By Faye Price
Already the highest-grossing film by a female director ever, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie (2023) is also set to become the biggest film of 2023 in the U.S., having earned over $574.2m at the domestic box office as of Wednesday 23rd August. The film has been both lauded and derided for its feminist message, banned in countries like Algeria and the Philippines, and accused by some of not going far enough in its dressing-down of the patriarchy.
But peel away these layers of dialogue, including the hefty amount of marketing that convinced some of us that yes, we really did need Burger King’s special Barbie pink burger, and Mattel’s parroted commitment to, “fostering a culture where all employees have the opportunity to realize their full potential,” and you come face-to-face with what really keeps the company going; the women who make the dolls. The women who work for just under £200 per month in some factories, with many clocking in over 80 hours overtime each month. For their trouble, many of these women are sexually harassed, exploited, and abused, often with no repercussions for the perpetrators.
Issues within these factories are deeply rooted, and go back a long way. In 2004, an audit from two factories in Mexico found that female workers were being routinely sexually harassed by their colleagues. In one of the two factories, 30% of women reported being victims of sexual assault.
Well over a decade later, ActionAid France published the condemning results of an investigation in 2019 about the trivialisation of sexual harassment in Foshan Nanhai Mattel Precision Diecast factory. In China, women represent up to 70% of those employed on production lines. In the report, it was revealed that out of ten female workers with whom the investigator was able to speak with at length, four described instances of sexual harassment. One reported being followed home by two male workers at the factory, while another said of a male colleague, “He comes to me at every break. I would like for him to leave me alone. I am very scared.”
These workers did not alert factory management, feeling that they did not have sufficient evidence and that it would therefore be “word against word.” Some believed that reporting the harassment would not change anything, while others feared for their safety.
A similar investigation by SOLIDAR Suisse found that sexual harassment at Mattel factories is commonplace. It was stated:
“Inappropriate comments about her appearance, raunchy remarks, unwanted touching and the dissemination of degrading photos: The researcher observed various forms of sexual harassment. These events took place under the supervision of the team leaders but did not trigger any reactions from management. On the contrary, they often made nasty jokes and comments themselves. In a working environment where perpetrators are not threatened with any consequences, the women do not dare to defend themselves. The workers are also afraid of being fired and are therefore very reluctant to criticise.”
After the results of the 2004 report were published, Mattel promised to take the issue seriously. However, these latest reports by Action Aid and SOLIDAR Suisse prove that this hasn’t been the case. But it is debatable how much responsibility Mattel should bear when half of its toys are made in facilities that the company doesn’t own, such as the factory in the industrial area of Shenzhen, China.
Since 2020, reports of the treatment (or mistreatment) of women at Mattel’s production centres have been virtually non-existent. One can only hope that the company has read the damning evidence and implemented the changes necessary worldwide to make the women who produce these dolls feel safe at work. Because surely if Barbie declares you can, ‘be anything,’ then this should apply to the people who mould her tiny body from plastic and screw her limbs together.
