The Story of
Kalpona Akter
Kalpona Akter
A Lifelong Struggle Against Labor Exploitation
By Harry Swanson
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"ONE PERSON SPEAKS, IT'S LIKE RINGING A BELL. A SMALL BELL CAN MAKE A HUGE NOISE WHEN MANY ARE GATHERED TOGETHER. YOU CAN CHANGE THIS SITUATION." Loading...
- Kalpona AkterLoading...
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"ONE PERSON SPEAKS, IT'S LIKE RINGING A BELL. A SMALL BELL CAN MAKE A HUGE NOISE WHEN MANY ARE GATHERED TOGETHER. YOU CAN CHANGE THIS SITUATION." Loading...
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- Kalpona AkterWhat is activism?
Activism is all about bringing people together from all walks of life behind a common cause. Activism can come in many different forms inspired by many different challenges. By bringing awareness to a problem activists hope they will not be alone in their struggles.
Activism can be incredibly hard, even dangerous work, often requiring those leading to make great personal sacrifice, but it is the best way for those without power to change society!
Some famous activists that you have probably heard of!
Mahatma Gandhi was an anti-colonialism activist in India during the first half of the 20th century
Nelson Mandela was an anti-Apartheid activist in South Africa and the country's first ever black President!
The story of Kalpona Akter begins in a small town of Chandpur Bangladesh in 1976. Kalpona was born into a poor family and forced to begin working in a garment factory at the age of 12 after her father could no longer provide for the family.
Chandpur Bangladesh is a major port city in Bangladesh. It sits just miles away from where the the Dakatia and Meghna rivers meet!
Kalpona was working up to 400 hours a month while only being paid around 6 US dollars. Kalpona was often physically abused by her supervisors while being asked to work for 16 hours straight.
To put that in perspective, the typical kid in the US spends around 6.5 hours in school. If you spent 6.5 hours every day in school for the next four weeks that would only be 182 hours!
In Bangladesh alone, there are over 4 million people working in Garment factories, 85% of which are women. Often the buildings that Garment factories are in have taken few precautions against Covid-19 and are not up to fire safety standards.
Kalpona knew the conditions she was working in were unfair but she did not know what she could do about it. That changed when activists showed up at her factory to educate the women on ways to fight back against the factory owners.
These activists were labor rights organizers. They went all over Bangladesh to Garment factories educating workers on their rights and their ability to stand together to fight for them!
Kalpona learned from these organizers that her employers did not have the right to make her work more than 8 hours without extra pay. She did not know her supervisors were not allowed to intimidate her physically and emotionally. But most importantly Kalpona learned she and her fellow employees had the right to unionize.