What happens to women garment workers ‘behind the seams’
WOMEN rarely have an easy time in the workplace, especially in countries like Pakistan, where barriers to their entering the work force are quite high to begin with.
The recently-released Amnesty International report, ‘Stitched Up: Denial of Freedom of Association for Garment Workers in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka’, contains shocking revelations related to workplace harassment, repression and other sorts of maltreatment allegedly experienced by workers, particularly women.
The garment industry is a trillion-dollar global business employing almost 100 million people, the majority of them women. In South Asia, workers in the garment industry account for an estimated 40pc of employment in manufacturing. The industry has long been challenged over human rights abuses, with complaints of the denial of the right to decent work, a living wage, and social protection. The systemic repression of the right to freedom of association, particularly the forming and joining of independent trade unions, is commonplace.
Repercussions
Workers, especially women, face almost insurmountable challenges when organising. In Pakistan, their biggest obstacle is the fear of repercussions from employers — dismissal, harassment at work, and even violence. Women workers are often the most at risk from reprisals and sexualized repercussions for union activity, a breach of ILO Convention 98, which guarantees workers “adequate protection against acts of anti-union discrimination in respect of their employment.”
Amnesty report finds widespread harassment, exploitation, and threats of violence amid management structures dominated by men
“When I joined this factory 15 years ago, after some time had passed, I observed the working environment was tough for the women workers. When I witnessed many bad things (sexual harassment) happening to the women, I changed my attitude from smiley to serious-faced, reflecting anger during my duty. I did this just to warn (through body language) the managers, supervisors, etc., of a forceful reaction if they tried to harass me,” Nazia, a worker in a Lahore-based garment factory, tells Dawn. “I have seen many workers, especially women, losing their jobs when they tried to make unions or refused to fulfill the ‘desires’ of their seniors,” she claimed. However, she praised the factory owners for their good attitude towards everyone. “But the problem is that we are not given access to the factory owners to whom we can tell about the situation we are going through. I also tried to organise workers for the purpose of forming a union, but stopped later, fearing termination of my job.”
“Not a single workers’ union is registered with the departments concerned in the entire four districts of Lahore division,” says Mutahidda Labour Federation General Secretary Hanif Ramay. “And if anyone tries to unite, he or she is shown the door with immediate effect.”
‘Yellow unions’
Most factories operate without genuine unions, as owners have established pro-management “yellow unions” instead.
The Amnesty report documented case studies revealing the severity of workplace abuse. “When I started the job in the garment industry, I saw that women workers were harassed a lot and asked for dinners and dates. I was being harassed and blamed falsely by my supervisors. Overtime was forced upon women, and that was also being used as a harassment tool. I was touched physically and abused verbally. No one in the management would listen to me,” revealed a female worker. “The union at this factory was a yellow union [pro-management]. That is why I did not join that union and tried to form an independent union.” She was harassed for talking about her rights and asking workers to organise.
When she complained about sexual harassment, CCTV cameras were installed, but retaliation followed. “They forced me to do more overtime and put a lot of pressure on her. They finally served notice on her for talking about false things regarding factory matters.” At another factory where she was the only female worker in her department, harassment continued. “I went to the HR department to complain, but they did not allow me to launch a complaint and said that this would not happen there. I tried to inform the union leader at the factory also, but as that was a yellow union, they did not listen to me.”
Another worker accused factory owners of keeping workers in fear: “I know many workers who have been sacked from jobs due to union organising.”
Textile Power Looms and Garments Workers Union/Federation General Secretary Niaz Khan confirmed that complaints of sexual harassment and abuse of labour laws are common in garments and textile mills. “Most such complaints come from small and unregistered factories ranging from 150 to 200 workers. But I am not giving a clean chit to big factories, as similar incidents are also reported there,” he said. According to him, refusal to follow orders simply meant dismissal, and women workers are called disgusting and derogatory names.
With 1,000 garment factories operating in Punjab, mostly in Lahore and Faisalabad, “all these factories have paper unions [yellow unions] that take care of the benefits of the factory owners and not the workers,” he regretted.
Sohail Pasha, chairman of the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association, however, disputed these claims for the home textile sector.
“We are very strict on such issues and try hard to ensure provision of the best working environment to all workers,” he said, claiming that harassment and discrimination exists in apparel and knitting factories where more women work.
Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2025