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Fashioning a Response: Results from the Model Alliance COVID-19 Survey

by Sanjay Pinto

Models frequently confront problems, including wage theft and sexual harassment, unhealthy working conditions, use of child labor with limited protections, and lack of protections allowing them to seek recourse for unfair treatment. As the COVID- 19 crisis deepens, models are facing financial distress with little or no safety net. The depth and breadth of the problem have been hard to quantify.

Between March 20 and April 1, 2020, the Model Alliance conducted a survey to better understand the needs and concerns of fashion models during the COVID-19 crisis. A total of 212 working models responded to the survey, which was distributed over social media channels. Researchers at the Worker Institute at Cornell provided input in developing the survey and analyzed the results. Today the Worker Institute, ILR School, Cornell University, and the Model Alliance released the survey, Fashioning a Response: Results from the Model Alliance COVID-19 Survey and a Call to Action.

Read the full Worker Institute article on this report.

Sanjay Pinto

  • Research Fellow, The Worker Institute

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