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| Saturday, 27 September 2003 |
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Features | |
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Spice Uncrowned queens by Prasad Abu Bakr
Isolated from their kith and kin amongst whom they grew up as innocents, guided, protected and pampered, most of them begin a new way of life, living with new found colleagues, sometimes in cramped-up rooms and conditions far from comfortable. Paid on a piece-rate basis most of them tend to work late hours to earn more money enabling them to meet up with their families necessities at the end of each month. The unmarried girls become bread winners as they are the only ones who earn a living besides the other children in the family, who in most cases attend school. It is a total burden that has to be shouldered at a young age. It isn't an easy life for a girl who never anticipated that she will travel far away from home to fend for her family. For the family on the other hand, specially the parents who spent their time bringing up their daughter under their care and protection, it is endless days of torment not knowing what kind of living conditions their daughter is surrounded by. For some girls this becomes an opportunity to lead a free life away from the watchful eyes of their parents, so they try to make the best out of it. Meeting Mr. Right takes top priority, some of them even succeed in finding the right partner, quitting their newly found job and moving on to become housewives and having a family. But it does not necessarily happen in that order most of the time. As these girls are in vulnerable positions, as far as Sri Lanka goes, the chances of them being misled and abandoned happens very often.
The wide based second highest domestic foreign currency earning industry has `saved face' by not growing any bigger than they were during the tail end of the eighties, owing to the insurgency in the South and later during the latter half of the nineties, owing to various terrorist attacks aimed at key financial institutions here. As these periods naturally limited any further expansion of the industry, adverse reporting in connection with the girls or their behaviour died down, either they never occurred or it all drowned within the bigger picture of reported incidents that were more prominent during that time. However entrepreneurs and officials involved in the garment trade did not fall short at criticizing everybody including the multi-media for giving their industry a bad image by reporting what was happening, which were mostly based on true incidents. It is still interesting to note what the industry did about bringing some discipline to their trade. There were no measures taken against the girls that misbehaved outside the factory premises. Even if they did it was in a very minute way so as not to lose their services. All the factory `book of rules' were concerned with was the out-put. It was not irregular to see how Senior Supervisors and Production Managers turned a blind eye to misbehaviour even within the premises during working hours, owing to the perpetrator being a `good worker' or because of numerous `personal favours' these officials in the managerial levels received from them. Today things are turning a little sour for the garment trade mainly for one reason. The recession in the west and the large scale orders are happening only far and few in-between, that too only through the bigger factories. It should also be noticed that the `high flying' incentives that were offered at the initial stages along with the attractive wages that these workers earned either died down owing to the setbacks suffered by the garment trade later or could not have been made better as a result of maintaining the earlier image of `cheap production costs'. So there are more than a few `rotten eggs' the masters will have to keep for themselves, when it comes to blaming everybody. The biggest set-back they are currently facing is shortage of staff or even worst abandoning of their jobs by the present work force. Reasons cited are, poor wages in comparison with rising costs, the un-healthy image it has earned for itself over the years and the status it has created for the girls not only in society at large but also within their neighbourhood in their villages. 'Sulang Kirilli', the controversial film by Inoka Sathyangani, one of Sri Lanka's talented young directors, is a fragment of a line-up of disheartening events that has taken place over the years, from the time of inception of the garment trade in Sri Lanka. `Numba Reginak Yei Sithuna' the CD released recently by the Joint Apparel Association Forum (JAAF) containing a collection of songs released as a tribute to these factory workers is an eye-opener to the fact that the masters of this business are waking up from their slumber. Whether the best part has surpassed them is yet to be seen. |
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Produced by Lake House |
Many of the girls left their villages to join one of the most lucrative
careers that ever came their way in the early eighties. Brought-up in
rural settings and humble surroundings, most of them fresh out of school
bravely took up the challenge of moving out of their secure territories
and moving onto unknown boundaries, beyond which they had to fight their
own battles.
Today parents are concerned about sending their daughters to the so
called free trade zone, mostly after observing incidents that has taken
place over the years not only in their own villages but through the media,
which reports a variety of incidents in graphic detail almost on a daily
basis.
