When watching the videos on the Triangle Returns, I was shocked to learn of this happening right here in NYC. Also, can I point out the guy in the one video saying that “these women took their lives by jumping so their families could have their bodies”, im pretty sure they didn’t want to burn, suffocate or get trampled to death. It’s been bothering me since watching. It’s unfair that it took that tragedy to implement the laws we have for building safety, and workers today in the US. We now have sprinkler systems and outward pushing fire exits. What is horrifying is that this is still going on in the world today. I have been a participant in fast fashion, even last week. I feel badly for the effects this has on the world in general. To use the people that live in a caste system society and bleed them of life is the saddest aspect of being a participant. When researching my snapshot, I watched many videos of women and children crying about the conditions and hours. I also watched videos that were trying to resolve ways to reduce fast fashion. Many of us cannot afford couture brands that are made in fashion houses and have a different workspace and ethics. On our part we can start by thrifting and shopping with sustainable companies. Thrifting is recycling all the way around, eco and ethical friendly. I have only bought with one sustainable company, and it is a little pricey but its relieving to know that I’m not supporting companied that treat employees badly.

            Reading the article on the ERA was educational in terms of the way three quarters of the nation must vote to ratify to be added. What was more astonishing was the states that I thought maybe would be progressive, were not. This should not be up for discussion. When viewing Osayanmo’s snapshot I realized that women have made an impactful stance for the equality for women’s rights in the workplace. We are very lucky that women and countless others have stood up for these rights or something as disturbing as the Triangle Returns would be reoccurring. Although, safer work environments are not just relevant to us, in the United States. We should be pushing for more globally. As said in previous paragraph, the state of which an eco system enforcing a caste society needs to approach more humane laws governing the “sweatshop” workers. I feel that this is a global issue that many countries take part in, making it global. While having our rights here slowly being enforced, what will happen to the countless other issues standing in place of?

            It’s a shame it takes tragedies for change to be enacted. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 could’ve been avoided if there was a value for human lives over profit and products. The factory comprised of mainly young female workers, 500 or so, packed in a factory making garments for 11-12 hours a day, every day, for 14 cents an hour. When the fire broke out the factory was not equipped to deal with it; only 1 working elevator, rusted hoses, and an exit door that opened inwardly, the workers couldn’t get out in time. Women were jumping to their deaths. This incident was so horrible that the public and activists took to the streets. The International Lady Garments Workers Union and The Sullivan Hoey Fire Prevention law birthed out of this tragedy, bringing forth fire safe factories conditions, minimum wage laws, etc. Eventually sweatshops in the US were no more. However, sweatshop labor for clothing companies in the US now depend on sweatshop labor overseas in countries like Bangladesh, where Triangle Shirtwaist conditions are STILL present and taking lives.

The Bangladesh Hameen factory fire of 2010 almost 100 years after the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, mirrored that tragedy exactly, only it didn’t result in drastic improvements. There was very little change and when the Bangladesh workers protested and demanded a raise of merely 35 cents hourly, they were beaten and brutalized by police. These people are asking for the bare minimum, and it is seen as an outrage. They are producing garments for billion dollar companies like Gap, Walmart, and H&M, who refuse to make working conditions safe for them and pay them higher wages. So many women and even children slaving away to make OUR clothes. This is a problem we, as American consumers, play a part in, it is not just a global issue, it is an American issue, and a feminist issue.

Jasmin H’s snapshot 7 that shared the article Bangladesh Garment Workers Reject Minimum Wage Hike, Call it a ‘Cruel Joke’ by Surangya, which was written in 2018, further shows how little change has occurred in Bangladesh sweatshops, even as more tragic sweatshop deaths occur. Conditions are still unsafe, the workers are not getting paid a livable wage, they are working well over full time hours, they have no rights to organize, its inhumane. “The poor working conditions of Bangladesh’s garment workers have been widely documented with the low wages regularly compelling them to work overtime in unsafe environments. More than 85% of the workforce comprises women, who have to work in the absence of basic amenities and without the proper enforcement of laws granting maternity leave and benefits.” (5). American women were liberated from the horrors of sweatshops and have many liberties that women overseas don’t have today. These women are oppressed by our consumption, our government, laws, and policies and by corporations exploitering them for cheap labor. As American feminists we owe it to the women overseas to advocate for US laws that holds corporations accountable for the horrors they commit to women, children, and people of color globally. We can’t turn a blind eye to the women we are playing a part in oppressing. These women don’t have the liberty to organize but we can organize on their behalf.

ERA

            The National Women’s Party proposed the ERA/Equal Rights Amendment to the US Constitution in 1923, it states that equal rights cannot be denied based on sex. There’s a lot of controversy around this amendment; feminists and women in general are largely divided on whether they want this amendment passed. So far 38 States have passed this amendment, fulfilling the 3/5 requirement for it to be added to the Constitution however there’s still a series of steps to get pass before it is officially added to the Constitution. Personally, I think it will benefit women greatly because it would protect laws that concern women’s rights like abortion rights from constantly being attacked and repealed. There’s so much debate on whether it’s necessary but I think it is necessary because women are still not recognized as complete human beings who deserve of autonomy, property, employment, etc. However, I do think the amendment should be revised, adding a definition of equality that recognizes female specific liberties like maternity leave and expanding it to include trans women and gender nonconforming people. I simply don’t trust a patriarchal government to not pervert the intent of the amendment to mean treat women like men.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire was a devastating time for a lot of families after losing their loved ones due to a fire that broke out in the factory where they worked. This should have never been the case at all for this couldve been prevented if the exits did not only open inward, sprinklers were put in factories and all elevators worked. While some were lucky enough to find another way to leave others burned in the fire. Some even dived out the window so their families could have their bodies and they could be recognized. It’s sad enough that these were young women who lost their lives but seeing the conditions in which they were working under was terrible. They were overworked and underpaid while the clothing they were making was selled at a very high price. Workers made 14cents an hour while working up to 13 hrs a day. The triangle shirtwaist fire should’ve been a learning experience to all factory owners so the same thing won’t happen again. However it saddens me to say the same exact thing happened in Bangladesh at the humming factory. A fire broke out in the building which killed 29 workers and injured over 100. Workers stated how “Often management locked them exit gates during a fire so that the garments can’t be stolen.” (Triangle Returns). This showed how to them the clothes were more important than the lives of their workers which is very creul. Jasmine’s snapshot showed a worker holding up a sign saying “I don’t want to die for fashion.” It’s sad that they even have to protest this, that a human life is being put in danger all for clothes. The very ones who are working nonstop with little pay to make these clothes. 

The Equal Rights Amendment being talked about in “Virginia Just Became the 38th State to Pass the Equal Rights Amendment” promotes the equality of all regardless of gender. The fight for equal rights has been a long one which still hasn’t been fully fulfilled. However it is not easy to be fulfilled because it has a “Requirement that three-quarters of the states must approve an Amendment in order to add it to the U.S. Constitution.” (Law,1). Although plenty wanted it to be approved others like Phyllis Schlafly were against everything it stands for. She strongly believed “That the ERA would do away with much of the special status granted to women, including the right to be supported by their husbands, and would damage the traditional American family.” Not to mention “Lead to a future of gender-neutral bathrooms and women being drafted into the military, she successfully made many people think twice about what Constitutionally mandated equality of the sexes would mean.” (Law, 4). Although I fully understand her concerns I feel as if the ERA brings about more positive change than negative. We cannot pick and choose when we want things to be equal. Women want to be taken care of by their husbands yet argue that men have too much power over women. Power that women give them without even realizing it. 

Hearing about the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire is very heartbreaking. The people working at this location were mainly young women. These young women who worked constantly with very little pay were killed in an incident that could have very well been prevented.  According to the video on May 25, 1911, the place in which the factory was located was by Washington square park which was “one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the city”. This fact alone is very disappointing. If the factory was located in one of the wealthiest parts of the city, you would think that these locations would have the at least proper conditions to work in, however time back then were much harsher than now. However, the factory was by definition a sweatshop. It was also very disappointing to hear that the company itself failed these women. Because the factory had no sort of sprinkler system, it had elevators that didn’t work and a fire escape that was too weak that ended up collapsing. According to the other video “Triangle Returns”, The emergency exits were blocked, not allowing the women to escape from the building. Emergency exits are there for a reason for emergencies, but the company had blocked these exits because they feared that the women would have stolen the products that were being made or would be sneaking to take breaks. So, in order to prevent theft, they had come this conclusion of blocking emergency exits, which at ended up not only destroying their products but having their workers killed. The manufacturers of the factory were found Not Guilty in their trail for manslaughter. The incident of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was used as a cautionary tale, that ended up helping the ILGWU to put the Sullivan-Hoey Fire Prevention Law into place.

            The video “Triangle returns” also brings up a similar incident to that of The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. The similar incident occurred across the world in Bangladesh. The date was dec. 14. 2010, a fire had broken out in a factory in Bangladesh during a lunch break. Although the fire was occurring the workers were calm at first with the hopes that everything would be ok once they reached the emergency exits. However, the flames were too big that it blocked the exits, this made the workers try to leave from other fire exits but they were locked. Just like the incident of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, the workers began jumping out the windows in desperations. The story just repeated itself. And once again both the incidents had the exits locked to prevent theft. This just goes to show how much a company values their products more than these people’s lives. The workers in the Bangladesh factory were paid much, much less than what the workers in America were paid years ago. The snapshot by Jasmin H. where it shows a woman holding up a sign that says “I don’t want to DIE for FASHION” is a very powerful image because it discusses how the pay that these workers are receiving is so little, with such high risks. Of course, many people are in desperate need of work but the way these sweatshops pay these workers is unbelievable considering the income that they are receiving for the products being made.

Finally, the reading of “Virginia just became the 38^th State to Pass the Equal Rights Amendment”, speaks on exactly that. The reading of the timeline in women’s suffrage, showed how the ERA has yet to be fully placed. According to the reading the ERA has fulfilled the “requirement that three-quarters of the states approve an amendment in order to add it to the U.S. Constitution”. Although the proposition for the ERA had been proposed centuries ago, now in modern day are we so close for the ERA to be added to the constitution. According to the article, the “… ratification seemed to be a given, with states quickly approving the amendment, but those ratifications slowed to a trickle. Crucially, the amendment’s passage had had a major consequence: mobilizing anti-feminists, including its arch- opponent Phyllis Schlafly, to defeat it.”. The article mentions that it won’t be an easy ride and will most likely not be added anytime soon. Because there was a deadline for the ratification of the ERA it makes it difficult.

In the early 1800s, a new job possibility for women emerged: factory work. The majority of males did not want to work in industries under the supervision of another guy. Whether as farmers, storekeepers, blacksmiths, or other types of businessmen, they preferred to be their own bosses. Many of the original factory workers were women, due to men’s aversion of factory work.

Women make the majority of the world’s clothing. These laborers are typically young, have little education, and reside in underdeveloped nations. Employment in the garment industry for a woman is a wonderful development, but it does not always imply empowerment or even equality. Industrial conditions have improved significantly and consistently in recent years, but, as is typically the case, advances for women have lagged behind.