Kashmir’s disheartened weavers see little hope for shawl industry

- Shareefa Bano does not remember exactly when she started her job making pashmina shawls - the warm, soft, and delicate fabric sold in luxury outlets across the world.For Shareefa, the trade is part of the family business. Her husband and five brother-in-laws also make shawls - a craft passed down to them from their great grandparents.Eye strain, poor body posture, long working hours and meagre profits are all realities of the job the family do not want their children to experience.

Shareefa designs and produces shawls destined for the Middle East, where they’ll be worn as turbans by Arab men. “We spent eight to 10 hours on designing and at the end of the day we only make 100 rupees or 150 a day which is not even enough to feed you,” says Shareefa, who has four children to look after.

“My father-in-law used to feed his family from the craft and also built a house from his earnings but today we fail to make the ends meet,” Shareefa says. Her husband, Farooq Ahmad Dar, who has been in the industry for more more than 25 years, earns just 5000 to 6000 rupees a month, which she says is not even enough to cover the cost of her children’s education.Spending 10 hours a day in a crouched position at a spinning loom comes with its share of occupational hazards.

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