Female Empowerment for Ethical Fashion

The fashion industry needs an intersectional approach to sustainability that upholds gender equality as a key pillar for sustainable development. Women must be empowered in all stages of the fashion value chain everyday, not just International Women’s Day

Photograph of Saheli Women by Naveli Choyal

Fashion is unequivocally a feminist issue. The fashion industry and how it functions has become entirely reliant on profiting from the exploitation and disempowerment of women. Particularly women of colour, in the Global South, who account for 80% of garment workers.

International Women’s Day has become a day where brands capitalise off the guise of female empowerment, whilst evading the responsibility for the fair treatment of the women in their supply chain. While it is abundantly clear that the deregulated fashion system does little to support the feminist movement in its supply chain practices, the number of brands who employ feminist marketing skyrockets on international women’s day as fashion seeks to commoditize on female empowerment. As brands, like H&M and SHEIN produce feminist slogan t-shirts, emblazoned with “Feminism is for everyone” (H&M) and ‘Feminist AF’ (SHEIN) there is violent irony entrenched in their performative feminism as their business model relies on the exploitation of women. Their feminist t-shirts are sold in the capitalist market for less than 10 pounds, which obfuscates the true cost of production and labour. Female empowerment becomes reduced to a commodity that can be bought and sold on the capitalist market, while the true cost of the skill, labour and production - by women in the Global South - is disguised. Fashion will once again capitalise on female empowerment whilst further oppressing the women labouring in the fashion value chain through cheap clothing.

The western fashion system is dominated by men in positions of power. It is predominantly white male CEOs who own the factories, dictate the working conditions, the wages and the treatment of the women who work in the value chain. At every stage it is women who are exploited in the supply chain and it is women who pay the price for the injustices of the fashion system. 

Yet it is women who hold the skills, wisdom and knowledge for sustainability. Women are the fundamental actors in the fashion system, with vital skills and wisdom in craft, cultivation, artisanship, sisterhood and sustainability in its entirety. So why are their stories so often silenced? 

The stories of women are woven through every garment, from the cultivation of natural fibres, to every individual stitch, to the woman who is targeted by fast fashion marketing and the women who are impacted by fashion’s waste stream, such as the kayayei in Kantamanto Market. The fashion system was made to exploit women, through cheap offshored labour, poverty wages, exhaustive working hours and sexual and gender-based violence dominating practices .  Yet the linear fashion system would be nothing without the labour and skills of women, from the cultivation of land to the end of the garments life cycle - women are involved at every stage. An equitable and responsible fashion landscape cannot exist without women. Therefore, the sustainable fashion narrative requires an intersectional approach that recognises the importance of gender equality and upholds the diverse voices of women. 

This International Women’s Day it is important to remember that female empowerment is something that needs to be embedded in our fashion systems everyday - not just on one day of the year. Women are key actors in the fashion value chain and they must be recognised and acknowledged, having their rights respected and being given equal opportunities for dignified and fair employment. Instead of supporting fast fashion brands who make false claims to feminism, opt to support the small enterprises and artisanal brands who are directly uplifting the women in their supply chains and supporting female empowerment through sustainable livelihood opportunities and craft preservation. 

Finally, we need to see beyond the commodity. Behind every garment there is a unique story reflective of the true cost of the labour, skill and craft that has gone into its creation. We need to collectively demand that brands share the story behind their products, through transparency and accountability and look further for the brands that make the platforming of women’s diverse voices a key part of their practice. One of these organisations is Saheli Women, a female social enterprise economically empowering women in rural Rajasthan through the avenue of ethical fashion. Through skills development in traditional craft practices, ranging from the handloom, block printing and natural dyeing, female artisans at Saheli Women produce ethically made slow fashion garments for international fashion partners. The principle belief that drives the enterprise’s mission of female empowerment is that when women gain access to resources and become economically empowered, they invest in the education and wellbeing of their families and wider community, thus when you empower one woman, you empower an entire community. With slow fashion as a means of female empowerment Saheli Women strive to foster deeper, meaningful connections between consumers and their clothing - as they share the stories and champion the voices of the women behind the clothing. 

There is transformative potential of women within the fashion narrative and sustainability discourse - and sustainable fashion cannot exist without the fair and equal treatment of women. Saheli Women is a flourishing example of this. The future of fashion is female therefore we must work to have the voices and stories of women in the fashion system heard.