What does ‘Made in Bangladesh’ mean?
The true story behind ‘Made in Bangladesh’
It’s very refreshing to hear garment workers' personal point of view about their position in stead of reading assumptions in Western media on what their lives are like
"Made in Bangladesh’ has become an instantly recognisable symbol. But what springs to mind when you read these words in the collar of your shirt? The media in the West tend to present a grim, one-dimensional picture of garment factories: women crouched over sewing machines working long hours for low pay, for unscrupulous employers whose negligence leads to disasters such as the 2013 Rana Plaza collapse, which killed 1.135 people and left thousands more injured.
That is
part of the truth, but it is not the whole story. The rise of factory work has
also brought radical changes and new freedoms, creating new social classes and
shaking up habits and lifestyles. In Lives Behind The Label you hear about some
of these changes, directly from the factory workers who are living through this
period of rapid industrialisation. On Our Radar partnered with a local trade
union and organised workshops with 80 Bangladeshi garment workers, encouraging
them to share their experiences. This open approach ensured that the
documentary makers did not start with too many preconceptions, in order to
reveal human and universal stories.