‘Our Backs Are Against the Wall’: The Story of a Bangladeshi Woman Garment Worker in the COVID-19 ‘New Normal’

Aysha Siddika, Peter Lund-Thomsen, Anita Hammer, Marie Vahl and Rayat
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Aysha Siddika: Roskilde University, Denmark
Peter Lund-Thomsen: Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
Anita Hammer: King’s College London, UK
Marie Vahl: Independent researcher, Denmark

Work, Employment & Society, 2024, vol. 38, issue 6, 1725-1735

Abstract: This article introduces Rayat, a woman garment worker in Bangladesh. It traces how the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated precariousness in the garment value chain and deepened the fragility of Rayat and other garment workers on the frontline. In the article, Rayat explains how her work, household and livelihood changed in response to COVID-19. Her story highlights the importance of contextual influences, distinct industry dynamics and temporal factors, within both workplace and domestic spheres. In complex ways, these dynamics shaped how workers were positioned in the value chain, exploited in the labour process and constrained in their agency.

Keywords: COVID-19; garment value chain; labour agency; labour process; livelihood; social reproduction; workplace (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:38:y:2024:i:6:p:1725-1735

DOI: 10.1177/09500170241242055

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