It is human nature to relate most closely to the culture and beliefs that we have grown up with, but in an increasingly multi-cultural society, the intersection of faith and identity becomes ever more blurred. When we consider this in the context of “religion”, as Kwame Anthony Appiah points out during his Ted Talk, religion itself is not a thing, and the beliefs of every different faith determine the behaviour, culture and practices of the society within which it is embedded.
This is never more evident than in the fashion industry, and how we choose to dress.
I first saw this image when I invited The Babel Group to deliver some cross-cultural training to my team of buyers, before embarking on a sourcing trip to China, India and Bangladesh. It has stayed with me ever since, as a reminder that we are often blinkered, and potentially highly judgemental/biased, when it comes to making an effort to understand a different cultural perspective. This is a clear example of what Appiah means, when he discusses the fact that one religion, with specific beliefs, is also likely to believe that other religions, do not believe the right things. This unconscious bias is driven by perceptions of a person based on their beliefs or appearance.
‘Bikini vs. Burqa’, 7 January 2011. © Malcolm Evans
Those foreign business tours and factory visits often caused me to wrestle with the conflicting interests that I faced, as a buyer, working for a business that was focused on profit and growth, and as a woman, mother, sister, who struggled to reconcile the needs of the business with the cultural and financial aspects of life for those in our supply chains.
On one occasion, I was visiting a factory in Dhaka, where the majority of the workforce were Muslim women, all of whom wore head coverings, in accordance with their faith and values. There were mens t-shirts on the production line, going through for a British retailer. The image on the t-shirt was of a topless woman, in a very suggestive pose. Given the concept of modesty (Jawad, 2022), I was a little taken aback, and asked the male production supervisor how the female workers felt about producing such an item, given their embodied faith & gender? His reply “I have no idea, we’ve never asked them”. Not one to shy away from a difficult conversation, I wanted to know if he would mind if I asked, to which he agreed. By now word had gone round the factory and we had attracted quite a crowd of, mainly male, supervisors and managers. Someone translated my question for the women, but they clearly did not want to jeopardise their employment by upsetting senior managers, so were very coy and non committal in their responses. Some of their male colleagues were not so reticent; it became very clear that they found the image very offensive, and would not want their wives, mothers, sisters, daughters handling such a product.
This strikes me as an example of ethical and epistemic injustice (Rekis, 2023), if I am understanding the the theory correctly, in the assumption on the behalf of the British retailer, that it is acceptable to expect Muslim women to work on these products, which are the very definition of sexual objectification, despite their faith and beliefs. The experience led me to better understand the intersectionality of faith, race and gender in the context of fashion production, not least in the socio-economic context of the workforce in Bangladesh, where poverty and the sheer volume of people, forces women into minimum wage jobs to supplement family income.
This lived experience and a number of other occasions like it, has shaped me into a better communicator and lecturer. Empathy, tolerance and an ability to absorb and understand different perspectives, are key to performance in a global business environment, and these are qualities that I aim to instil in my students.
Resources
Appiah, K. A. (2014) Is religion good or bad? (This is a trick question). Youtube [Online]. 16 June. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2et2KO8gcY
Babel Language & Cultural Training (no date) Why Your Employees Need Cross Cultural Training. Available at: https://www.babelgroup.co.uk/about/babel-blog/why-your-employees-need-cross-cultural-training/
Rekis, J. (2023) Religious Identity and Epistemic Injustice: An Intersectional Account. Hypatia 38, pp779–800. Available to download below and also Moodle via the Workshops 2 Supplementary Readings folder.
Jawad, H. (2022) Islam, Women and Sport: The Case of Visible Muslim Women. [Online]. Available at: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/religionglobalsociety/2022/09/islam-women-and-sport-the-case-of-visible-muslim-women/
Trinity University (2016) Challenging Race, Religion, and Stereotypes in the Classroom. [Online]. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CAOKTo_DOk
Oh, so insightful Julia. Interesting that you invited a company to deliver cross-cultural training for your buyers, I wish that my company had done it before sending me to China and India in my mid twenties by myself. I like your gentle insistence and curiosity that you showed during your factory visit.
I would love to have a conversation that clarifies if your second example falls into ‘epistemic injustice’, as that would mean the British retailer diminishes the Muslim factory in their capacity as a knower. I imagine it might be a situation, in which to identify the stakeholder’s interest, something Trinity University’s speaker touches on.
I found Appiah’s take so fascinating that I began watching his BBC Reith series, which explains his philosophical stand and its implications in more detail. My favourite quote from Creed: “Once you think of creedal identities in terms of mutable practices and communities rather than sets of immutable beliefs, religion becomes more verb than noun. The identity is revealed as an activity not a thing and it’s the nature of activities to bring change.”
This is so interesting when framed from the point of view of the fashion industry, Julia! This is an area I have cero insight into, so thank you for sharing your experiences. I strongly believe this personal experiences are a source of growth and so valuable to shape how you teach. Also, that Malcolm Evans illustration is spot on in showing the bias we all have in such a succinct way. Oh, the powerful things we can do when we communicate with images 😉