Guatemala: Workers' Rights are Human Rights
The Problem
Women are being abused and exploited in hundreds of sweatshop factories around Guatemala City. Labor laws are rarely enforced in these maquilas, where women (who comprise 80 percent of the workforce) assemble name-brand clothing for export to the US. The women are often beaten and sexually harassed by managers. They suffer life-long health problems from factory toxins and the strain of repetitive manual work. Few maquilas are unionized, and women who have dared to organize have been harassmed, kidnapped, tortured, and even assassinated. In the shantytowns of Guatemala City, such as the Bárcenas neighborhood where MADRE works, women who labor in maquilas struggle to care for their families without clean drinking water, basic sanitation, or health care.
The Solution
Labor Rights Advocacy: MADRE trains women maquila workers on labor laws, building their capacity to demand their workplace rights. Through sustained support for our partner organization, the Women Workers’ Committee, MADRE ensures that a vibrant local organization can provide women with the social support and protection they need to confront serious human rights abuses.
Education: MADRE co-founded and built a computer school and literacy center, where women learn to read and gain the job skills they need to transition out of the maquila sector. MADRE provides English language instruction so that women can better navigate the Internet and advocate more effectively for their labor rights at the international level.
Health Care: MADRE provides public water filters, reproductive health services, and asthma treatment for women and families who have no other source of healthcare. The MADRE-supported computer school serves as a community health center, where MADRE conducts sexual and reproductive health workshops and sponsors regular community health fairs. At the fairs women receive free PAP smears, health and hygiene supplies, school supplies for their children, and vital information about family planning, nutrition, and preventive health care.
The Results
- Women who work in maquilas are better equipped to demand their rights in the workplace. The women are identifying and documenting instances of unfair labor practices and advocating for their rights through Guatemala's Ministry of Labor.
- Children in Bárcenas are being vaccinated for the first time.
- Hundreds of women are benefiting from the Bárcenas computer school, gaining job skills in word processing, typewriting, and Internet research.
- Women who have been denied the right to an education are learning to read and write. Currently, there are more than 500 people (mainly women) enrolled at the adult literacy center. Dozens of women who completed the program have now graduated from the Guatemalan National Agricultural School’s advanced literacy course.
- Women with no access to healthcare now receive a range of sexual and reproductive health services, including regular PAP smears for early detection of cervical cancer.
- The women of Bárcenas are building an enduring social network needed to sustain a struggle for human rights both on and off the factory floor.
