Sustainability is a women's rights issue-Let's talk about it

Though I usually talk about fashion on this blog, I wanted to switch gears to a topic that's incredibly important and serious when it comes to conversations about sustainability. 

When we think about sustainability, we often think about the environment or the climate and how our actions are effecting those things. We don't often think about the people that are exploited and used for fast fashion companies or the people that are directly affected by climate change. That's what I want to focus on with this post.

To put it simply, we cannot be sustainable if we do not think about human's rights, and more specifically, women's rights. Maybe aspects of sustainability come down to gender inequality, even if we don't want to think about it. 

So many women are effected by sustainability and the lack thereof. The fast fashion companies or any company that uses large scale production of clothing often outsource to third world countries because they can have their employees work long hours for next to nothing. That's how Shein and Romwe are able to push out clothing so quickly, and it's saddening and terrifying. Even if the workers aren't treated as horribly, they often aren't given essentials like maternity leave. These kind of working conditions are totally unsustainable. 

The damage we're doing to the environment doesn't just hurt the natural life, it hurts women too. Women and children are more likely to be hurt during natural disasters, which are much more common with the climate crisis. 

Something that I've noticed about this issue too is that women are the one's that are pressured to be sustainable and not men. We're the one's with the "shopping addiction", and we're the ones that are told not to shop at cheap fast fashion companies (even though we don't get paid as much as men and can't always afford expensive clothes). We're made to feel that since fashion is a major contributor to the climate crisis, that it's our fault rather than the fault of major corporations exploiting us to make money.

Sustainability cannot be fully achieved until we discuss the matter of gender inequality. Sustainability cannot be fully achieved until we can guarantee workers' rights and safe working conditions. Sustainability cannot be fully achieved until we recognize that women are just as much suffering from the issue as the environment is.

UN Women created this helpful video you can watch about the issue here. I highly recommend that whoever is reading this takes the time to focus on the other issues that are intertwined with sustainability instead of just thrifting or not buying from fast fashion.