Pakistan’s craftswomen look to global markets
Author: Ajay Kumar
Article Date: 13 Nov 2007
International designers help create a collection of textiles for global buyers
Akhtar Bano, from Giljit in northern Pakistan, has been interested in handicrafts and embroidery since she was 20-years-old.
However, her hobby has never provided her with a steady income. Instead, Mrs Bano has supported her family mainly through growing vegetables and herding livestock.
After leaving school at 15 to get married, and subsequently spending much of the time looking after her ailing mother-in-law, Mrs Bano’s handicraft work primarily involved producing items for the family home.
But this could be about to change. In September 2007 Mrs Bano was one of 60 Pakistani women textile artisans chosen to attend master class workshops organised by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the community-based Rural Support Programmes Network (RSPN).
Seven international designers interacted with Pakistani women in Karachi and Giljit to produce innovative designs and improve their knowledge of Western markets. Five interns from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in London and Iqra University in Islamabad assisted the designers at the workshops.
“Pakistani women have been doing this for a very long time and our methods can be old fashioned. With international designers and expert advice, we now have a fresh way of looking at our work and are able to do so much more,” explained Mrs Bano.
Many women like Mrs Bano from Pakistan and other Commonwealth countries, find it difficult to earn good incomes and are bound by the gender norms in their country.
These classes are part of a long-term project by the Gender section of the Secretariat and RSPN to support Pakistani craftswomen in producing marketing and selling their goods to buyers in Pakistan and abroad.
Fatimah Kelleher, Programme Officer in the Social Transformation Programmes Division at the Secretariat says: “These women have talent and extraordinary skills, which if harnessed strategically within the textile products industry can yield steady incomes for them and their families in a modern international market.”
The Secretariat is planning an international exhibition of the work produced by these craftswomen, which will be held in London, early next year. The exhibition is targeted at international retailers, buyers and designers within the textiles market, and will feature traditional designs, contemporary artwork and visual documentation and testimonials detailing the experiences of these women.
The Gender section at the Secretariat and RSPN are also hoping to assist these women in setting up self-sufficient ‘Enterprise Co-operatives,’ which allow women to come together and manage, distribute and sustain their own incomes, independent of middlemen.
Mrs Bano feels that the co-operatives would offer a “new beginning that will help improve the lives of everyday women in Pakistan.”
Projects such as this aim to help Pakistani women artisans financially benefit from the high-end textiles market by empowering them to control and manage their own roles within the lucrative industry and ensure fair returns for their labours.
Akhtar Bano was interviewed by Shakila Parveen, Business Mobiliser from the Aga Khan rural support programme in Gilgit, Pakistan.