fair Wear Foundation, Care International, and led by global gender-based violence research Dr. Jane Pillinger in The Guardian interviewed 736 female Vietnamese garment workers in hopes of gaining insight into the extent of abuse Vietnamese women face in the garment industry.
In the study, it was found that 43.1% of 763 Vietnamese women in three provinces had suffered from at least one form of violence and/or harassment. The study was conducted in 2019. 34.3% of Vietnamese women have suffered physical harassment; forced kissing, touching, hitting, and punching. 28.9% report obscene gestures, stares, offensive texts, emails, and stalking. 87.7% reported experiencing unsolicited verbal harassment and sexually inappropriate jokes, as well as offensive comments about their body.
The abuse ranged from groping, slapping, rape, and threats of contract termination. Of course, there may be many more types of abuse that remain undiscovered and undocumented. With as many as 20 000 employees, the exploitation of Vietnamese women in the garment industry remains a crucial, and often overlooked issue in the media. However, Movements like the #MeToo and #ngungimlang (stop silence) were used to raise awareness for sexual assault, so there is some media recognition. These media campaigns aided Vietnamese women garment workers to speak up when they were afraid to do so in person, especially when they could lose their jobs or out of fear of further harassment, according to the study.
A culture of silence does contribute to these abuses. Most women were afraid to answer questions for research purposes out of fear of being abused further if they were to admit the horrors that occurred behind the factory walls.
Of course, fast fashion contributes to this. The correlation between violence and sexual harassment falls typically within the fast fashion industry as Vietnamese women are forced to work excessive hours and overtime with low pay and unrealistic production targets. Major US and European brands play a role in the exploitation of Vietnamese women in the garment industry as well.
Age and education also play a role in the exploitation of Vietnamese women. These factors determine the level of abuse they will face. Often, the younger and more educated women, the worse off they will be in experiencing abuse.
In these high-pressure environments, Vietnamese women’s health and integrity, well-being, quality of life, and dignity, are compromised.
To read further about the exploitation of Vietnamese women in the garment industry, here are some sources:
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