1 minute read
No, artisanwomenfairs aren’t enough to empower them
By Bakht Noor
You may be wandering through the Daachi or Haryali exhibition in Lahore and stop by a stall selling exquisite earthen pots. Or you might be scrolling through Instagram and come across a business account selling artisanal, hand-embroided kurtas. There is no doubt that Pakistan has perhaps the most incredible, indigenous handicrafts, regionally distinctive-ranging from Sindhi ajrak, Multani (blue) pottery to the Peshawari chappal. With flourishing online businesses and ubiquitous handicrafts’ exhibitions in metropolitan centres, artisanal products have found new markets. There is a renewed interest in local crafts.
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Such fairs have become ubiquitous across the country, and while they are all the rage and many are endeavouring to help, there is a limitation to what they can achieve.
One might appreciate the resplendence of a pashmina shawl without seeing the labour that was put into crafting it. Many of these handicrafts are made by marginalised women artisans, who are based in remote places. Lacking technological access and social outreach, they mostly depend on more affluent entrepreneurs for selling their products.
According to the International Labour Organization (ILO), nearly 65% of Pakistani women earn their livelihood through cottage industries. Despite this, women’s labour is not a precursor to their financial empowerment.
Two women involved in organising outlets for the sales of products prepared by women artisans spoke to Profit about their efforts.
And though both efforts have been in different capacities and under different circumstances, the problems remain the same.
Many underprivileged, women artisans are selling fruits of their labour through privileged, urban entrepreneurs at exhibitions and pop-ups across big cities. While ostensibly empowering women, many of these ventures become exploitative. Entrepreneurs tend to keep high profit margins and only return a fraction of their earnings to the artisans who shed their sweat, blood and tears into crafting these products. Class is indeed a social denominator that can’t be ignored when it comes to women’s empowerment, as elite women are certainly more privileged than their non-elite counterparts. The question then becomes, how can underprivileged, artisan women be made less dependent on such entrepreneurs?
