British-Pakistani homeworkers and activist campaigns, 1962–2002

ABSTRACT

This article focuses on the testimony of twelve British-Pakistani women living in Oldham, drawn from a larger study about British-Pakistani women's relationship with formal and informal labour, between 1962-2002. These interviewees were either homeworkers for the garment industry or were the children of homeworkers. Homeworking is the practice of ‘doing paid employment in the home… for an employer, with little control over the way the work is done’. This work was inherently exploitative, given the long hours and menial pay. Nonetheless, my interviewees revealed that they were not passive victims of economic exploitation, despite being amongst the lowest paid workers in twentieth century Britain. Their testimony highlighted how resistance took many forms, as women managed the demands of waged labour with family responsibilities. Alongside small-scale acts of resistance taking place in homes across Britain, formalised activist campaigns emerged from the mid-1970s, with the purpose of informing homeworkers about their employment rights and changing labour laws. A long-held problem for campaigners-who were often white and middle-class- was reaching migrant women. By the 1990s, sources suggest that campaigns addressed this issue by employing South Asian activists, who were often better positioned to build connections with South Asian homeworkers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Jane Tate, ‘The National Group on Homeworking- United Kingdom’, in Action Programmes for the Protection of Homeworkers: Ten Case Studies from Around the World, ed. Ursula Hews (Geneva: International Labour Organisation, 1995), 81.

2 Hansard HC Deb. vol. 943, cc1812–22, 9 February 1978. Also see: Helen McCarthy, ‘Flexible Workers: The Politics of Homework in Postindustrial Britain’, Journal of British Studies 61, no. 1 (2022): 1–25, at p. 1–2.

3 Tate, ‘The National Group on Homeworking- United Kingdom’, 81.

4 See: Sheila Allen and Carol Wolkowitz, Homeworking: Myths and Realities (London: Macmillan Education, 1987); Shelley Pennington and Belinda Westover, A Hidden Workforce: Homeworkers in England 1850–1985 (London: Macmillan Education, 1989); Liz Bisset and Ursula Huws, Sweated Labour: Homeworking in Britain Today (London: Low Pay Unit, 1985); Jane Tate, ‘Homework in Europe: A Paper for the Working Group on Economic and Social Cohesion’ (November 1991), Women’s Library, London School of Economics, London, 7SHR/X/01, File 2.

5 Allen and Wolkowitz, Homeworking: Myths and Realities, 59.

6 E.P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (London: Penguin Classics, 2013), 222.

7 Muhammad Anwar, The Myth of Return: Pakistanis in Britain (London: Heinemann Educational Books, 1979), 165. Also see: Virinder Kalra, From Textile Mills to Taxi Ranks: Experiences of Migration, Labour and Social Change (London: Routledge, 2000), 28.

8 Naila Kabeer, The Power to Choose: Bangladeshi Women and Labour Market Decisions in London and Dhaka (London, New York: Verso, 2000), 230.

9 See, for example: Verity Saifullah Khan, ‘Pakistani Women in Britain’, New Community 5, no. 1–2 (1976): 99–108, at p. 99; Anwar, The Myth of Return, 164–6; Amrit Wilson, Finding a Voice: South Asian Women in Britain (London: Virago, 1978), 35.

10 Annie Phizacklea and Carol Wolkowitz, ‘Homeworking in the 90s: A Case Study in Coventry (UK)’, University of Warwick and the World Congress of Sociology Madrid (1990): 25–8, Women’s Library, London School of Economics, London, 7SHR/X/16, Box FL 685.

11 Our Own Reporter, ‘Homeworker Paid 1p Per Hour’, The Guardian, December 7, 1976, 8; Marie Brown, ‘Cracker Trap: Sweated Labour, an Alarming Report on the Plight of Homeworkers, is Published Today’, The Guardian, December 19, 1974, 11; Bisset and Huws, Sweated Labour, 4.

12 Tony Kushner, ‘Alienated Memories: Migrants and the Silences of the Archives’, in Memory and History: Understanding Memory as Source and Subject, ed. Joan Tumblety (London and New York: Routledge, 2013), 190.

13 Jeannette A. Bastian, ‘Moving the Margins to the Middle: Reconciling ‘The Archive’ with the Archives’, in Engaging with Records and Archives: Histories and Theories, ed. Fiorella Foscarini, Heather MacNeil, Mak Bonnie, and Oliver Gillianm (London: Facet Publishing, 2016), 3–6.

14 Max Krochmal, ‘Connecting to Activists and the Public Through the Civil Rights in Black and Brown Oral History Project’, Labor Studies in Working Class History 13, no. 3–4 (2016): 15–17, at p. 15.

15 Charlotte Linde, Life Stories: The Creation of Coherence (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993), 98. Also see: Penny Summerfield, ‘Culture and Composure: Creating Narratives of the Gendered Self in Oral History Interviews’, The Journal of the Social History Society 1 (2004): 65–93.

16 Paul Thompson, ‘The Voice of the Past: Oral History’, in The Oral History Reader, ed. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson (London: Routledge, 2015), 34.

17 See, for example: Graham Smith, ‘Remembering in Groups: Negotiating Between ‘Individual’ and ‘Collective’ Memories’, in The Oral History Reader, ed. Robert Perks and Alistair Thomson (London: Routledge, 2015), 193–211; Patricia Lina Leavy, ‘The Practice of Feminist Oral History and Focus Group Interviews’, in The Practice of Qualitative Interviewing, ed. S. Hesse-Biber and P. Leavy (Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, 2011); Anna Green, ‘Can Memory be Collective’, in Oxford Handbook of Oral History, ed. Donald A. Ritchie (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010).

18 Ceri Peach, ‘South Asian Migration and Settlement in Great Britain, 1951–2001’, Contemporary South Asia 15, no. 2 (2006):133–46, at p. 134. For figures about the UK’s population growth since 1951, see: Office of National Statistics, ‘Overview of the UK Population November 2018’, https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates/articles/overviewoftheukpopulation/november2018 (accessed April 19, 2022).

19 Peach, ‘South Asian Migration and Settlement in Great Britain, 1951–2001’, 134.

20 Business Intelligence Service, Oldham 2011 Census Ethnicity Report (Oldham: Oldham Council, 2016), 3.

21 The Change Institute, ‘The Pakistani Muslim Community in England: Understanding Muslim Ethnic Communities’, Communities and Local Government Publications (2009), 25, http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120920001118/http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/communities/pdf/1170952.pdf (accessed January 20, 2021).

22 Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, Immigrants, India and Pakistan (Work Vouchers) 1962.

23 Hartley Baston, A History of Oldham (Otley, West Yorkshire: The Amythest Press, 1985), 83.

24 Baston, A History of Oldham, 184.

25 Tate, ‘The National Group on Homeworking- United Kingdom’, 81.

26 Kalra, From Textile Mills to Taxi Ranks, 2.

27 Ibid., 2–3.

28 Tate, ‘The National Group on Homeworking- United Kingdom’, 81. Also see: Allen and Wolkowitz, Homeworking: Myths and Realities, 3.

29 ‘Talks on 24p an hour storm’, Yorkshire Evening Post, February 9, 1989, Women’s Library, London School of Economics, London, 7SHR/X/16, Box FL 685, File 2.

30 Tate, ‘Homework in Europe’, 8–9, 7SHR/X/01, File 2.

31 Outworkers News, ‘The Broader Picture’, West Yorkshire Homeworkers Unit (no date), 57, Women’s Library, London School of Economics, London, 7SHR/X/16, Box FL 685, Folder 1.

32 Hansard HC Deb. vol. 80, cc337–47W, at cc377, 10 June 1985.

33 Razia, Author Interview (17/07/19).

34 Ibid.

35 Jabeela, Author Interview (17/07/19).

36 Kabeer, The Power to Choose, 237–8.

37 Allen and Wolkowitz, Homeworking: Myths and Realities, 82.

38 Kanta Walker, ‘Asian Immigrants in Oldham: A Report on a Survey Carries Out in the Glodwick Area of Oldham on Behalf of the Oldham Community Development Project, by Kanta Walker’, Oldham Committee for Community Relations (May 1974), 8, Oldham Archives, Oldham, Relations SFI: FS L386/L387.

39 See, for example: International Conference for Homebased Workers, ‘Homeworking Conference: Friday’ (1992), Women’s Library, London School of Economics, London, Box 7SHR/X/01, file 1, document 6.

40 Maneeza, Author Interview (17/07/19).

41 Noor, Author Interview (28/08/19).

42 Iqra, Shabna and Noor, Author Interview (28/08/19).

43 Allen and Wolkowitz, Homeworking: Myths and Realities, 81.

44 Tate, ‘Homework in Europe’, 13–14, 7SHR/X/01, File 2.

45 Noel Bruen, ‘Ethnic Minority Groups and the Place of Adult Education’, Oldham Community Development Project (no date), 9, Oldham Archives, Oldham, CDP/11/17.

46 Bruen, ‘Ethnic Minority Groups and the Place of Adult Education’, 10, CDP/11/17.

47 Ibid., 7.

48 Imagine North-East, ‘Community Development projects (CDP’s)’, http://www.imaginenortheast.org/national-and-local-policy-the-cdps/ (accessed July 9, 2020).

49 Tate, ‘The National Group on Homeworking- United Kingdom’, 81.

50 ‘Maal’ generally means a substantial volume of items, often associated with messiness.

51 Pat Lewis and Rabia Patel, ‘With One Voice: Black Women in West Yorkshire Talk About Their Working Lives’, West Yorkshire Low Pay Unit (1987): 3–5, Feminist Archives North, University of Leeds, Leeds, HWW 3, Box 12.

52 Razia, Author Interview (17/07/19).

53 Sarfraz Manzoor, Greetings from Bury Park: Race, Religion and Rock ‘n’ Roll (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2007), 19.

54 Ibid., 36. Also see: Blinded by the Light (D. Gurinder Chadha, 2019).

55 See: Selina Todd, The People: The Rise and Fall of the Working Class (London: John Murray, 2014), 329–32; Heather Joshi, ‘The Changing Form of Women’s Economic Dependency’, in The Changing Population of Britain, ed. Heather Joshi (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989), 157–76.

56 The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, Provision as to Offences, Section 40.

57 Peter Cole, ‘Macmillan Reacts to Homeworkers’ Survey’, The Guardian, October 17, 1973, 7.

58 Andrew Macleod, ‘Wages Councils’, Industrial Law Journal 3, no. 1 (1974): 60–1, at p. 60.

59 See: Our Own Reporter ‘Homeworker Paid 1p Per Hour’, 8.

60 Brown, ‘Cracker Trap’, 11.

61 Ibid., 11. Also see: Bissett and Hews, Sweated Labour, 10–11.

62 Sheila Allen and Carol Wolkowitz, ‘The Control of Women’s Labour: The Case of Homeworking’, Feminist Review, no. 22 (1986): 25–51, at p. 27.

63 Bisset and Huws, Sweated Labour, 10–11.

64 Hansard HC Deb. vol. 153, cc. 387, 17 May 1989.

65 Ibid., vol. 153, c. 389.

66 Ibid., vol. 153, c. 397.

67 See: Catherine Hakim, Employers’ Use of Outwork: A Study Using the 1980 Workplace Industrial Relations Survey and the 1981 National Survey of Homeworking (London: Department of Employment, 1985).

68 Sarah Boston, Women Workers and the Trade Unions (London: Lawrence and Wishart, 1987).

69 Helen McCarthy, ‘Gender Inequality’, in Unequal Britain: Equalities in Britain since 1945, ed. Pat Thane (London, New York: Continuum, 2010), 111.

70 Pat Thane, Divided Kingdom: A History of Britain, 1900-Present (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 326.

71 Jonathan Moss, Women, Workplace Protest and Identity in England, 1968–85 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2019), 46.

72 Ibid., 45–8.

73 Tate, A Penny for a Bag, 104.

74 Ibid., 114.

75 International Labour Organization, ‘C177- Home Work Convention 1996 (No. 177)’, 20 June 1996.

76 Kitty Jenkins, ‘Homeworkers ‘Paid Below Minimum’’, BBC, November 11, 2007, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7087917.stm (accessed September 30, 2022).

77 Jane Tate, A Penny for a Bag: Campaigning on Homework (Batley: Yorkshire and Humberside Low Pay Unit, 1990), 6.

78 Tate, ‘Homework in Europe’, 8–9, 7SHR/X/01, File 2.

79 National Group on Homeworking, ‘National group on homeworking internal documentation 1993–2008 and homeworking fact pack’, Feminist Archives North, University of Leeds, Leeds, FAN/ HWW/19: HWWIV.

80 Tate, A Penny for a Bag, 20. Also see: Greater Manchester Low Pay Unit, ‘Your Rights at Work’ (no date), Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE (Race Archives and Community Engagement) Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester, GB3228.8/11.

81 Paula Solloway, ‘Global Strategy for Women’s Labour Organisation’, Northern Star (9–16 July 1992), Women’s Library, London School of Economics, London, 7SHR/X/01, Folder 3.

82 Jane Tate, ‘The National Group on Homeworking- United Kingdom’, 87.

83 Tate, ‘Homework in Europe’, 32, 7SHR/X/01, File 2.

84 Jane Tate, ‘The National Group on Homeworking- United Kingdom’, 82.

85 Phizacklea and Wolkowitz, ‘Homeworking in the 90s’, 5–6, 7SHR/X/16, Box FL 685.

86 Tate, A Penny for a Bag, 49.

87 West Yorkshire Homeworking Group, ‘Homeworking Conference: Meeting Minutes’ (1988), 1, Women’s Library, London School of Economics, London, Box 7SHR/X/01, Folder 1, file 1, document 5.

88 Ibid., 1.

89 West Yorkshire Homeworking Group, ‘Homeworking Conference, Thursday July 2nd 1991’ (July 1991), 3, Women’s Library, London School of Economics, London, Box 7SHR/X/01, File 3, Doc. 1.

90 Greater Manchester Homeworking Group, ‘Minutes Greater Manchester Homeworking Group Meeting’, 6 May 1994 Ahmed Iqbal Ullah RACE (Race Archives and Community Engagement) Centre, Manchester Central Library, Manchester, GB3228.8/11.

91 Saddleworth Museum, ‘Making Shawls: A New Textile Project for Asian Women at Saddleworth Museum’ (1994), Oldham Archives, Oldham, PXT:SFI L6S270.

 

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aleena Din

Aleena Din is a recent DPhil graduate in History at Balliol College, University of Oxford. Her research focusses on the migration, settlement and work experiences of working-class Pakistani women in Britain from 1962 until the early twenty-first century.