Ties that bind: fashion, textiles, and gendered labour in South Asia today

Abstract

ABSTRACT As in many parts of the world, throughout South Asia, the various steps in textile production have historically been gendered, with men and women performing their respective specialized jobs. The late twentieth century saw the erosion of these long entrenched gendered roles in the region’s textile/garment industries. As they assume new roles in the workforce, women face challenges, including discrimination and physical danger. How are women negotiating these challenges? How is women’s textile-based labour valued in South Asia today? As artisans of regional heritage textiles, do men and women exercise their creative agency and market their work differently? What support systems are in place to train new generations of heritage textile makers, advocate for garment factory workers, and educate young women from textile making communities? This introduction to the special edition on confluences of gender, labour, and textiles/fashion in contemporary South Asia lays out the questions posed above. It provides a brief overview of textile production in the subcontinent, focusing on makers, markets, the role of gendered labour, and the interventions the following articles make to the field. The authors of the articles in this edition – scholars of art history, sociology, anthropology, political science, media and gender studies, and a textile curator and founder of a textile-based Non-Governmental Organization – offer unique insight into the South Asian textile/garment industry from the vantage point of garment factory workers, activists, socially engaged artists, factory owners, heritage textile makers, and recyclers of discarded fabric.