The Ignored Women of South India Who Stitch Shoes For the World

The homeworkers of this Tamil Nadu town assemble leather shoes, but are not counted in official statistics.

Handstitching shoes at a home in Ambur. (Photo Courtesy: Labour Behind The Label)

India is the eighth-largest exporter of leather footwear in the world. Apart from Kanpur in the north, which is the site of many tanneries, down south a cluster of towns in Tamil Nadu including Vellore and Ranipet swarm with factories catering to the full business of footwear production.

Ambur, in the Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, has about 100 tanneries and factories and smaller production units involved in leather.

Street scene in Ambur, TN. (Photo Courtesy: Labour Behind The Label)

An important, but largely ignored, part of this burgeoning mini-industry are the homeworkers who assemble leather shoes but are not counted in the official statistics – they have little to no labour rights and are ignored by all sides, their very existence denied.

A shoe stitched by a woman in Ambur. (Photo Courtesy: Labour Behind The Label)

Homeworkers are made to stitch the uppers of shoes, one of the most labour-intensive parts in the shoe production process.

Though Their Work is Important, Their Wages Aren’t Commensurate

Although their work is important, these women are paid less than less than 10 pence a shoe – shoes that are sold in the UK market for between 40 and 100 euros.

Shoe components ready for stitching, Ambur. (Photo Courtesy: Labour Behind The Label)

(Photo Courtesy: Labour Behind The Label)

We get paid 5 rupees a pair for this. If the upper is hard, we get paid 6 rupees. 

Sumitra* 

*Names have been changed to protect workers’ identites.

Homeworkers: Not The Factory’s Responsibility

The homeworkers are not directly employed by the factory but get their supply of work from an intermediary who often works in the same village or area as themselves, who in turn gets his work from a subcontractor of the bigger factory. This allows the factories to take no responsibility for the homeworkers, even though they are fulfilling an important part of the production process.

We cannot negotiate with the middleman because the middleman knows many people who really need and want a job. So if I negotiate for one rupee or two rupees…They will give (the work) to some other area

Runa*

*Names have been changed to protect workers identites

The maximum Jyoti* can stitch in one day is 16 pairs, earning her under £1.60 (Rs. 150 roughly). Although cost of living differs, this is simply not enough to cover her basic needs. A kilo of rice alone costs her 50 Rupees. Jyoti earns well below a minimum wage, let alone a living wage, yet “whether we like it or not, we have to stitch. It is our only means of livelihood” she says.

No Job Security

We completed the work we got yesterday. We may or may not have work tomorrow. There is no job security

Sumitra*

*Names have been changed to protect workers identites

Homeworkers near Ambur. (Photo: Labour Behind The Label)

Shoe Making: A Health Hazard

The work often leaves women with health issues. Complaints such as hand numbness, eye strain, back problems, and skin rashes from chemicals used to dye the leather are commonplace.

Stitching leather causes injuries to hands. (Photo: Labour Behind The Label)

We will develop pain in the chest. Our hands will get infected because of the germs in the leather. I also developed fibrosis because of this work... This is leather, isn’t it? And it has a lot of chemicals.

Sumitra*

*Names have been changed to protect workers’ identities.

Ilana Winterstein is a human rights campaigner and Director of Communications, Labour Behind the Label. She works to improve conditions and empower workers in the global garment industry.

(This article originally appeared on Labour Behind The Label. It has been reproduced here with permission and has been edited for length.)