Notes from the field… Jordan — Invisible workers

Ever wondered what life looks like for workers around the world in the global garment and footwear industry? Although workers in supply chains are vital to our everyday lives, we know very little about the women who make our clothes and shoes. Our research team is conducting in-depth, ethnographic research, getting to know and understand the working and home lives of these invisible women across four production locations: in Cambodia, Ethiopia, Jordan, and the UK. In the first of a series introducing our field sites, Katharina Grüneisl sends us snapshots and updates from her research visit to Jordan in autumn 2023.

All photos ©Grüneisl 2023 Jordan

In Jordan, the export-oriented garment industry is mainly concentrated in three industrial zones, namely Al-Hassan (Irbid), Tajammoat (Sahab) and Ad-Dhulayl (Zarqa), the entrance of which is pictured here. These industrial zones were created in the end of the 1990s as so-called Qualified Industrial Zones (QIZs), originally to foster economic development through Israeli-Jordanian joint ventures in the context of the 1994 peace accords.

Today, most of the garment factories located in these industrial zones produce synthetic clothing for US brands, benefitting from a free trade agreement (JOFTA) that exempts apparel made in Jordan from import tariffs in the United States. The majority of garment suppliers located in Jordan are Asian, and many of them operate production units in several countries.

75% of garment workers in Jordan are migrant workers, and 25% are Jordanian, a quota imposed by the Ministry of Labour since 2012. The vast majority of workers come from South Asia, most importantly Bangladesh and India, and over 70% of workers in the garment sector are women. Migrant workers live in dormitories, like the ones pictured here, within or right adjacent to the industrial zones and the rent is directly deducted from their monthly salaries.

Our research in Jordan examines garment workers’ priorities and concerns regarding health and well-being, with a focus on gendered perceptions and experiences. Beyond an assessment of access to health services, insurance and occupational health and safety, we interrogate the broader impact of factory work, but also of living and working in the industrial zones and of migration experiences, on workers’ physical and mental well-being.

Most workers eat at least one meal a day in the factory canteen, and migrant workers have the cost for catering automatically deducted from monthly wages. As garment workers are paid below the national minimum wage (220 JD/month), they routinely supplement wages through overtime work hours, resulting in a highly intensive labour regime that leaves almost no time for activities like cooking.