© FEMNET
Young women aged 14-18 are kept in state-of-the-art spinning mills like slaves. Girls and young women – often from the caste of the Dalits, the ‘untouchables’ – are committed to textile factories in southern India for three years and more. They don't even get the minimum wage. At the end of working time, which is rarely regulated by contracts, there is a premium – often only a few hundred euros. Until recently, this form of slavery was called Sumangali (Happy Bride), because the premium was to serve as the bride's price. Meanwhile, the spinning mills no longer advertise the term, but the working conditions have not changed. If a young girl does not maintain the contract period with inhumane working conditions, she is not always entitled to payment of the premium.
