They dress the West, but Sri Lanka’s women workers face crisis upon crisis

The country of 22 million people is in its worst economic crisis since independence with severe shortages of food, fuel and medicines and long power cuts. Photo: AFP

The pandemic was hard enough. Now, Sri Lanka faces an economic crisis of its own making that is taking a heavy toll on low-paid female garment workers sewing clothes for wealthier women in the West.

“I have never seen anything like this in my 20-year career,” said one factory owner, who employs 20 women to make vests and slips, some of whom have been on his payroll for over a decade.