True sisterhood extends past your closest friends and family. It reaches across your professional life where you’re able to support and mentor other women to gain self esteem, do well, get promoted. It should also extend across your way of living and consuming. Today, on International Women’s Day, and on all other days, we should choose to consume media/movies/music/services/products that respect women.
When looking at fashion for example, one can see that the garment industry is one of the most female-dominated industries in the world, with women making up 90% of the workforce in countries like Cambodia. But even though many of these women work for some of the world’s most profitable companies, they work under dreadful conditions for very little pay.
Employment is key to female empowerment but the exploitation of women that is often the case in the industry is not the solution. Instead, we should support brands that truly make a difference to women’s right to make a decent living.
T-shirts with feminist slogans are all the rage at the moment, but if the woman who made it wasn’t paid fairly then that defeats the purpose. Buying any t-shirt, but one that is produced ethically with the (most likely) female garment worker being paid properly for the job, is most definitely a better way to truly support the female movement. Or take a look at brands such as Lawrenson that both use feminist slogans and ethical manufacturing processes.
Here are a few other brands doing great things to support and empower women through their work:
Raven + Lily. Fashion and home accessories designed in Austin, Texas and hand made in countries like Pakistan, India, Ethiopia, Cambodia, Kenya and Peru. Over 1,500 marginalised women are employed at fair trade wages, giving them access to a safe job, sustainable income, health care, and education.
Krochet Kids. Each item is hand made by women in Uganda or Peru, with a note added to each item telling the buyer who made it and what the impact has been for the maker. The women also gets education and mentoring to ensure they can plan for a sustainable future for them and their families.
Sseko. Their slogan is ‘Wear Sseko, send a girl to college’ as they employ high potential women in Uganda to support them achieving their goal of getting a college education. All products are designed and ethically made in East Africa.
FashionABLE. An accessories brand with a strong belief in job creation rather than charity. They work with women in Africa as well as the US who have overcome extraordinary circumstances, ranging from prostitution to homelessness to addiction to a lack of opportunity.
