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How a sweatshop raid in an LA suburb changed the American garment industry
When Rotchana Sussman arrived in Los Angeles in 1994, she thought she was about to start a new, well-paying job as a garment worker.She had worked in a factory in her native country, Thailand. She’d...
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How we can create fashion that is inclusive and adaptive
Many young girls take fashion cues from their Barbie dolls, and I suppose I was no different. OK, I was pretty different. I have spastic diplegic cerebral palsy, and when I was about 10, someone gave...
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How do consumers make good choices about clothes? Spider silk and brand...
It took him 32 years, but scientist Sam Hudson and a team of other researchers have found a way to produce silk without silkworms. Unlike fabrics such as polyester or nylon, there’s no petroleum-based...
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Are factories better in Bangladesh after Rana Plaza? That depends on who you...
What if she hadn’t lost her shoe that day? Arati Baladas wonders about this sometimes.Baladas is 20, and she sometimes replays in her mind that moment on April 24, 2013, when she scrambled to find her...
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Working in a garment factory may not bring this mother and daughter long-term...
Sometimes, Rongmala Begum wonders who wears the sweaters she makes. There isn’t a lot of time to stop and think about this when Begum is at the garment factory where she works in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Too...
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Women in Germany's east earn close to what men do. Can we thank socialism for...
If someone in Germany calls you a “raven mother,” it's not a compliment. Rabenmutter is a women-only put-down, a reference to the bird notorious for shoving her babies out of the nest.“This word exists...
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An Argentine startup that makes shoes from discarded tire scraps and employs...
More than 100,000 tons of rubber tires are disposed of every year in Argentina. The majority of them are burned, contributing to the country’s already huge air pollution problem. So, when Alejandro...
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How good is H&M’s clothing recycling program?
The clothes we wear come with their own environmental baggage.Consider that a cotton T-shirt requires roughly 700 gallons of water to produce. Each year, the production of polyester emits roughly 1.5...
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These women in the Philippines scour a dump site for trash to turn into...
To grow, blossom or bloom — this is what the Filipino word, lumago, means in the Philippines’ national language. But for the women of Lumago Designs, the word has symbolic meaning, as well.“We wanted...
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In one of his final acts as mayor, Ed Lee stands up for 'comfort women'
The statue stands at the back of St. Mary’s Square in San Francisco’s Chinatown. Three girls, cast in bronze — one Chinese, one Korean and one Filipino — stand on a pedestal holding hands. In front of...
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My family's ties to the global garment industry
My lineage is wrapped up in the garment industry. My grandfather on my dad’s side was in the garment business. My aunties on my mom’s side were also in the industry.My dad was a doctor, and when I was...
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H&M's statement about sexual harassment allegations in Bangladeshi factories
On Across Women's Lives' recent reporting trip to Bangladesh, we interviewed several women about work conditions in the garment factories. We were trying to find out whether the factories they work in...
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A French entrepreneur's memoirs tell remarkable tales of 30 years of battling...
Seven years ago, Mariame Tighanimine, a 23-year-old French woman, was running a saucy, feminist webzine for Muslim women with her sister Khadija Tighanimine, called Hijab and the City. That was also...
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How journalists corroborate sexual harassment and assault claims
As stories of sexual harassment and assault continue to pour out across the American media landscape, journalists are grappling with the best ways to cover these allegations. “There’s no real guidebook...
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Extreme weather is wreaking havoc on the lives of women farmers in Fiji
Sunila Wati arranges green beans and pumpkins at her farmer’s market booth in the town of Rakiraki. It’s almost all women selling fruits and vegetables here, and Wati chats with the market ladies in...
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This 24-year-old has created a board game about arranged marriage
For many young women and their families across the globe, marriage isn't a game.In fact, it's taken so seriously that matches are arranged sometimes years in advance. Often, not much thought is given...
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In New York, this statue causes some students to shudder
Every day, Seshat Mack wakes up and takes the bus to school. She’s a doctoral student in science, from Harlem. Every morning, the bus drops her off in front of a statue of a man looking down kind of...
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Teens, born after 9/11, have a different perspective than those who lived...
I was sitting in the back seat of my dad’s Toyota, trying to convince him that I didn’t really need to go to school after my early morning visit to the dentist.Just as I was about to launch into my...
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These female marine scientists have a message for girls: Sharks aren't just...
When Alison Kock was a little girl, her father would take her out fishing for lobster. That was when she started to foster her passion for the ocean — and sharks.While fishing, shysharks would...
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He trolled a plus-size model on Twitter. She had the perfect comeback.
It was around 11 at night, and Lesego Legobane was getting ready to go to bed. A friend asked if she had seen the tweet about her, which had been circulating on the internet.It was posted by a Twitter...
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