Globalization and the Burqa

The burqa was the symbol of the Taliban and their strict restrictions on the lives of women in Afghanistan. Now, there is increasing pressure for women to once again wear the burqa, if they had abandoned it after the NATO led forces pushed out the Taliban in many areas of Afghanistan. However, in a strange twist of the globalizing world, it seems that local production is being pushed out by imports from China. As the Washington Post reports:

The Chinese-made burqas’ tightly-crimped folds and machine-produced embroidery have become something of a fashion craze in the last few months in Kabul. As one burqa seller named Hassan explained to me in a crowded Kabul market, “Women love the new, modern style of the Chinese burqas.”

Many of the challenged faced in Europe and North America are also faced by local tailors and local businesses: cheaper imports are pushing them out of the market. However, it is interesting to see how this is occurring in a country where families making pennies to the burqa still cannot outcompete mass produced goods from elsewhere.