Mass fainting in garment factories in Cambodia

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice Eisenbruch
Keyword(s):  
Health Workers ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Khmer Rouge ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Industrial Accidents ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Phnom Penh ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Garment Factories ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

This paper reports an ethnographic study of mass fainting among garment factory workers in Cambodia. Research was undertaken in 2010–2015 in 48 factories in Phnom Penh and 8 provinces. Data were collected in Khmer using nonprobability sampling. In participant observation with monks, factory managers, health workers, and affected women, cultural understandings were explored. One or more episodes of mass fainting occurred at 34 factories, of which 9 were triggered by spirit possession. Informants viewed the causes in the domains of ill-health/toxins and supernatural activities. These included “haunting” ghosts at factory sites in the wake of Khmer Rouge atrocities or recent fatal accidents and retaliating guardian spirits at sites violated by foreign owners. Prefigurative dreams, industrial accidents, or possession of a coworker heralded the episodes. Workers witnessing a coworker fainting felt afraid and fainted. When taken to clinics, some showed signs of continued spirit influence. Afterwards, monks performed ritual ceremonies to appease spirits, extinguish bonds with ghosts, and prevent recurrence. Decoded through its cultural motifs of fear and protest, contagion, forebodings, the bloody Khmer Rouge legacy, and trespass, mass fainting in Cambodia becomes less enigmatic.

Factory as Home and Family: Female Workers in the Moroccan Garment Industry

1998 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Cairoli
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Shop Floor ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Interior Space ◽  
Patriarchal Family ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

The study of women's participation in factory labor must be focused on the specific ways in which women all over the world experience, interpret and give meaning to their work on the shop floor. Over the past two decades, garment manufacture has become a major export industry in Morocco and females have provided the labor power for the industry's growth. In conducting an ethnographic study of Moroccan garment factory workers, I found that workers sought to imbue the factory with their most cherished cultural values, thus transforming the factory rather than allowing the factory to transform them. Central to these values is each worker's identity as daughter, sister, and perhaps wife and mother in a patriarchal family. In their effort to preserve this valued notion of themselves as kinswomen, workers transform the workshop floor into an interior space, recast factory staff into family members, and operate in the factory as they would in the household. Thus, the factory becomes a uniquely Moroccan space, and workers find meaning in their labor there. However, in their perpetuation of treasured notions of self, home, family and gender inside the factory, workers render themselves more amenable to the factory's exploitation.

scholarly journals Development of an intervention to support reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia: a qualitative study

BMJ Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. e049254
Author(s):  
Chris Smith ◽  
Ly Sokhey ◽  
Camille Florence Eder Tijamo ◽  
Megan McLaren ◽  
Caroline Free ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Intervention Mapping ◽  
Intervention Development ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Phnom Penh ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to describe the development of an intervention to support the reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.DesignA qualitative study informed by intervention mapping which included semistructured interviews and participant observation, followed by intervention development activities including specifying possible behaviour change, designing the intervention, and producing and refining intervention content.SettingThe research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in public health, linguistics, digital cultures and service delivery in a suburb of Phnom Penh where many garment factories cluster.ParticipantsGarment factory workers in Cambodia; typically young women aged under 30 years who have migrated from rural areas to Phnom Penh city.OutcomesAnalysis of reproductive health issues facing garment factory workers and metrics of videos developed.ResultsOur research identified some challenges that Cambodian garment factory workers experience regarding contraception and abortion. Concerns or experience of side-effects were identified as an important determinant leading to non-use of effective contraception and subsequent unintended pregnancy. Financial constraints and a desire to space pregnancies were the main reported reasons to seek an abortion. Information about medical abortion given to women by private providers was often verbal, with packaging and the drug information leaflet withheld. In order to address limitations in the provision of accessible reproductive health information for factory workers, and given their observed widespread use of social media, we decided to make three ‘edutainment’ videos about family planning. Key social media metrics of the videos were evaluated after 1 month.ConclusionsWe describe the development of an intervention to support reproductive health among garment factory workers in Cambodia. These videos could be further improved and additional videos could be developed. More work is required to develop appropriate and effective interventions to support reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.

Workplace health program intervention in Port Said, Egypt

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Health Program ◽  
Peer Educators ◽  
Workplace Health ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Garment Factories ◽  
Program Intervention ◽  
Increasing Demand ◽  
Port Said ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

This video describes an intervention conducted by the Evidence Project in Port Said, Egypt, aimed at increasing demand for private family planning health (FP/RH) services among young men and women (aged 18–35 years) who work in garment factories. In Port Said, the intervention was aimed at young garment factory workers, where selected factory workers were trained to serve as peer educators and to provide FP/RH messages to their co-workers, referring them to the infirmary nurse for more information and counseling, as needed. This nurse referred those who desired more services or FP methods to trained physicians and pharmacists. This video also describes how factory health committees were created to ensure sustainability of the program in each factory. This video, which is in Arabic with English subtitles, can be used to introduce a worker health program to factory leadership.

Transition to Adulthood of Female Garment-Factory Workers in Bangladesh

1998 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sajeda Amin ◽  
Ian Diamond ◽  
Ruchira T. Naved ◽  
Margaret Newby
Keyword(s):  
Transition To Adulthood ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

Development of an Intervention to Support Reproductive Health of Garment Factory Workers in Cambodia

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Smith ◽  
Ly Sokhey ◽  
Camille Tijamo ◽  
Megan McLaren ◽  
Caroline Free ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Health ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Intervention Mapping ◽  
Intervention Development ◽  
Community Support ◽  
Medical Abortion ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

Abstract Background: Garment factory workers in Cambodia are potentially a vulnerable population in terms of support for reproductive health issues and access to services, as the majority are young women aged under 30 years who have migrated from rural areas away from their family and community support. The aim of this paper was to describe the development of an intervention to support the reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.Methods: The research was conducted by a multidisciplinary team with backgrounds in public health, linguistics, digital cultures and service delivery in a suburb of Phnom Penh where many garment factories cluster. Informed by intervention mapping approaches, we conducted a needs assessment with general and participant observation and semi-structured interviews, followed by intervention development activities including specifying possible behaviour change, designing the intervention and producing and refining intervention content.Results: Our research identified some challenges that Cambodian garment factory workers experience regarding contraception and abortion. Concerns or experience of side-effects were identified as an important determinant leading to non-use of effective contraception and subsequent unintended pregnancy. Financial constraints or a desire to space pregnancies were the main reported reasons to seek an abortion. Information about medical abortion given to women by private providers was often verbal, with packaging and the drug information leaflet withheld. Given the observed widespread use of social media among factory workers, we developed three short ‘edutainment’ videos about contraception which were evaluated after one month. In addition we adapted three informative videos made by Marie Stopes International (MSI) from English to the Khmer language, and also adapted the MSI medical abortion ‘Mariprist’ instruction leaflet to a simple video format.Conclusions: We describe the development of an intervention to support reproductive health among garment factory workers in Cambodia. These videos could be further improved and additional videos could be developed. More work is required to develop appropriate and effective interventions to support reproductive health of garment factory workers in Cambodia.

scholarly journals The Prevalence and Risk Factors of Depression: A Comparison Study of Garment Factory Workers in Bangladesh

2017 ◽  
Vol 83 (1) ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
T.J. Fitch ◽  
G. Villanueva ◽  
J. Moran ◽  
H. Alamgir ◽  
R. Sagiraju ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Risk Factors ◽  
Comparison Study ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

Urinary symptoms and infections among female garment factory workers in Bangladesh

Work ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 847-856
Author(s):  
Jacxelyn Moran ◽  
Taylor Jennelle Fitch ◽  
Gabriela Villanueva ◽  
Mohammad Morshedul Quadir ◽  
Lung-Chang Chien ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urinary Symptoms ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

Performing 'Dis-respectability': New Tastes, Cultural Practices, and Identity Performances by Sri Lanka's Free Trade Zone Garment-Factory Workers

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandya Hewamanne
Keyword(s):  
Free Trade ◽  
Cultural Practices ◽  
Industrial Workers ◽  
Factory Workers ◽  
Free Trade Zones ◽  
Reading Material ◽  
Garment Factory ◽  
Cultural Domination ◽  
Film Reading ◽  
Garment Factory Workers

This article describes and analyzes how female garment-factory workers in Sri Lanka's Free Trade Zones collectively express their difference from dominant classes and males and articulate their identities as a gendered group of migrant industrial workers by cultivating different tastes and by engaging in oppositional cultural practices. In the urban, modernized, and globalized areas of the FTZs, women develop unique tastes in the realms of music, dance, film, reading material, styles of dress, speech, and mannerisms. By performing subcultural styles that are subversive critiques of dominant values in public spaces, they pose a conscious challenge to the continued economic, social, and cultural domination they endure. But while workers' participation in a stigmatized culture is explicitly transgressive and critical at some levels, their demonstrated acquiescence to different hegemonic influences marks the inseparability of resistance and accommodation.

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