Exposing the Sweatshop Exploitation

A year-long study of more than 500 workers in Cambodia, India and Bangladesh found women often work overtime or borrow money from their husbands to feed their families and pay rent. The largely female workforce in South Asia is often underpaid, faces verbal and sexual harassment on a daily basis and is forced to work long hours, campaigners say.

"I wouldn't have enough money if we ate a lot," read one entry by Chenda in Cambodia, where researchers found most workers were in their 20s and married, with some primary education and earned about $45 for a 48-hour week. In Cambodia, despite earning the minimum wage and supplementing their income with overtime, researchers found that most workers were still short of money, which meant they had limited access to quality food and medical care.

Researchers found that Bangladeshi women earned the least per hour, often forcing them to borrow money.