Hoards of women walk out of the gates. It must be just after 4pm. Each woman is dressed in pseudo-trendy clothes wears some kind of badge. The badge, which hangs from a lanyard on the woman's neck, is in Khmer. It appears to be some kind of employee identification. Some walk alone or in groups, others pile onto large trucks (share-taxis). The women chat with friends and fellow employees. A factory worker probably makes less in a day than you or I do in an hour, but still the women smile and laugh as they make their way back home.
I have to wonder: Are we helping them? Why should these women spend their day inside a factory so I can buy a $6 shirt at the Gap? Maybe working in a factory is a good job here in Cambodia. It is a job, after all, with a salary... the women seem happy and healthy enough. Are we helping by giving them a job and, thus, supporting their local economy? Maybe. Maybe a Cambodian woman can support a family on a factory worker's salary. Even so, why is her time, her life, worth less than yours or mine?
Next time you buy a shirt, check the tag. It might say "Made in Cambodia."
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