Investigation into Tunisian female textile workers: the rejects of Fast fashion

85% of textile workers in the Monastir region are women. These are the little hands of Fast fashion, whose working conditions are among the most arduous, if not the most inhumane, in the world of subcontracting in Tunisia. The suspension of the Multi Fibre Arrangement (MFA) since the early 2000s has further exacerbated violations of their rights.

In this investigation, we have tried to render their voices heard, voices that are not always audible under our skies; these are the tales of torment and the stories of resistance.

Ksibet El Madiouni, a sunny day in February 2024. A few minutes past noon, the small town located 10 km south of Monastir took on the colors of the blouses worn by female textile workers: pink, blue, green, mauve, white… A stamp of the female workers’ affiliation to each of Ksibet El Madiouni’s small manufacturing units. These women, whose average age is between 20 and 40 years, would occupy a stretch of sidewalk here, the stairs of a house under construction there, and a roundabout further on. They would eat their lunch rather quickly, chatting with their mouths stuffed of food. Underage girls of 15 to 16; little Cosettes[1] emerge among the duos and trios of the said female workers. There’s no time for them to take their time, or even to get out of their aprons: they only have half an hour for a lunch break outdoors. For in these small sewing workshops that usually gather an average of some thirty workers and that are dotted around the residential areas of Ksibet El Madiouni and specializing in subcontracting for internationally renowned brands such as Zara, Diesel, Levis, Benetton, Tommy, Dolce&Gabbana, Guess, Max Mara, Gap, Darjeeling, IKKS, Hugo Boss, Ralph Lauren, Marco Polo… the purpose of refectories have changed over time; they have been transformed into storage sites for fabric materials and export-ready merchandise.

“They go outside because they also need to breathe fresh air and warm up in the sunshine. Many of those we interviewed have developed allergies to dust, asthma caused by cotton fibers, and allergies to the toxic products used to dye jeans in particular. Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are also very common among these female workers, due to the rigidity of sitting for several hours in front of their sewing machines and on seats unsuited to the arduous nature of their work”,

says Amani Allagui, project coordinator for the Monastir branch of the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES). This NGO has made the rights of female textile workers the subject of both field research [2] and advocacy for better access to healthcare.

However, this half-hour break, which is sometimes nibbled by the bosses when orders have to be delivered urgently: “Their time is precious and ours is worthless”, protests Fadhila, 32, a female textile worker in Ksibet El Madiouni[3]. The said break does not make them oblivious to the pressure they’re under all day long, and particularly the race for optimal yield scrupulously timed by the “cheffa”, a term used to designate their female supervisor. And be careful not to slow down!

But how do they manage on rainy days, or even midday in July and August, when the crushing, lethal and tiresome sun is at its zenith, turning the streets and the whole town into a furnace?

85% female employee quotas

The working conditions of the female textile workers of Ksibet El Madiouni resemble those of thousands of other female workers in this sector, who would head off every morning to factories in several delegations of the Monastir governorate: Ksar Helal, Jemmal, Khniss, Bembla, Menzel Nour, Sayada, Lamta, Bouhjar, Teboulba, Touza and Sahline. Monastir (160 km southeast of Tunis) is the leading textile production hub in Tunisia, with 397 SMEs specializing in garments, 86.5% of which export their entire production[4].More than a quarter of the total of companies in the sector at national level. With 70.77% of textile companies, this sector employs 44,625 workers in this governorate, the majority of whom are women (nearly 85%), according to the FTDES study on violations of the economic and social rights of women workers in the textile sector in the Monastir region. Firstly, sewing remains a gendered profession in Tunisia. Secondly, its rather low wages are culturally viewed as supplementary household income. In today’s reality, this is not always the case. Thirdly, this rather needy female workforce, with its relatively low level of education[5], has a reputation for being less inclined to protest, despite the two-pronged enslavement perpetuated by patriarchal and capitalist domination.

The textile-clothing sector represents an important lever for the Tunisian economy, with an export value that reached 2.62 billion dinars ($862.4 million) during the first quarter of 2023, exceeding for the first time its level achieved during the same period in 2019, as was announced by the Tunisian Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy in a press release published on Wednesday April 26, 2023[6]. Nevertheless, this promising sector remains entirely dependent on European brands and contractors; they impose on local subcontractors the demands of quality, output, deadlines and pace of work tailored to the dictates of Fast fashion, whose watchwords are ever faster, ever-more collections and choice, at ever-lower prices. This model, which no longer recognizes the seasons, has a disastrous impact on human resources, on whose backs huge profits are made, with ready-to-wear items sold in stores at three times their manufacturing cost[7]. Indicating that natural resources, in particular the groundwater in the Monastir region, which is depleted by the large volumes of water used for washing jeans (the documentary: Infiltrators at the number one ready-to-wear brand).

[1] Cosette is a fictional character in the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, and it is synonymous with abused children who are exploited by adults

[2] Mounir Hassine : Violations of the economic and social rights of women workers in the textile sector, FTDES, 2014 In https://ftdes.net/violations-des-droits-economiques-et-sociaux-des-femmes-travailleuses-dans-le-secteur-de-textile-monastir__trashed/)

[3]The majority of female textile workers have requested anonymity. We’ve therefore changed their first names and hidden their surnames

[4] Corporate responsibility with regard to human rights: Exploratory study of the textile sector in the governorate of Monastir, ASF, May 2023 https://asf.be/publication/french-corporate-responsibility-with-regard-to-human-rights-exploratory-study-of-the-textile-sector-in-the-governorate-of-monastir/),

[5]  Ibid, Hassine In (https://ftdes.net/violations-des-droits-economiques-et-sociaux-des-femmes-travailleuses-dans-le-secteur-de-textile-monastir__trashed/

[6] https://maghrebemergent.net/tunisie-hausse-importante-des-exportations-du-textile/

[7] (See the documentary: Zara: Infiltrators at the number one ready-to-wear brand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjBcMHmWnwU&t=3s&ab_channel=DocumentaireSoci%C3%A9t%C3%A9),