Inside the Lives of Female Workers in Free Trade Zones
Photo courtesy of Ishankha Singha Arachchi
Garment factory worker Archana Hariraman, after washing herself at the public shower sink, returned to her room to change clothes. Just as she finished she was shocked to see a young man crawling out from under her bed. He had secretly recorded a video of her while she was changing clothes. The man had watched her go to wash and used the opportunity to sneak into her room and hide under the bed, waiting for her return.
Deeply shaken, Archana tried to tell the others in the dormitory what had happened. But since she could not speak Sinhala fluently, she struggled to express herself clearly. She attempted to explain the incident as best as she could but her words were misunderstood. Instead of supporting her, the others blamed her and sided with the young man.
When Archana took her complaint to the police, they considered only the young man’s statement. Once again she found herself helpless, unable to defend her case in front of the authorities because of the language barrier.
Archana, a young woman from the Malaiyaha community of Brookside Estate in Ragala, left her home in search of work in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) like many young men and women driven by poverty and lack of opportunity. Speaking only Tamil, she was forced to adapt to life in an unfamiliar environment.
What came to her aid was the Women Are Voices Everywhere (WAVE) application introduced by the Stand Up Movement to help workers raise issues immediately. After Archana submitted her complaint through the app, the Stand Up Movement intervened and filed a case with the police. As a result, the young man was arrested and brought before the court. In the ruling Archana was also granted compensation.
If not for WAVE, which made her aware of the injustice done to her, Archana would have been left to endure the damage, humiliation and insults or quit her job and return to the line room in the estate.
According to the Stand Up Movement the WAVE app, introduced in mid 2022, has already delivered promising results as confirmed by a review conducted two years later. Around 78 percent of garment workers, who make up 15 percent of Sri Lanka’s total labour force and contribute a substantial share of foreign exchange to the economy, are women. Yet, despite the industry’s continued success in the global market, these workers remain without adequate social protection and often survive on meagre wages that fall far short of the rising cost of living.
Women workers subjected to daily harassment in the workplace and in overcrowded, temporary shelters, transgender people facing constant violence because of their gender and manpower workers forced to endure dangerous conditions, all continue to struggle for dignity within the garment industry. They do so in an environment where labour exploitation has been normalised and workers’ rights are routinely disregarded across the trade zone.
Language barriers
With the end of the war in the North and East, young people from those regions began migrating south in search of work. After decades of conflict, new opportunities opened up in the factories of the free trade zones. Yet for many, especially those who moved to Katunayake, the language barrier quickly became a serious challenge, soon followed by issues of race and gender.
Jeevitha Jagadiswaran, a transgender youth from Mannar, came to the Katunayake FTZ seeking employment. He applied for a position as a machine operator at a garment company. Prior to the interview, Jeevitha informed the management through a friend that he was transgender and the management gave its approval.
After the interview, the Human Resources Department provided him with an application form written entirely in Sinhala. Since Jeevitha did not know the language, a friend helped him fill it out. In the gender column, however, the friend wrote male. The department reviewed his documents and experience and Jeevitha passed the interview.
After passing the interview, Jeevitha was referred to the factory nurse for a medical examination. While reviewing the documents, the nurse noticed a discrepancy. The application form listed the gender as male while the other documents identified Jeevitha as female. When questioned, Jeevitha openly explained his gender identity and clarified that the Human Resources Department had already been informed.
However, the nurse dismissed this and, ignoring Jeevitha’s reluctance, forcibly made him undress and conducted an invasive physical examination. During the process, the nurse made inappropriate comments about his body, leaving Jeevitha deeply uncomfortable and humiliated. The incident caused severe mental trauma and Jeevitha ultimately resigned from the company.
The nurse was arrested after Jeevitha, with the support of the Stand Up Movement, lodged a police complaint about the violence she had endured. Although the nurse pleaded not guilty, a case was filed on Jeevitha’s behalf in the hope of securing justice. The case, however, has been pending in court for over a year. Jeevitha’s story is only one among many incidents of abuse and discrimination reported from the FTZ.
Niroshan, Ashwin and Dilshan are all transgender youths. One day, while they were walking along the road, a man suddenly attacked one of them. The incident escalated into an argument during which both sides identified themselves as transgender. Instead of easing the tension, the man hurled obscene insults and continued his assault. When local bystanders gathered to intervene, they too turned violent against the three youths simply because they were transgender.
When the victims reported the incident to the police, the authorities sided with the attackers, advising the youths not to provoke the “local hooligans.” Unable to clearly communicate their grievances due to the language barrier, the three Tamil youths were left feeling helpless.
Their case only moved forward after the Stand Up Movement, responding to their complaint through the WAVE app, intervened and filed a proper complaint with the police. The three victims were then admitted to the hospital where they again faced mistreatment and indignities linked to both their Tamil ethnic and gender identity.
Despite these challenges, the case eventually reached the Mediation Board where the three assaulted youths were able to secure some compensation.
Sexual exploitation
Vindya, a female worker living in Ragama, regularly purchased groceries on credit from a nearby store, settling her debt each month after receiving her salary. One day, when she went to the shop to request a copy of her identity card, the shopkeeper brought up her debt. Vindya explained that she would repay it once she received her wages.
Instead of accepting her answer, the moneylender made a disturbing proposition. “You don’t have to pay the debt. If you have sex with me, I’ll keep giving you food items on credit. Others do the same. You don’t even have to go anywhere, there’s a room behind the shop for that.”
Shocked, humiliated and frightened by this exploitative demand, Vindya immediately went to the Stand Up Movement office to lodge a complaint. However, fearing retaliation, she chose not to pursue legal action.
This incident highlights the sexual exploitation that preys on the vulnerability of women workers in free trade zones – exploitation that is often endured in silence with countless cases going unreported.
Complaints received from female workers in the free trade zones can generally be categorised into several areas: sexual harassment in the workplace and living environments, criminal acts, harassment from partners and exploitation by service providers.
Although Tamil is recognised as an official language, in practice it is largely disregarded in factories, surrounding police stations, hospitals and other government institutions within and around the zones. This neglect creates systemic discrimination compounded by biases based on both employment in the zones and gender.
To address these issues, it is crucial to provide knowledge and training for officials in both government and private institutions that employ FTZ workers. Training should focus on Sinhala-Tamil communication, gender equality and awareness of gender-based inequalities. The Stand Up Movement has already begun implementing such initiatives through its programmes.
New technology and trade unions
WAVE is more than just a complaint application; it is a legal and humanitarian tool for women workers in FTZs. By raising awareness of workers’ rights, WAVE is helping to build a broader and more informed trade union movement.
The platform allows workers to report violations such as workers’ rights abuses, unsafe or unfair working conditions, wrongful dismissal or suspension and non-payment of employee provident or trust funds. WAVE also ensures that these complaints are handled formally and efficiently, facilitating access to the police, the Human Rights Commission, the Labour Tribunal and other legal avenues.
A complaint was received through WAVE regarding the non-payment of EPF for five workers employed by Cycle Production Private Limited under Indra Manpower for three years. After the case was presented to the Labour Commissioner, Indra Manpower initially refused to pay the outstanding funds except for one worker. Following a complaint filed with the Labour Tribunal in Negombo, the company finally agreed to pay the EPF to all five workers.
The Stand Up Movement has also highlighted to the relevant authorities that Sri Lanka currently lacks specific laws to protect the rights of manpower and LGBTQ workers.
This intervention, which leverages modern technology to unite workers and provide practical solutions to their problems, is highly commendable. Taking further steps to address these systemic gaps is an essential responsibility especially for the trade union movement.
The post Inside the Lives of Female Workers in Free Trade Zones first appeared on Groundviews.
