Barbie is a global icon of female empowerment, but behind the scenes, the very women who are working to create these world-famous dolls are suffering.

Among the serious issues highlighted in a new investigation are sexual harassment cases, systemic gender-based violence, low wages, and exploitation.

Action Aid Ireland is today calling on the Irish people to sign a petition to end sexual harassment and exploitation of Barbie workers in a China-based factory.

The undercover investigation revealed the alarming working conditions faced by female line workers at the Mattel factory in Chang’an, Guanding.

This is currently the only Barbie production site in China and is the centre of the investigation launched by ActionAid France and China Labour Watch.

Details of the harrowing investigation have been released in the run up to Christmas with Barbie dolls and toys being among the most sought after for young kids as gifts in Ireland.

Speaking about the ‘deeply troubling’ results of the investigation, Karol Balfe, CEO of ActionAid Ireland said:

“This investigation into Mattel is deeply troubling showing that the company makes billions in profits every year while female workers are abused and exploited.

She went on to say that despite the information that is now known in relation to the standard of care afforded women in this factory, “Barbie is being held up as an icon for girls in Ireland and all over the world.

“On International Women’s Day this year, Barbie encouraged girls to be confident, daring, brave and legendary. 

“Last year millions of people around the world went to see Barbie, a film co-produced by Mattel and expounding feminist principles.

“While Mattel continues to rake in huge profits from Barbie’s global cultural prominence, consumers need to be aware of the exploitation behind the dolls.”

ActionAid has been investigating these factories for thirty years and has often approached the company to make changes that would protect women working in its factories - however, their pleas have allegedly fallen on deaf ears.

Among the key findings of exploitation in the latest report, undertaken after the success of the Barbie movie and on the 65th anniversary of the production of the doll, are that of:

Low pay

• Most workers receive a basic salary for a standard 40-hour week of 2,200 yuan (€278), not enough to cover the basic needs of someone living in Guangdong Province and making women more dependent on overtime. 
• Vulnerable women are offered short-term work that flouts workplace health and safety practices, stability and well-being. By deducting accommodation and meal costs from employee wages, the factory also presides over a system in which people can work for an entire month but be left with little money to show for it. This system increases workers’ dependence on the factory, trapping them in a cycle of poverty, with no real way to save money or progress up the career ladder.

Precarious working conditions

• Assembly-line employees work an average of 6 days a week, 10 hours a day, with a 40-minute lunch break. They rack up between 84 and 110 hours of overtime a month, in major breach of Article 41 of the Chinese Labour Law, which states that workers must work no more than 36 hours of overtime a month.
• Abuse and harassment from an endless stream of bosses with an extremely hierarchical management model that produces and perpetuates a climate of control and surveillance and feeds a culture of domination.
• Workers have to produce at least 2 products a minute. In the workshops, they usually have to work for 10 hours with no or few breaks in order to meet the daily quotas.
• Workplace accidents are common. During the investigation, two relatively serious accidents involving forklifts occurred within the space of a week. 
• Workers are exposed to hazardous substances on a daily basis, sometimes without protective equipment.
• Health needs of women unmet, mainly in relation to pregnancy, menstrual health and breastfeeding. Under China’s Law on the Protection of Women’s Rights and Interests workplaces must have spaces for breastfeeding mothers

Systemic levels of gender-based violence

• Everyday sexual harassment of women working in the Chang’an factory with “verbal harassment and leering in the workshops, dormitories and in the street” as well as on the work WeChat Group where men regularly make degrading sexual comments about the physical appearance of their female colleagues.

As well as this, between 2019 and 2024, ActionAid has received testimonies from women who revealed the frequent abuse they suffered at the hands of their male colleagues and managers.

Among some new issues being raised more recently was cyber harassment, targeting women on social media and in employee group chats.

These women who bravely came forward described their feelings of helplessness in these situations, with no support from their supervisors in dealing with problems.

In fact, some women described how these abuses were being normalised within their work environment and said they had a lack of channels to seek protections.

Balfe went on to say: “Mattel has said that 58 millions dolls are sold every year - about 100 dolls a minute - to people in 150 countries around the world.

“Barbie is once again one of the most popular girls’ toys in Ireland this Christmas. The real irony is that Chinese women working in the Chang’an factory appear to have missed out on the so-called emancipatory progressive Barbie movement.

“They experience exploitation and gender-based violence on a daily basis, while Mattel continues to pursue its quest for feminist respectability.”

She then said: “By claiming that it is committed to equality, even as it exploits female employees and turns a blind eye to the gender-based violence to which they are subjected, Mattel perpetuates the very inequalities it professes to be fighting.

“This investigation into Mattel is deeply troubling. It also reflects the poor human rights track record of many global corporations. 

“They have been implicated in abuses such as discrimination against women, unsafe working conditions, repression of trade unions and collective bargaining, limiting technology transfer, and environmental destruction. 

“These systemic impacts are especially severe for women in the Global South.

“Ultimately governments need to better regulate corporations to prevent human rights abuses and consumers should demand that Mattel improve its conditions. 

“Unequal corporate power means that efforts to agree global legally binding accountability mechanisms (including the UN Binding Treaty on business and human rights) face constant roadblocks.”

ActionAid is demanding for Mattel to take full responsibility for the treatment of its workers in its factories by improving working conditions, preventing gender-based violence through clear policies, staff training and complaints procedures

The petition which ActionAid is asking Irish people to sign will be sent to Mattel senior management, along with thousands of petitions gathered in France, in February.  

READ MORE:

• Finance expert's seven tips for a last-minute Christmas budget
• Why do we love a bargain so much? The science behind our obsession with discounts
• This is what the spare red light on your Christmas lights is for