SPOTLIGHT ON THE HOME WEAVING INDUSTRY

Weaving Their Way to a Better Tomorrow

The homeworkers in Thailand are creative and talented in many ways. They produce immaculate works of art with their nimble fingers.Here, we have chosen to put the spotlight on one particular trade which has been passed down through generations of women. It is not superior to the other trades but it is symbolic of the better future that all homeworkers are striving to weave out of the fragments of their lives, hopes and aspirations, with the help of HomeNet Thailand and other caring governmental and non-governmental organizations.
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The Story of Weavers in Isan

In Isan, weaving by women homeworkers has long provided a supplemental source of income after the rice harvest period. This is crucial for the community which relies heavily on farming as its main source of livelihood, as Isan is one of the poorest areas of Thailand, beset by floods and droughts.

In 1985, hope came to a village here called Ban Songhong (in the Roi-Et province). It was selected as the pioneer village for a project by ATA (Appropriate Technology Association), a Thai NGO. ATA was formed in 1982 specifically to implement a project to teach women of small farming villages how to achieve self-reliance through the craft of weaving.

Soon, women in Ban Songhong were taught about the science of dyeing. They responded with ingenuity by coming up with new colours derived from local materials.

Better looms replaced old ones and bicycle wheels powered by fan motors replaced traditional bamboo spinning wheels. Each woven product carried a label stating the natural dyes used and the weaver’s name, giving the weavers personal recognition and motivation.

What makes the weaving project special, besides empowering simple village women, is the fact that only natural products are used to make the dyes. Red is obtained from crushed beetles; pink from sappan wood; yellow from jackwood fruit, turmeric, mango leaves and sesbania; and green from cassia leaves and Indian almond bark. The villagers have grown to respect and protect their environment and in particular, the trees that provide base ingredients for making their dyes.

ATA has been succeeded by Panmai, a company which is fully run by the village women who now manage their own marketing and sales. About 75% of the sales are local.

An average weaver can earn about 10,000 baht which means a lot to a village family. But the project has done more than to help the villagers economically. It has brought some measure of female emancipation in that Isan women have learned to break through the cultural barrier of being seen but not heard. These women, who are extremely community-oriented and submissive, have become more self-confident in making decisions and speaking up.

As expected, there was initial resistance and antagonism from the male community who felt threatened by the success of the weaving venture. However, this gave way to reason, respect and appreciation when the men were made to see that the trade actually strengthened the community by stabilizing its financial situation. Added security through the provision of an insurance and provident scheme for weavers and their families further encouraged acceptance of the programme.

A significant achievement was brought by the innovative weavers of Isan at the Expo 2000 in Hanover, Germany. By improvising an old traditional technique, Panmai had succeeded in producing a special blue silk – true blue being a colour extremely difficult to create using only natural dyes.

The women weavers of Isan have bloomed under the warmth of the support and attention given to them, their gentle fragrance a welcome balm to what was once a forsaken community. The story of Isan is a story of new life for all homeworking communities.