A Bridge-Builder Between Consumers and Workers

Dear Gisela Burckhardt,
Dear friends of Anne Klein,
Dear Barbara,
Dear Parvathi Madappa,
Dear guests,

once again: A warm welcome to today’s award ceremony for the Anne Klein Women’s Prize.

In January 2011, Anne Klein shared with me her idea to establish a women’s prize and link it to the Heinrich Böll Foundation. I was deeply moved and overjoyed that Anne was able to align her decades-long commitment to women’s rights with the foundation’s work on women’s rights.

Together with the jury selected by Anne—Renate Künast, Michaele Schreyer, Thomas Herrendorf, and Jutta Wagner—I feel like Anne’s trustee. Through this award, she wants to honor and support women and outstanding political initiatives for women’s rights.

And I believe we have succeeded in doing just that over the past few years: The award is making a difference.

Nivedita Prasad was the first recipient. Nita received the award, among other things, for her work combating a form of modern slavery that takes place right on our doorstep—or rather, behind it: that of domestic workers in diplomatic households. This fight against modern slavery connects our first laureate with this year’s laureate. Nivedita has been very close to the Böll Foundation ever since, and we’ve launched several joint projects together. One outstanding event was the 2013 conference on “Feminisms of Color in Germany,” which was self-organized by women, trans*, and inter* individuals right here at the foundation.

She herself says that she has received a great deal of attention as a result of the award. Today, Nita is a professor at Alice Salomon University.

The second Anne Klein Women’s Prize went to the inspiring Serbian activist and intellectual Lepa Mlađenović. For decades, Lepa has been advocating for the rights of women and people whose gender identities fall outside mainstream norms. Our regional office in Belgrade continues to work closely with her. Since the award ceremony, various joint projects have been launched, including the brochure “Speaking Ourselves” on coming out and violence in same-sex relationships, as well as two major educational awareness projects aimed at training (middle school) teachers on the topic of “sexual identities.”

Imelda Maruffo Nava from Ciudad Juárez on the Mexican-U.S. border was the third recipient of the award. The award is having an impact and achieving what we had hoped for. Through the award, Imelda has gained significant public attention in Mexico in her fight against femicide and impunity. All major media outlets have reported on it. Moreover, Imelda has received the Mexico City Human Rights Award. This provides protection for Imelda and her courageous fellow activists, who refuse to accept that violent crimes in Mexico go unpunished.

Last year’s award recipient was Nebahat Akkoc, a Kurdish woman from Diyarbakır. She was honored for her active resistance against state and domestic violence, and for her defense of human rights and women’s rights. She told us the following:

“The award was very helpful in drawing attention to our work on women’s issues and our work with lesbian, gay, trans, and inter* people, and in reemphasizing these issues. In all the provinces where we are active or have partner organizations, there is increased interest in these issues. Unfortunately, however, the Turkish government tends to react with anger to such an award. On top of that, there is this regrettable, merciless war. We’re trying to stay alive, fight against the violence, and be a source of support for the suffering population.”

Yes, Anne, your award is making a difference. It encourages women and gives them the energy to fight for women’s rights, against violence against women, for the recognition of same-sex partnerships, and against all forms of discrimination—often under very threatening conditions.

Eliminating injustice and ensuring access to justice—that was Anne’s greatest concern. With all the energy of a lawyer, she, together with many fellow activists, began to change legislation and legal practice to combat injustice and discrimination against women in Germany. But Anne also always had in mind providing concrete help and support in the here and now for women and girls who are victims of violence and humiliation.

Gisela Burckhardt is the fifth award recipient. Gisela Burckhardt is fully dedicated to improving the working and living conditions of women in the textile industry. Together with local NGOs such as Cividep—the organization led by our guest today, Parvathi Maddaphi, from Bangalore, India—she advocates for women’s right to fair and living-wage work.

Gisela Burckhardt’s focus is primarily on Bangladesh and India—but the problem also exists in other countries, such as Cambodia, and, unfortunately, will likely soon extend to Myanmar as well.

This is because the international textile industry continues to relocate to wherever it can find the lowest wages and circumvent the gains achieved elsewhere. Strengthening the rights of female textile workers to engage in union and political activism is the first and most urgent priority. Unfortunately, this is still far too often a matter of life and death.

The images of the collapsing Rana Plaza building in Bangladesh or the burning Ali Enterprises factory in Pakistan in 2013 are surely still fresh in all our minds. We tend to hear nothing here about the everyday accidents.

The other equally urgent issue is that we, as consumers, must finally take shared responsibility for the social and human rights consequences of our clothing consumption. We must ask where—and, above all, under what conditions—these garments are produced. For behind the labels of “cheap” and “stylish” lies the ugly reality of exploitation: millions of textile workers toil under inhumane conditions to produce our fashion.

Here in Germany, we buy an average of 14 kilograms of clothing per person each year—that’s about 23 pairs of jeans or 140 T-shirts—each item often cheaper than a pack of cleaning rags. This is a sad distinction for Germans. Alongside the U.S. and Switzerland, Germans are world champions in textile consumption.

Gisela Burckhardt is one of the activists who draws these connections. She sees herself as a bridge-builder between consumers in Europe and the women who produce these goods, particularly in India, Bangladesh, and Cambodia.

Through campaigns and political lobbying, Gisela Burckhardt raises awareness that our fast-paced shopping trends—all those cheap blouses, pants, and shirts piled high on tables under the neon lights of stores—come at a social and environmental cost.

In the spirit of Anne Klein, she says, “Women are not just victims; they can also be strong. We must promote that.” And that is exactly what Gisela Burckhardt does on all her visits to factories. Together with female union representatives, she develops programs; she engages in debates with politicians—including at the “Textile Roundtable” hosted by the Federal Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation—to advocate for the necessary labeling of textiles both here and abroad; she engages in dialogue with factory owners and fashion chains; and reaches out to influencers in the fashion industry to encourage tomorrow’s designers and managers to rethink the industry. Gisela is committed to changing unfair trade relations, questioning our European consumption patterns, and demanding corporate responsibility.

These are all outstanding reasons why the jury of the Anne Klein Women’s Award has, with the utmost conviction, named you, Gisela Burckhardt, as the fifth recipient of the award. Please accept this celebration and recognition alongside your many fellow activists at FEMNET and the women in Bangladesh, India, and Cambodia for your passionate commitment to fair and living-wage work and to the rights of women workers in the global textile industry.

Dear Gisela Burckhardt, the jury and all of us are truly delighted that you are our fifth award recipient!

And we now look forward to the laudatory speech by our jury member Renate Künast!

Thank you very much!