Skillshare International

Mathuso lives in Maseru, Lesotho, but comes from Thaba Tseka district, where her two children and her husband still live. She has been working for the company Presitex as a machine operator and a shop steward for about eight years now. She attended LESRAGS' Gender and Leadership workshops and learnt about issues such as maternity rights, which has been especially useful as she is currently pregnant. She previously lost a baby three months into her pregnancy. Her doctor said this was because she had spent too long at the factory on her feet.

Maternity rights are a key issue in Lesotho's garment industry, where 95% of the workforce is female. There is currently high infant mortality at the factories, as working hours are long, the work is hard, and women are only entitled to two weeks' paid maternity leave. This means many work far into their pregnancy, spending long shifts on their feet, and return early to work, thereby endangering their health and that of their unborn or newly born children.

For Mathuso, the project has brought a lot of positive changes. She is now in a position to teach other employees in matters of gender. It has also put her in a strong position to advise and recruit people to join trade unions.

Mathuso says that the project has changed her way of thinking and approaching issues; she speaks politely and considerately to other factory workers and negotiates well with supervisors on behalf of employees. Before the project started she says she was mistreated by her supervisors, who often shouted at her and even hit her on occasion. After the training she has gone through she now knows her rights as a worker and knows what to do in cases of oppression by supervisors. Additionally, she has been able to address people in her community to join trade unions and receive the support that membership of the unions brings. When it comes to health matters she has also learnt that protective clothing should be worn, for example mouth and nose coverings and aprons. Previously she would cut cloth without these, but this can cause diseases such as tuberculosis.

Skillshare International has been working through the LESRAGS project to raise awareness of issues such as this, and also to provide training for factory workers, offering them transferable skills and knowledge of their rights so that, should their employment ever become unstable, they will be better equipped to find alternative work.