Exploitation and sexual harassment of female workers uncovered at Barbie doll factory in China
ActionAid Ireland chief executive Karol Balfe said the investigation was deeply troubling, showing the company makes billions in profits annually while female workers are abused and exploited. File picture
Irish consumers have been urged to sign a petition calling on toy giant Mattel to end the sexual harassment and exploitation of female workers in a vast Barbie doll factory in China.
It follows the release of an undercover investigation, led by ActionAid France and China Labour Watch, that exposes a litany of abuses facing female production line workers in the Mattel factory in Chang’an, Guangdong, currently the sole Barbie production site in China. It found a number of issues including:
- Most workers get a basic salary for a standard 40-hour week of 2,200 yuan (€278), not enough to cover basic living needs and making women more dependent on overtime;
- Vulnerable women are offered short-term work that flouts workplace health and safety practices, stability and well-being;
- Accommodation and meal costs are deducted from employee wages, leaving some people with little money at the end of a month;
- Assembly-line employees work an average of six days a week, 10 hours a day, with a 40-minute lunch break, racking up between 84 and 110 hours of overtime a month, in breach of Article 41 of the Chinese Labour Law, which states workers must work no more than 36 hours of overtime a month;
- Abuse and harassment from management, with an extremely hierarchical management model that produces and perpetuates a climate of control and surveillance and feeds a culture of domination;
- Workers must produce at least two products a minute, leaving little time for breaks in order to meet the daily quotas;
- Workplace accidents are common. Two relatively serious accidents involving forklifts occurred within a week during the investigation;
- Workers are exposed to hazardous substances daily, sometimes without protective equipment;
- The health needs of women are unmet, mainly in relation to pregnancy, menstrual health and breastfeeding;
- Everyday sexual harassment of female staff with “verbal harassment and leering in the workshops, dormitories and in the street” as well as on the work WeChat group where men regularly make degrading sexual comments about the physical appearance of their female colleagues.
The findings are being publicised in the run-up to Christmas in the hope consumers will pressure the toy maker into making changes.
ActionAid Ireland chief executive Karol Balfe said the investigation was deeply troubling, showing the company makes billions in profits annually while female workers are abused and exploited.
“Yet Barbie is being held up as an icon for girls in Ireland and all over the world,” she said.
“Mattel has said that 58 million dolls are sold every year — about 100 dolls a minute — to people in 150 countries around the world. Barbie is once again one of the most popular girls’ toys in Ireland this Christmas.
“They experience exploitation and gender-based violence on a daily basis, while Mattel continues to pursue its quest for feminist respectability.”
It is not the first time ActionAid has discovered abuses at Barbie factories in China.
In 2019 and 2020, two investigations in Guangdong province revealed systemic gender-based violence in Mattel factories with widespread, normalised sexual harassment, women subjected to regular abuse, including verbal harassment and unwanted physical advances, from male colleagues or managers.
And earlier this year, an investigation by Channel 4's reported on bullying, harassment and unsafe working conditions on the factory floors in China.
Mattel has been asked for a comment. It has previously said the accusations are being taken seriously, and an audit has been commissioned.
ActionAid has urged Irish people to sign a petition which will be sent to Mattel, along with thousands of petitions gathered in France, in February.
You can sign the petition here.
