Abstract:
The silk industry has long relied on exploited and unprotected labor, especially that of women and children, to produce luxury fabric cheaply. This paper provides an historical examination of early international efforts to regulate work conditions and standards in the silk trade through conferences, agreements, organizations and social activism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It analyzes the key experimental reforms, debates and proposals intended to curb worker abuse and child labor, limit hours and establish minimum wages. The study utilizes archival data, official publications and secondary sources to evaluate the limited outcomes, ongoing barriers and challenges to meaningful protection of silk workers globally in this important transitional period of labor rights advocacy.
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