BUSINESS BRIEF

JUNE 2017

Empowering Female Workers
in the Apparel Industry
Three Areas for Business Action

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About This Report
This document, prepared by BSR, summarizes and highlights key findings from in-depth research
conducted by the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) for the apparel sector community.
This analysis proposes three areas where apparel companies should invest to drive improvements inoutcomes for women workers and promote women’s economic empowerment around the world. The
analysis and the underlying research conducted by ICRW were supported by C&A Foundation and theLevi Strauss Foundation.
ICRW’s research was commissioned to better understand, at the sector level, how apparel sector
companies can meaningfully improve the lives of garment workers across diverse contexts. ICRW
conducted a literature review and analysis of current programs within the apparel sector that seek toadvance the rights, opportunities, skills, voice, leadership, and agency of women who are part of the
global apparel supply chain.1 This research was global in scope, and included deeper inquiry in four
countries vital to the apparel supply chain: Brazil, Mexico, India, and Bangladesh.
The research included more than 80 key informant interviews with foundation representatives, corporatesocial responsibility and sustainability experts, labor market analysts, unions, government, civil society,producers, producer associations, cooperatives, and worker organizations. These interviews wereconducted between February and May 2016.
This analysis and the research report prepared by ICRW do not refer directly to circumstances in factories
supplying goods to Levi Strauss & Co. or C&A, but rather to broad findings across the sector. To view
ICRW’s research and learn more, please visit www.icrw.org.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This paper was written by Christine Svarer, Racheal Meiers, and Berkley Rothmeier. Any errors thatremain are those of the authors. This report draws on field research conducted by Sarah Gammage, Amy
Gregowski, Lourdes Colinas, and Ana Lucia Monteiro, with input from Katherine Fritz and Lisa McGowan.
This report and the supporting field work were funded through grants by C&A Foundation and the Levi
Strauss Foundation. The authors wish to thank internal and external reviewers and stakeholders
consulted for this research.
Please direct comments or questions to Christine Svarer at csvarer@bsr.org.

DISCLAIMER
BSR publishes occasional papers as a contribution to the understanding of the role of business in society
and the trends related to corporate social responsibility and responsible business practices. BSR
maintains a policy of not acting as a representative of its membership, nor does it endorse specificpolicies or standards. The views expressed in this publication are those of its authors and do not reflect
those of BSR members.

1

The scope of ICRW’s research did not include inputs into the apparel and garment sector, such as cotton and other raw materials.

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Contents

Executive Summary

3

Introduction

5

The Global Apparel Sector: Women’s Work?

7

Strengthening Existing Investments to Expand Good Practice9

1: Address Informality

11

2: Go Further to End Violence

16

3: Join Global Efforts to Recognize Childcare Needs

21

Conclusion

25

Appendix27

References

29

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Executive Summary
The substantial attention on women’s contributions to and challenges within the global apparel sector
over the last decade has spurred many initiatives seeking to improve working conditions, build skills, andpromote well-being for women workers. These initiatives are led by individual brands, industry coalitions,NGOs, and international organizations. While there have been improvements as a result of these
initiatives, there is still progress to be made. Apparel sector supply chains—and the demographics andeveryday realities of workers within them—are changing, and initiatives need to be ready to adapt andmove forward. Government initiatives and international development work remain important, but there isboth an opportunity and a responsibility for business to be the main driver of lasting, meaningfulimprovements. These gains will enable female workers to fulfill their potential and maximize the returns of
their participation in the global apparel sector.
In addition to opportunities to further bolster the success of existing initiatives, this paper proposes three
critical areas for global apparel sector investment—in collaboration with other sectors—to boost theeconomic empowerment of women workers. These areas, emerging from the analysis of overarching
trends and insights from ICRW’s research, do not operate in silos, but are indeed interconnected. Work toadvance one area can boost efforts in another and, on the flip side, unaddressed needs in one area may
negatively impact the outcomes of efforts in another. The report strongly encourages collaboration acrossthe whole value chain and beyond in order to tackle root causes and help improvements take hold for thelong term.
» Address Informality: A formal job and income are key ingredients to women’s economic
empowerment. The global apparel sector can offer women an opportunity—often their first—for justthat. Yet significant parts of the global apparel sector operate informally, and ICRW’s researchaffirmed the need for concerted action on informal work. It is well established that informality leads topower imbalances and other situations that disadvantage and hurt workers, but the disproportionate
harm it does to women workers is less recognized. Informality poses an intricate challenge that often
sits beyond a brand’s direct sphere of control. However, efforts are underway to address thischallenge, including initiatives to improve supply chain transparency and traceability. It is time tocome together in constructive dialogue to support policies and norms that favor and promoteformality in the workplace.
» Go Further to End Violence: Economic empowerment is impossible in the face of gender-based
violence (GBV) at work and at home, as this prevents women from realizing their full potential. Thereis more to be done to address sexual harassment and violence against women workers. Successful
efforts should consider not only workplace interventions but should also aim to understandvulnerabilities and patterns of harassment and violence outside of the workplace, tap into public
systems, and work to strengthen those systems.
»

Join Global Efforts to Recognize Childcare Needs: Around the world and beyond factory walls,
women take on a disproportionate amount of unpaid care work. To reach gender equity andmaximize economic potential, this imbalance must be reconciled. Given that apparel workers are
predominantly women in their reproductive years, lack of access to affordable, quality childcare
remains a barrier for effective, long-term participation at work. Apparel sector companies can reduce
this barrier by supporting access to high quality, family-centered childcare.

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These three interconnected avenues present opportunities for apparel companies to take meaningfulaction to support women’s economic empowerment, and are rooted in ICRW’s eight essential building
blocks for women’s economic empowerment.2 Companies can act by adopting policies and making
investments that bring about positive change for women. Through partnership and collaborating,companies can enable NGOs, community organizations, and business partners to promote women’s
economic empowerment in the supply chain. Finally, companies can have influence through research
and advocacy (both directly, when appropriate, and by supporting others’ activities) that seeks to better
understand the factors that promote equity and contribute to creating environments conducive to genderequality.

2

ICRW’s building blocks are based on a human rights framework developed from interviews and literature review; ICRW, 2016.

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Introduction
Globally, the apparel sector is among the largest employers of women workers. The sector holds great
power and potential to impact the lives of millions of women in low-income countries and, by extension,
their families and communities. Making sure that impact is positive is critical. Companies can, and do,take individual action to promote women’s empowerment within their value chains and are often
participants in cross-sector or industry initiatives as well. However, there is an even larger opportunity forthese companies to use their collective influence to champion the partnerships, programs, and policies
that can create lasting, meaningful improvements in the lives of garment workers. This paper explores
three areas where apparel sector companies can drive outcomes that meaningfully enhance women’s
economic empowerment.

EMPOWERING WOMEN THROUGH EQUITABLE EMPLOYMENTWomen’s economic empowerment is about women’s ability to choose whether to work, how much towork, and how to spend or save their incomes.3 Employment in the apparel sector provides numerous
opportunities to support women’s empowerment; however, it also poses risks that can restrict women’s
empowerment. Companies that strive to prevent negative impacts, while supporting opportunities toenhance the empowerment potential of apparel sector jobs, will deliver the greatest benefits to women
workers. Women’s economic empowerment is multifaceted and, as identified by ICRW’s eight building
blocks framework, requires the convergence of economic and noneconomic factors, including safety,
freedom from violence, and the opportunity to be heard at work and in society.4 Thus, effective
approaches should be holistic, integrated, and strategic, such that they consider and incorporate thefull spectrum of factors involved.

3

Golla, 2016.

4

Reller, 2014.

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Every company can act to benefit women in owned operations and throughout their value chain.
Companies can also enable and influence women’s empowerment across the market by incentivizing,
collaborating, and communicating clearly with other companies, partners, individuals, and policymakers
across the sector and supply chains. This report presents recommendations for actions that recognize thedifferent levers and roles companies play in gender equality and women’s empowerment, and their ability
to act, enable, and influence women’s economic empowerment.
Currently, most apparel sector company activities fall in the “act” category—they seek to address barriers
or issues within direct operations and Tier 1 suppliers. Expanding efforts to include strategic opportunities
to enable other stakeholders and to influence the issues and actors that affect women’s empowerment ona larger scale could significantly increase positive impacts and meaningfully enact change.
This paper will provide a snapshot of women in the global apparel sector and the potential of the sector
for economic empowerment. It will then focus on three critical areas where we see the greatest need andpotential for the sector to take action: informality, gender-based violence, and women’s unpaid and care
work.

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The Global Apparel Sector: Women’s Work?
A job in the apparel sector could be the first formal employment opportunity
for many women in developing countries—an essential step towardfinancial independence and the start of a path out of poverty. At the sametime, poor working conditions and incidents of labor rights violations withinapparel factories are well documented. Apparel companies have invested agreat deal to support workers around the world, and while there is much
still to be done, these programs are making meaningful improvements andproviding insights that can be applied to make these efforts even more
effective. However, the global apparel sector is challenging, complex, andchanging rapidly. The programs of the past may not be as effective today
and should adapt to address the changing face of the apparel workforce
and workplace.
A growing body of evidence supports the idea that gender equality, particularly in education andemployment, has a positive impact on economic growth. 5 Research indicates that garment work, as asector that employs significant numbers of women, has an impact by delaying marriage, reducing thenumber of children women have, increasing education, and increasing women’s decision-making powers
at home and in the community.6 These implications are particularly important for apparel, given the
degree of feminization in the sector. Globally, women represent an average of 68 percent of the garment
workforce and 45 percent of the textile sector workforce.7 The global apparel sector faces a variety ofwell-document challenges in relation to its workforce, including low pay; piece-rate pay and/or failure to
pay overtime; health and safety concerns such as fire safety, exposure to chemicals, and inadequate
infrastructure; highly controlled, stressful, and repetitive work environments; irregular work volume andschedules; lack of access to benefits such as health insurance and maternity leave; and instances of
workplace-based harassment, violence, and discrimination. 8
While both men and women are affected by these challenges, women workers tend to be more
vulnerable to these risks than men. Women not only represent the majority of low-skilled, low-wage
workers, but they also face unsupportive norms and power dynamics that place them at a disadvantage

5

Kabeer, 2012.

6

Heath and Mushfiq, 2015.

7

International Labour Organization, 2014.

8

Oxfam International, 2004; Fair Wear Foundation, 2013.

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when working to change their situations. The unique gendered implications of workplace risks should beconsidered when supporting women’s empowerment.
The Changing Face of the Apparel Workforce and Workplace
While demographics vary among countries (see Table 1 in Appendix), the modern apparel sector has
always been dominated by female workers. The makeup of those female workers, however, is evolving
rapidly in response to a variety of social and economic drivers. Traditionally, a large proportion of garment
workers have been young women with limited or no skills, and often rural migrants for whom the apparelsector provides one of few opportunities—and likely a first opportunity—for wage-earning employment.9
These women were typically unmarried and childless, and tended to leave the apparel supply chain after
a couple of years to return to their villages to marry and/or have children.
Today, a growing proportion of women workers are marrying, having children, and remaining in urban
areas to continue working within the apparel supply chain. In Bangladesh, for example, a 2015 study by
the Asian Center for Development found that 57 percent of female workers interviewed were married.10
Within this context, apparel sector companies’ approaches to women’s empowerment should expand torecognize and encompass a more diverse female workforce across different stages of their life cycle.
Beyond the changes within women worker demographics, factors such as the introduction of newtechnologies and increased automation are changing the overall gender makeup of the global apparelsector. As new technology becomes available and larger firms invest in more complete production
processes, more men are being hired. While the opportunity for greater skills development andoccupational growth exists for women workers, it appears that these opportunities may be going to alarger proportion of male workers and supervisors.11“The number of female factory workers is still high, but the percentage isgoing down. [The] industry started as cut and sew and now factories [have]transformed so in one they do everything: produce textiles, dye, wash, cut andsew. There are now more men working in factories because they can workaround the clock. It’s dangerous for women at night. Also there are more andmore sweater factories that employ men because the work is physicallydifficult and they are standing all day.”—Multilateral Organization, Bangladesh.

These and other changes in the global apparel landscape have the potential to either advance orundermine gains in women worker’s economic empowerment, and it is important to continuously monitor
and adapt interventions to ensure continued progress.

9International Labour Organization, 2014.

10

Asian Center for Development, 2015.

11

International Labour Organization, 2014.

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Strengthening Existing Investments toExpand Good PracticeOver the past decade, the global apparel sector, together with internationalorganizations, donors and NGOs, has invested significantly in initiatives
designed to address and bolster women’s economic empowerment within
the global garment sector. In fact, the global apparel sector has arguably
made a greater and more concerted effort than most other sectors to
support women in their supply chain. There is much to be learned fromexisting programs, and there are many opportunities to build toward greater
success in the future by recognizing and elevating the—sometimes
hidden—elements that drive and amplify positive impacts.
ICRW’s research shows that the more successful initiatives—including the ILO’s Better Work, BSR’s
HERproject, and GAP Inc.’s P.A.C.E.—share some commonalities:»

All are based on collaboration between brands, suppliers, and NGOs.

»

Their central focus areas are health (in particular sexual and reproductive health, which isfoundational for a woman’s ability to fulfill her economic potential), financial inclusion, life skills,
and professional advancement.

»

Program evaluations show these programs are also delivering business benefits, including
increased productivity, reduced absenteeism, and improved employee satisfaction.12»

And, most importantly, all share an underlying assumption that building women’s agency andvoice is a key lever for empowerment.

Altogether, the investments and results over the last decade should be considered a significant
deposit in the collective knowledge bank, and a powerful platform from which the global apparelsector can go further and deeper around women’s economic empowerment.
Elevating Worker Voice

12

Joseph, 2016; Chowdhury, 2007; Nanda et al., 2013.

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Whether the initiative is a healthtraining course or a worker committee,
successful programs build confidence
and capabilities, such as soft skills
around communication, negotiation,
conflict resolution, well-being
knowledge, and self-efficacy. Taken
together, these soft skills better enable
women to speak up and take action
individually or collectively. While
present across programs, this element
is not always explicitly articulated, andis rarely measured. Worker voice iscommonly viewed as an “indirect
benefit,” but often has longer-term, andmore wide-reaching, effects than othercommonly measured metrics becauseof its ability to influence women’s
behavior and their relationships within
and beyond the workplace.

10

PROGRAMHIGHLIGHTS

Building the Business Case
The ILO’s Better Work, BSR’s HERproject, and Gap’s
P.A.C.E. program have all demonstrated significant
business benefits, including:• ILO Better Work: Participation in their Supervisory
Skills Training (SST) program, particularly amongfemale supervisors, increases productivity 22 percent.
•

HERproject: Improving women’s health knowledge andaccess to goods and services can provide a 4:1 returnon investment through cost savings from reduced
absenteeism and staff turnover.

•

Gap P.A.C.E.: Retention rates were 66 percent higher
for P.A.C.E. participants compared with other workers in
Cambodia. At a factory in India, productivity was 15
percent higher for P.A.C.E. participants.

See Footnote 12

Go Deeper into the Supply Chain
However, much activity to date is concentrated in Tier 1 suppliers, limiting the number of female workers
benefitting from these programs and leaving out the most vulnerable. The key to progress going forward
will be creating, supporting, and amplifying programs that are both scalable and sustainable. To maximize
investments already made and increase the number of female workers benefitting from these initiatives,
the sector should seek to cascade good practice by expanding tried and tested models, including
education and training, into Tier 2, Tier 3, and beyond.
This begins with helping Tier 1 suppliers recognize why these issues are worthy of investment, and will
require collaboration with suppliers, donor agencies, and NGOs. Beyond Tiers 1 and 2, programs should
consider adaptations for community-based solutions to reach the most dispersed and informal parts of the
supply chain, including home-workers. These expanded efforts should rigorously address and measurevoice and agency, so companies can better understand and further amplify effective initiatives.
Existing programs provide a strong foundation from which to build and adapt even more effective
solutions in the future. However, there are additional areas that, due to both ongoing challenges in the
sector and changes within the industry across the world, require additional investment and inquiry. The
next sections of this paper propose three critical areas for investment—by the apparel sector and incollaboration with other sectors—to boost the economic empowerment of women workers: address
informality, go further to end violence, and join global efforts to address care needs and responsibilities.

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1: Address Informality
Formal, regular, waged work has the potential to transform the lives ofwomen around the world.13 For many women workers, a job in the apparelsector can be a first step into the formal economy. Despite the power andpotential of the global apparel sector to bring millions of women into formal
employment, its tendency towards subcontracting to meet the demands offast fashion results in a high degree of informality—particularly beyond Tier
1 and Tier 2 suppliers. Informal workers—the overwhelming majority ofwhom are women—face some of the greatest risks and miss out on thebenefits that accompany formal employment. With estimates of informality
in the garment value chain ranging from 50 percent to 80 percent,14 this is arelevant issue for all actors in the sector. It will require an industry-wide,cross-sectoral approach to holistically address the challenges women face
both in the workplace and throughout society.
Company-led initiatives to improve terms and conditions for informal
workers and micro-entrepreneurs selling into the chain could havesignificant positive impacts on women workers. Through collective action
alongside government, unions, and civil society, apparel companies canraise awareness of the dangers of informality, create and update systems
that support formalization, and implement existing labor law and laborrights legislation across the supply chain.

13
14

Kabeer, 2012.

In countries studied for this report. ICRW 2016; IRLE (2013); Tilly et al., 2013. Additional information on informal economy rates
available via the ILO’s ILOSTAT database.

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We are concerned that the general trend in theindustry is towards more informality. At least that iswhat we are seeing with the increase in temporary
contracts and outsourcing.
—Global Labor Rights NGO, Canada

The ability to participate in and contribute to the formal economy is a significant lever for women’s
economic empowerment. This is recognized by United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal No. 8,
which sets out to “promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth, employment, and decent work forall.” However, many of the first opportunities outside of domestic responsibilities that women encounterare informal15 or home-based roles, which often do notcome with formal employment contracts. Without
WIEGO defines the informal
contracts, workers are vulnerable to poorer working
economy as “the diversified set of
economic activities, enterprises,
conditions, including long hours, unstable work, andjobs, and workers that are notincreased risk of violence and harassment, as well as
regulated or protected by the
mistreatment during wage negotiations, lack of access tostate. The concept originallybenefits, and exclusion from union representation.

applied to self-employment insmall, unregistered enterprises. It
has been expanded to include
wage employment in unprotected
jobs.”

Given that the majority of informal and home-based
workers in the apparel value chain are female, companyled initiatives to improve terms and conditions of theiremployment could significantly improve outcomes forvulnerable women workers. Tackling informality will also
reduce instances of indentured servitude, modern slavery, and slavery-like practices, which are more
likely to occur within the informal workforce.
Diagnosing Informality
Currently, many apparel companies lack sufficient knowledge of the entire chain to identify, much lessaddress, instances of informality beyond Tier 1 suppliers. Without this knowledge, it is impossible toensure products are made in keeping with the company’s standards, which also poses enormous risks toa brand’s reputation and product quality. It is in the interest of every apparel sector company to pursue asmuch transparency within their supply chain as possible to ensure that standards are upheld and that thecompany can prevent and remedy violations.
15

WIEGO, 2017. The level and nature of informality varies; for the purposes of this paper, we apply the term broadly andrecommend that companies consider a variety of informal or partially-informal employment situations.

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While complex challenges remain, apparel companies have made significant independent and collective
progress in owned facilities and Tier 1 suppliers. Now there is an opportunity for apparel companies toexpand supply chain visibility beyond Tier 1, and begin to identify and remedy instances of informal work.

WHAT BUSINESS CAN DO
Informality is complex and cannot be addressed in isolation from other actors. Yet, for women’s economic
empowerment to be realized, women workers must be able to access the full benefits of employment,
including contracts, pension rights, and social protection. There are promising examples of good practice,along with additional avenues through which apparel companies can take further action, enabling andinfluencing policies and initiatives that combat informality and boost formal work opportunities.
ACT» Pursue full supply chain
visibility: All companies should
strive to gain greater visibility into
the nature and makeup of their
supply chains by engaging in full
supply chain mapping. These
activities enable companies topinpoint areas where workers may
be informally employed, and wheremore focused efforts to increase
formality can make meaningfulimprovements. This should include
considerations of where the lack ofadequate support facilities or
structures such as childcare
increase the risks of informality.

EXAMPLE

BRAC Supply Chain Mapping
Efforts to fully map supply chains, such as BRAC in
Bangladesh, Semillas in Mexico, and Papel Social in Brazil,
have brought to light the full extent of informality. In
Bangladesh, the Centre for Entrepreneurship Development
at BRAC University recently conducted a Participatory
Mapping Research project in Mirpur (using snowball
sampling) and Kaliakoir (attempting a complete census).
The project collected basic information, including GPS
locations, number of workers, types of products, whether
they were BGMEA/BKMEA, Accord/Alliance,
registered/non-registered, etc. The aim is to develop acountrywide Ready Made Garment factory mapping to give
buyers and brands succinct, transparent, complete
information through an interface such as Google maps.

» Follow guidelines set out in ILO Recommendation 204: Companies can sign on to andimplement the International Labor Organization’s Recommendation 204, which concerns thetransition from informal to formal economies. The Recommendation, adopted in 2015,“acknowledges that most people enter the informal economy not by choice but due to a lack ofopportunities in the formal economy and an absence of any other means of livelihood.”
Recommendation 204 is the first international labor standard to specifically take aim at the informal
economy, and it provides strategies and guidance on policies that best facilitate the transition frominformal to formal economies. Under the Recommendation, signatories agree to:oDefend freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining.

oPrevent unsafe and unhealthy working conditions (including OSH).

oEliminate discrimination with respect to employment and occupation (section 16(d)),
which can be interpreted to include skills training for women, maternity leave, and careprovisions.

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14» Implement Homeworker Guidelines: Companies can implement guidelines like those developedby the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). The ETI Homeworker Project studied homeworking around theworld and developed principles that retailers and suppliers can use to reduce vulnerability andmarginalization. The project recognizes the importance of home-based work, particularly in theapparel supply chain, and seeks tohelp companies identify whenhomeworking is present in their
EXAMPLE
supply chains and to implement the
ETI Base Code.

GoodWeave

ENABLE» Support and Bolster Existing
Initiatives: In some sourcing
regions, such as India, there areexisting initiatives designed toorganize informal workers andpromote formality in the appareland other sectors. By bringing
together workers and presenting a
united front in negotiations, theseorganizations help to ensure thatformal employment benefits reachsmall units and homeworkers.

Founded in 1994, the “GoodWeave System” works toleverage market influence, develop child-labor-free supply
chains, create educational opportunities for children, andensure decent work for adults. Since its founding, childlabor in South Asia’s carpet industry decreased byapproximately 80 percent. GoodWeave has directly
rescued 3,600 young victims, and provided educational
support for more than 15,000 children.
Now, the organization is aiming to reduce child labor tozero in the carpet industry, while expanding its model toother sectors—including apparel. Its latest project is a pilot
in northern India to increase transparency and address
child and forced labor at the homeworker level, in
partnership with C&A Foundation and C&A.

EXAMPLE» Support Digital Wages: Digitizing
wages can provide and amplify avariety of benefits that improveterms of employments and protect
workers. Wage digitization can
increase transparency in wage
payments, social security
contributions, and rights, and canpotentially reduce violence andharassment in the workplace bydecreasing the number ofgatekeepers between a worker andtheir wage. Digitization can also
reduce vulnerability beyond thefactory walls by eliminating theneed to carry cash payments homefrom work.

SEWA and Ruaab
The Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) is a
women’s trade union that was set up in Gujarat in 1972
with the aim of organizing women in the informal sector.
SEWA is modeled on community organization andcommunity-generated solutions. SEWA itself has also
stepped into the value chain as an intermediary negotiating
directly with international clothing companies and export
houses. This role has been critical in ensuring home-based
workers bypass middlemen and gain access to formal
employment and higher paying clients.
In order to gain employment and fair wages, SEWA
members decided to form their own women-run production
company in 2010: Ruaab. Ruaab represents a uniquemodel of garment sourcing and production that is managed
and owned by female producers who aim to ensure fulltransparency and fair work throughout the entire supply
chain. Ruaab has secured regular work from buyers suchas GAP, ZARA, Primark, Monsoon, and C&A.

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EXAMPLE

Simples Nacional
Between 2001 and 2009, Brazil added 17.4 million new jobs, and most of them were formal
employment opportunities. This surge was underpinned by macroeconomic policy that fostered more
inclusive growth by lowering the cost of investment, expanding domestic markets, and, crucially,strengthening institutions that promote formalization through Simples Nacional. Recognizing that the
failure to register businesses and pay taxes contributed to informality, Brazil created a new taxation
regime, Simples Nacional, to simplify and harmonize taxes for micro, small, and medium-sizedbusinesses. This made it easier for smaller enterprises to navigate the system and pay labor taxes,
creating a larger formal employment market than ever before.

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2: Go Further to End Harassment andViolence
Economic empowerment is impossible in the face of physical threats,
violence, or harassment. Freedom from verbal and physical violence is
crucial not only to a woman’s well-being but also to her ability to participate
in the labor market and garner the benefits of her earnings. However,according to the literature and the interviews conducted as part of thisresearch, violence remains prevalent in the workplace, in transit to andfrom work, and in public spaces affecting many women in the apparelsector. In some regions, restrictive norms about masculinity have led to a
habituation of the experience of violence and high levels of tolerance forsexual harassment and intimidation. In recognition of the scale and severityof this issue, the ILO is considering a convention on violence in theworkplace.16

In Bangladesh, when female garment workers
describe the violence they experience in factories
and also similarly in their homes and communities,
they use the Bangla term ‘nirjaton,’ which can beconstrued as ‘torture.’ This word is frequently used
to talk about physical or verbal abuse withinfactories, often at the hands of factory managers.
—ICRW research, 201516

Ryder, 2013.

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Many women face violence and harassment in the workplace and at home, an experience that is only
exacerbated for informal workers.17 Moreover, there is a general lack of education and training about
women’s right to live free from violence and what actually constitutes harassment, coercion, and abuse.
Women who have experienced violence frequently lack access to justice mechanisms, limiting their ability
to claim their rights and seek compensation and restitution. Restrictive gender norms and expectations
about men’s roles and masculinity and workplace power dynamics frequently compound the experienceof and habituation to violence.
Substantial investments in the well-being of women workers have been made over the years—for
example, by ILO Better Work, HERrespect, and UNWomen. However, none of these efforts can achieve
their goals if participants still encounter threats and violence at home, on their commutes, and/or at work.
Violence and harassment must be considered unacceptable because it is damaging to women andcontravenes a dignified and productive working environment.
Violence takes many forms, and sexual harassment within factories is particularly problematic. For themost part, sexual harassment is neither defined nor acknowledged by factory leadership. The United
Nations acknowledges that gender-based violence (GBV) is “an umbrella term for any harm that isperpetrated against a person’s will, and that results frompower inequalities that are based on gender roles.”18
According to the Fair
The EEOC definition of sexual harassment (cited by UN
Wear Foundation, about
Women) includes “unwelcome sexual advances,
60 percent of female
requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physicalworkers in Bangladesh
conduct of a sexual nature.”19
and India haveexperienced harassment
According to key informants, Bangladeshi factories
at work.
narrowly define GBV as applying only to physicalviolence and rape, excluding any other forms of physical, mental, or verbal harassment. In some cases,
anything less has become so habituated that it is not viewed as harassment. Furthermore, women who
have experienced violence or harassment and want to leave work often feel trapped because their factory
jobs are an essential source of income for themselves and their families. There is also evidence that
violence in garment factories often manifests as veiled threats and intimidation used to control andsilence workers. As a result, these offenses become “invisible,” and are not addressed.
It is time for companies to bring these invisible abuses to light and devise solutions that not only stop
abusive practices within factories, but also look beyond the factory wall to identify cultural or regulatory
factors that increase violence against women and exacerbate vulnerabilities.

17

Chappell and Di Martino, 2006.

In 1993, the UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women offered the first official definition of the term “genderbased violence”: “Any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or psychological harm or
suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion, or arbitrary deprivations of liberty, whether occurring in public or in
private life.”
18

19

US Equal Employment Commission, accessed March 2017.

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

18“They swear at us when we fail to complete the work. …They scold. They say‘Hey you! Daughter of a b****, daughter of a pig! How come so much work has
been piled up?’… I cry. I feel like quitting the job. But I can do nothing. I haveto work here to take care of my family. My family lives on my earnings.
—Garment Worker, Bangladesh

WHAT COMPANIES CAN DO
There is a significant role for apparel companies to play in putting a stop to GBV and harassment within
the workplace. The following actions recognize the necessity of gender equality in combatting harmful
norms, changing societal attitudes, and ending GBV.
ACT
» Condemning Violence against Women: First and foremost, companies need to recognize, bothinternally and publicly, that incidences of violence and harassment occur, and must be dealt with.
Companies should ensure all suppliers understand what constitutes GBV, and that it is prohibited bycompany policies. Once existing
policies are clarified and the definition
EXAMPLEof GBV is clear to supervisors,
companies should reflect on their own
Fair Wear Foundation
practices to ensure there are no direct
perpetuators or indirect sources of
In 2011, Fair Wear Foundation and local partner NGOs inviolence and harassment and put in
Bangladesh and India launched a program to integrate
place effective and visible antianti-harassment laws into garment factories via antiviolence and harassment policies
harassment committees. Initially only minor issues werereported, but as trust in the system grew, more serious
across the whole supply chain.
issues began to surface. Worker surveys showedCompanies can train staff, particularly
increased comfort with coming forward with complaints andstaff such as brand representatives
growing understanding that it was their right to be free fromthat interact directly with suppliers at
workplace harassment. There is still much work to bedone, but these early successes show promise.
factories, on violence prevention andremediation.
Since 2014, Fair Wear Foundation and partners SAVE and
CIVIDEP have led training programs for factory supervisors» End the Habituation of Violencein India’s garment industry. The programs focus on training
women to become supervisors, and providing training for
and Harassment: Sometimes,
current supervisors on communication and management,
violence and harassment haveemphasizing anti-harassment practices. Through this work,
become so habituated that they are
Fair Wear aims to reduce workplace violence andnot recognized as inappropriate
economic discrimination against women in garment
behaviors. Brands should support,
factories.
and, as necessary, provide training forline managers and supervisors that elucidates what constitutes harassment and violence, andconveys in no uncertain terms that these acts are not acceptable within or beyond the factory walls.
These efforts should leverage existing resources such as Labor Voices and similar projects thatprovide anonymous hotlines to report incidences of violence and harassment.

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

19

ENABLE» Supporting Innovative, Multi-Partner Models: Findings from successful GBV programs, including
those implemented by the Fair Foods Standard Council, Fair Wear Foundation,20 and ILO Better
Work, point to a need to
draw on innovative andmulti-partner models to
EXAMPLEaddress violence. Successfulprograms mobilize all
Innovative, Multi-Partner Models
members of the value chain,
The Fair Food Program (FFP), created by the Coalition ofand have built-in systems for
Immokalee Workers, brings together stakeholders across theevaluation and rigorous
value chain in support of humane work conditions and fairanalysis to affirm thewages in the agricultural industry. Grower members are
success of the program or
expected to uphold certain human rights standards on theirflag when changes need tofarms through the Fair Food Code of Conduct, while buyers
commit to purchase only from compliant growers. A Fair Foodbe made.
label was created for consumers to identify which buyers are
FFP participants. The program works by organizing workers» Supporting Education &and consumers to put pressure on growers and buyers to join
Compliance: Apparel sector
and comply.
brands can also play a rolein supporting rights
FFP also created an independent auditing body called the Fair
Food Standards Council (FFSC) to monitor the system.
education—both in the
Notably, the FFSC includes both experts in the industry andworkplace and within
agricultural workers. In this way, the FFSC ensures that
communities—and ensuring
auditing and sourcing are more closely linked and the system isthat codes of conduct andaccountable to workers. Audits are performed on allcompliance requirements
participating farms. During the process, FFSC auditors
explicitly address genderinterview a minimum of half the workers as well as supervisors,
conduct an extensive review of the farm’s payroll, and verify
violence in the workplace. Inthat working conditions uphold the program’s standards. By
addition to initiatives directly
having a central, independent auditing body that includes
targeting women workers,
workers, the FFP reduces inefficiencies and ensures auditing
GBV trainings should include
and sourcing more closely converge in the value chain. This
suppliers and line
has contributed greatly to the program’s success and shouldsupervisors, inspectors, andserve as a model for independent, binding, and collective
auditing.
union and worker
organizations to identify
violence and harassment, understand the root causes, and reduce violence in the chain.
»

Engaging Men: Gender equality will not be achieved and GBV will not end if interventions focus
solely on women. Men must also be an active part of the conversation. Companies can help toprovide opportunities for men to better understand the importance and value of women’s
empowerment. Companies can also help men address the challenges they face in understanding
the issues and the roles—both positive and negative—they may play within their supply chain.
These efforts can be amplified through partnerships with community-based initiatives or NGOs.

For more information on Fair Wear Foundation’s work to end gender-based violence, see: www.fairwear.org/vawprevention/#!/content/https://www.fairwear.org/vaw-prevention/international-womens-day/.
20

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

20» Supporting Organizations that Help Victims: Apparel sector companies can and shouldcollaborate with organizations providing direct legal and health services to victims of violence,
abuse, and harassment. This includes ensuring all factory workers are aware of and able to accessthese services if needed without fear of negative repercussions at work.
INFLUENCE»

Maximizing Existing and Supporting Proposed Binding Frameworks: Although there is currently
no global standard on violence and harassment at work, several international conventions on GBV
exist, such as ILO Convention 111 on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) and theConvention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in
1979. These conventions were designed to promote gender equity and prevent discrimination against
women in communities and the workplace. However, they often go unenforced due to cultural,
financial, or other factors that limit implementation and oversight. Apparel companies should beaware of these conventions, ensure they are upheld within their supplier factories, and call on
national and local governments to enforce and implement the requirements. Companies should makeclear to suppliers that working relationships must be conducted in full compliance with key
conventions, even if there are gaps in local enforcement.
Additionally, companies can voice support for new conventions that would create a global standard
on violence and harassment at work, such as the ILO Convention on Violence at Work. At the end of
2015, the ILO announced that a debate for a convention will be on the ILO Conference agenda in2018, and efforts are already underway to gather support for such a standard.
» Make a Public Stand and Advocate: To both acknowledge and de-stigmatize the problem,companies can speak out in support of and advocate for policies and programs that combat GBV
and enable women’s economic empowerment. Further, companies can use the power of theirbrands to champion gender equality and dismantle harmful norms, policies, and practices, including
labor practices. There are ample areas for companies to raise their voice and use their influence toengage in dialogue to promote gender equality and stand up for policy advancements that support
women’s rights in the countries where they source products.

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

21

3: Join Global Efforts to Recognize
Childcare Needs
From cooking and cleaning to caring for the elderly and children, womenshoulder a disproportionate amount of unpaid work. The UN’s Sustainable
Development Goal No. 5 around gender equality makes explicit reference
to the need for public services, infrastructure, and social protection policies
to “recognize and value unpaid care and domestic work” and to promote“shared responsibility within the family.”21 There are many good reasons forbusiness to advance this agenda too. A good starting point to support
women to enter and remain in the workforce is to offer secure, viable, highquality childcare options.22 Apparel sector companies can play a significant
role in increasing the availability and quality of childcare options, which, inturn, can have significant positive outcomes for women workers.
Despite strong recognition of the importance of childcare in empowering women—including by the UN
High Level Panel for Women’s Economic Empowerment23 and the Women’s Economic Empowerment
Roadmap24—there is a widespread lack of affordable, quality childcare in many apparel sourcing regions.
This limits women’s ability to work and may confine them to informal or home-based employment or force
them to completely leave the labor market. Support for childcare has been largely absent from recent
efforts to improve working conditions in apparel sector factories. One informant expressed frustration at
the limited attention given to this issue:“There have been improvements in factories with the Alliance and the Accord.
But when it comes to childcare, daycare, not at all. If a factory has over 500
employees it must have a daycare but workers do not use them. Their hours
of work change constantly and the daycare has limited hours. Many workers
live an hour away and don’t want to travel with their baby, transportation isdangerous. The childcare should be where the people live, in the community.

21

United Nations, 2015.

22

UN Women, 2015; Gammage 2015; Ray, 2013.

23

UNHLP on Women’s Economic Empowerment, 2016.

24

United Nations Foundation, 2013.

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

22“Part of the law is to have a daycare facility, but it is not used. The worker has
to prepare the child, its food, then has a hazardous route to work—this is notchild friendly. They can’t work if their kid is with them. Most workers send
children to villages. Children aren’t breastfed or cared for by their mothers.
Some kids are at home in slums and become victims of trafficking, accidents,
other problems.” —Women’s Rights NGO, Bangladesh

Investing in childcare solutions can provide significant benefits to women workers and bolster otherinvestments to increase women’s economic empowerment. Increasing evidence points to businessbenefits such as reductions in absenteeism, sick leave, and turnover, as well. Relatively simple
interventions, such as care centers with space for mothers to breastfeed on site, allow mothers to return
to work following maternity leave without limiting their childcare choices. To be successful, suchinterventions must be both properly
PROGRAM
implemented and enforced, andHIGHLIGHT
designed with women’s needs andcultural and professional realities inmind. For example, in India, The
Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN)
Factories Act of 1947 establishes a
MSN brings together women workers to identify andseries of expectations for factories withdiscuss needs and to propose grounded, practical solutions
30 or more women employees, includingthat set a strong agenda for working women’s rights inchildcare on factory premises. However,Central America.
only a small percentage of factories
comply with this requirement. According
One of the top items on the MSN agenda is childcare. MSN
to the Maquila Solidarity Network, “Of
is collaborating with other regional women’s and trade
the approximately 1,200 garment
union organizations to ensure that employers andfactories operating in Bangalore, reports
governments provide quality childcare services for womenconsistently estimate that 95 percent ofworkers. Together, they are raising a collective voice tofactories lack functional crèches.”25
engage international apparel brands, industry associations,and governments to find practical, grounded childcare
Even when mandated childcare issolutions that best meet the needs of women maquila
provided, it is not always safe orworkers.
convenient for women workers to use.
For many women, shifts are longer than eight hours, but on-site childcare facilities are typically open for
only eight hours a day. Moreover, commutes are often long, and transportation can be dangerous. As aresult, even if on-site childcare is available, many women choose to leave their children with family
members at home, or in the case of migrant workers, send their children back to their villages to be cared
for by extended family.
ICRW’s interviews found that lack of childcare is an important reason women leave the apparel workforce
or enter informal employment. Many garment workers begin in factories and eventually leave to become
home-based workers:

25

Maquila Solidarity Network and Cividep India, 2016.

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

23“I used to work in a factory, but working hours were very long. I had only 15
minutes to eat and I used to get off from work very late at night, I did not haveanybody who helped me to take care of my children while I was working. For
all of that, I decided to work from home”—Garment worker from Zapotlanejo

Efforts to provide women-centered solutions to childcare challenges are nascent, but some innovative
programs are already finding success. Some organizations, like Phulki in Bangladesh, are independent offactories, while others, such as Nalt Enterprise in Vietnam, are factory owned and managed.
Phulki offers childcare in a range of environments, from factory-based programs to local community
facilities, in order to bring childcare to the women, wherever they are. In addition to providing on-site
childcare, Phulki programs emphasize education in child development for both mothers and fathers,
which helps redistribute care responsibilities within the family.
Nalt Enterprise, a Vietnamese garment factory with an 85 percent female workforce, invested
substantially in improving working conditions for women and establishing a family-friendly working
environment. The factory built a free kindergarten next door for workers’ children, initiated a program to
pay annual school fees up to and including university, and built an accredited health clinic for workers andtheir families. As a result, the factory has seen lower turnover rates, a steady downtrend in worker
absenteeism, and a reduction in strikes through good employee relations.

WHAT COMPANIES CAN DO
Access to high quality, safe, inexpensive childcare is a major unmet need for women garment workers.
On-site care facilities also provide opportunities for education and health services, which, together,
provide the support needed to boost women’s economic empowerment.
ACT» Ensure Mandatory Childcare Requirements Are Met: Some sourcing regions require employers
of a certain size to provide on-site childcare. Apparel companies can explore the current state ofcompliance within their supply chains, evaluate gaps, and work with suppliers, NGOs, andgovernments to implement solutions. These solutions should not only fully meet regional
requirements, but also provide safe, high quality care that is compatible with worker realities.
ENABLE» Invest in Community Childcare Centers: Apparel sector brands can increase access to childcare,and increase the quality of that care, by providing assistance to factory owners. Apparel brands caninvest in trainings and partnerships to establish and sustain high quality on-site care.
» Best-Practice Sharing: As more apparel brands invest in childcare solutions, many lessons will belearned. The apparel sector should work collectively to identify the programs that are mostsuccessful, overcome challenges, and streamline implementation in shared factories and acrosssourcing regions, as appropriate.
INFLUENCEBSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

»

26

24

Voice Support for Policies that Recognize Unpaid Work Responsibilities: The expectation thatwomen will carry the brunt of unpaid domestic and care work is deeply rooted in societal norms andperceptions about what is a woman versus a man’s responsibility. Companies in the Fast-Moving
Consumer Goods (FMCG) product sector are increasingly using their advertising platforms tochallenge traditional gender stereotypes or promote new gender roles such as men cooking,cleaning, or looking after children. One example of this is Unilever’s “Unstereotype” campaign26 aspart of its Sustainable Living Plan. Apparel companies can consider using their public facing platforms
to promote gender-equal roles, help to raise the profile of women workers’ needs, and provide
opportunities for public education on the challenges women face.

Joseph, 2017.

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

25

Conclusion
The barriers to women’s economic empowerment are varied and complex,
and interact with everything from policies and regulation to development
agendas, societal norms, and cultural expectations. The business case forwomen’s economic empowerment is clear—particularly in emerging
economies where much of the apparel supply chain is located. The apparelsector has made significant investments and gained valuable insights.
Now, it is time to deepen and expand that work to better address the
specific needs of women workers in the global value chain in collaboration
with suppliers, NGOs, international development agencies, andgovernments.
Every company can take action to benefit women’s economic empowerment in the areas where they
have direct control, such as owned operations and Tier 1 suppliers. Beyond these actions, companies
can also use their size and scale to amplify positive impacts and enable other value chain actors throughpartnership, incentives, and public communications.
Beyond individual company action, the apparel sector has the opportunity to come together and, throughresearch, advocacy, and communications, create an environment that supports and advances women’s
economic empowerment. The apparel sector has invested significantly—perhaps more than any othersector in the world—in supporting women. By taking on the three challenges identified in this paper—
addressing informality, going further to end violence, and addressing care needs and responsibilities—theapparel sector has a real opportunity to drive the agenda and inspire others to follow suit on behalf ofwomen workers.
Companies can collaborate with or support the work of government, international industry and laborassociations, researchers, and civil society to fully visualize and understand the scale and nature of thesethree interconnected challenges. The apparel sector has significant influence both within countries with alarge supply chain footprint—such as Bangladesh, India, China, Vietnam, Indonesia, Cambodia, Jordan,
and Turkey—and with consumers around the world. Together, the apparel sector can influence
policymakers and advocate for change as well as enable other actors, such as NGOs, suppliers, andpartners, to take action and accelerate progress.
Many of the barriers to women’s economic empowerment are systemic. The apparel sector can influence
policy change and drive industry-wide progress by sharing knowledge and expertise, and supporting
policies proven to advance women’s empowerment and gender equality. These policies can address
challenges such as equity in property ownership, access to education and healthcare, protection from

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

26

violence, worker rights, and equal pay for equal work. This could be accomplished through a variety of
approaches, including a collective manifesto, joint statement, or public principles.
With the release of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, there is also a framework in place thatcompanies can use to connect individual and sector actions to the global development agenda.
Investments in the three areas outlined in this report will directly support the achievement of several of thedevelopment goals, including: No. 1, No Poverty; No. 5, Gender Equality; No. 8, Decent Work andEconomic Growth; and No. 10, Reduced Inequalities. Making effective use of Goal No. 17, Partnerships,
provides the opportunity for the apparel sector to set an example for other sectors and industries.

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

27

Appendix
Table 1:
Bangladesh

Bangladesh set a goal to reach upper-middle-income country status by 2021, and theReady Made Garments (RMG) sector remains crucial to reaching that goal. The
Bangladeshi garment sector is highly feminized. The Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) estimates RMG employees are 80
percent women. Other sources (such as Capturing the Gains) estimate 60 percent to
70 percent of RMG workers are women, possibly due to an increase in knitwear
production, which employs a higher number of men. Many of these women come frompoor, rural areas, and RMG sector jobs are frequently the only wage-earning
employment available to them.27 While economically successful, much of the sector’s
potential remains unrealized today, largely due to insufficient management and poor
labor relations. The sector has also faced significant challenges, notably thedevastating Rana Plaza factory collapse in 2013, which set in motion renewed efforts
to address health and safety and engage in social dialogue in the sector. To reach its
full potential, the Bangladeshi RMG sector should strive to protect fundamental
rights at work, catalyze women’s empowerment, and underpin a broader shift
toward a more industrialized economy powered by gender equity in workforce
participation.

BrazilBrazil hosts a full fashion chain, from fiber and textile production to clothing, retail, anda large consumer market. Wages and working conditions have improved significantly
over the last decade in response to rising internal demand and investment in labormarket institutions, including inspection, industry-wide collective bargaining, andminimum wages. Despite the maturity of the value chain and the rollout of social
protection and investment in strengthening labor market institutions in the 2000s, asignificant portion of garment production continues to be in small and home-based
production units characterized by long hours and low wages. Almost 25 percent of
employment is in home-based production, where approximately 94 percent of all
workers are women. In Brazil, a move towards better regulation and moreformality within the sector will be critical to realize the potential for the sector
and for women workers.

MexicoIn Mexico, the textile and garment industries collectively accounted for 3.7 percent of
GDP in 2014—80 percent of which comes from the apparel sector. The sector
workforce is 60 percent women; for textiles, it is 35 percent women. In keeping withtrends across the sector, the feminization of the garment sector has resulted in lower
average pay compared to the textile sector and other sectors with predominately male
workforces. Upgrading and mechanization within the sector has resulted in the “defeminization” of certain roles and occupations. ICRW’s observations indicate this is27

AWAJ Foundation, AMRF Society, and Consulting Service International, 2013.

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

28

likely due to the fact that men are more likely to work with more complex machines,
and are more highly compensated. ICRW’s interviews shed light on the need for agender perspective along the entire value chain, particularly with respect toimproving the terms and conditions of employment and addressing structuralbarriers such as care needs, maternity leave, safety, and social protection
against discrimination and violence. The interviews also revealed clear spaces forcollaboration among brands, particularly in terms of coordination in auditing and codesof conduct, promoting greater transparency in the chain, and working together to movethe market collectively.

India

28

Kane, 2015.

Sixty percent of the garment workforce across India is female, with significant variation
by region.28 India has high rates of informal and home-based work, particularly among
women, so the number of women contributing to the global apparel sector is likely
much larger. Economists recognize that India will not be able to reach its economic
potential without increasing women’s participation in the formal workforce andeconomy. Recently, the government launched programs to bring “trainees” from rural
areas to urban centers like Bangalore to learn trades and work in facilities like apparelsector factories. These trainees are often the first unmarried women from their villages
to migrate to the city, and these jobs are likely their first formal employment
opportunities. As such, the number of women participating in India’s formal economy is
set to rise significantly, and addressing vulnerabilities and preventing abuses will
be key to the country’s on-going development and success.

BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

29

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BSR | Empowering Female Workers in the Apparel Industry

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250 member companies and other partners to build a just and sustainable world.
From its offices in Asia, Europe, and North America, BSR develops sustainablebusiness strategies and solutions through consulting, research, and cross-sector
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