Can Feminism And Capitalism Ever Truly Co-Exist?

This morning, it was reported that ‘GIRL POWER’ t-shirts made by F equals, a feminist content platform and online shop, are being made at a Bangladeshi factory where workers earn as little as 42p, 100 of whom were sacked en masse after striking in protest of the low wages.

The t-shirts, adorned by celebrities from Holly Willhouby to Emma Bunton, have now been removed from the F equals site. Being sold for £28, £10 of each sale went to Worldreader, a charity that supplies digital books to impoverished areas across countries in Africa.

Despite the F Equals website stating the t-shirts were ‘made in a Fair Wear Foundation certified factory, which means it is vetted for good working conditions and fair wages and by using organic cotton we drastically reduce the use of water’ the reality is their t-shirt supplier, Stanley/Stella was using a factory accused of not only terrible working conditions but assault and harassment, according to The Guardian.

Management at Dird Composite Textiles, the factory in Bangladesh where Stanley/Stella t-shirts are made- and then sold at wholesale to F Equals who use a UK printer for the ‘GIRL POWER’ logo – have been accused of beating a worker who spoke up about not receiving severance pay and was threatened with murder. According to the female employee, she was told if she protested not receiving severance pay she would be ‘killed and her body put in a cardboard box’ according to an FWF report.

While the factory denied allegations, pressures from the FWF meant they later sacked the HR manager and compensated the woman. The FWF has promised to look into the working conditions at the factory, stating:

‘Over 100 workers claim to have lost their jobs. We did indeed meet with the factory and Stanley/Stella. There were some discrepancies between what we heard from the factory management and the complainants’ stories and their personal files.

‘The factory is in the process of paying legal entitlements, such as due salaries, provident fund and severance pay to all the workers concerned. FWF and Stanley/Stella will keep a close eye on this.’

For F Equals co-founder Danielle Newnham, this entire controversy has been a huge learning experience for her and her sister- whom she founded the platform with. ‘We did a lot of research when we started four years ago to ensure we found the most green and conscious suppliers we could and Stanley/Stella came out on top,’ she told Grazia, ‘They are also a leading member of FWF and even today, FWF stands by their claim that Stanley/Stella is a frontrunner when it comes to improving labour conditions in this industry.

‘We understand that the company we chose is one of the best in terms of their green and conscious credentials,’ she continued, ‘but we accept that it may not have been good enough. And we should have asked more important questions.

When creating a feminist product, it is important to do due diligence to ensure women aren’t being exploited in the capitalist process of making a profit, even when that profit is going to charity. However, given the nature of capitalism means someone somewhere is always likely to be exploited, Newnham is now speculating not making products at all.

‘Naively, we thought we had done everything we could to research the best supplier and we appear to have been wrong,’ she said, ‘so instead of ensuring feminist products are made ethically which, I think would be nigh-on impossible, I think the more important question we should be asking ourselves is how can we create something – a non-physical product - which moves women forward?

‘How can we create something that will allow women everywhere to be supported and empowered?’ she continued, ‘And how, as women, can we be financially supported to create such a thing because we have to earn a living and feed our families too? As someone who is still wholly committed to empowering women, this is something I will now look into and spend time trying to discover.’

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But it’s not just feminist creators that Newnham thinks can learn from this experience, it’s feminist consumers too. ‘It is almost impossible for a brand to potentially be truly ethical when everything needs to be made at a profit,’ she says, ‘someone somewhere is making a profit but also, and critically, part of the problem also lies with the consumers. Due to an abundance in competition, consumers often want to pay less and less, and we have a massive throwaway culture when it comes to fashion which is a huge problem which greatly affects how and where fashion items are made. It is consumers who demand that it be fast, cheap and in abundance hence the problem has several layers.

‘I do believe that we should re-educate consumers about the cost of producing goods,’ she continued, ‘and I think there should also be transparency from brands regarding what percentage each group in their production chain take, all the way from the factory worker right down to their own staff on the shop floor for instance.’

Essentially, for us to all be truly ethical creators and consumers, we should be demanding more from stores, and from the organisations that claim to vet productions all around the world where we know workers are exploited. It may sound like a lot of work to account for every possible exploitation when you just want to buy a new top, but if you’re going to wear a t-shirt spawning the words ‘GIRL POWER’ and actually mean it, doing the work is vital.