Date of publication: January 25, 2010
Source: IPS
Author: Zofeen Ebrahim
Home-based worker Suraj Jamal, 55, earns a paltry 11 U.S. cents for every 1,000 incense sticks she makes.
KARACHI, Jan 25, 2010 (IPS) - Razia Khatoon, 36, crouches over a huge wooden frame, her eyes squinting in the dimly lit room inside a squatter settlement in Orangi town in Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city.
She deftly stitches one bead after another to embellish a semi-finished embroidered woman’s dress, stretched over the frame. She says she has no time for "small talk" as the "order" has to be delivered within the day. "If we don’t finish this by the evening, we may not get another order," declares Khatoon....