An ambitious programme has been launched to empower women in global supply chains, with garment and textile industry workers a focus for projects in India and Bangladesh.
Launched by Amfori and drawing on the UN Agenda for Sustainable Development and on its own Vision 2030, the Women’s Empowerment Programme embodies three specific projects in the group’s three biggest sourcing countries – China, India and Bangladesh.
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It aims to ensure women’s rights are protected and offer them the training and guidance necessary to advance their careers.
The new programme builds on Amfori BSCI’s Code of Conduct, which is based on the principles of no gender-based discrimination and no precarious employment. Training aims to facilitate a shift in mindset regarding women at work, bringing about tangible behavioural change and policy improvements.
The programme’s activities will be tailored to the local needs and carried out in partnerships with strategic stakeholders – the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) in China, the Confederation of Indian Industries in India, and the CSR Centre and DBL Group in Bangladesh.
The projects in India and Bangladesh will cover the textile and garment sectors, where women represent 70-90% of the workforce, but are disproportionately represented at the lowest tiers of the supply chain and often subject to discrimination and sexual harassment.
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By GlobalDataMore specifically, in India, work will involve raising awareness among workers and supervisors on labour rights and grievance mechanisms, supporting compliance with national laws on sexual harassment. In Bangladesh, there will be leadership training for upward mobility and participation in representative bodies.
A project will also be carried out in China, where in-depth research and policy recommendations will aim to tackle the complex challenges of female migration to metropolitan areas.
“Businesses have a fundamental role to play in advancing progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Goals,” says Amfori president Christian Ewert. “By empowering women, we empower communities and society at large. But this is not just a moral imperative for companies. Working towards eliminating gender-based discrimination, promoting career opportunities and including women in decision-making are all modes of empowerment, which in turn can enhance productivity, make businesses and their supply chains more resilient and bring financial returns.”
Amfori says its Women’s Empowerment Programme is designed to be a win-win for women workers, producers and stakeholders. Local producers will improve management skills, which will contribute to increased worker retention and productivity. Women workers will gain confidence and new skills, and benefit from improved working conditions and career opportunities. Trust in local factories and within global value chains will increase.
Through the programme, Amfori will develop a new type of country-specific expertise and scale up and replicate the results across more than 40 countries worldwide, where it delivers supporting services. The association says it will also draw on the outcomes from the programme in its continuous engagement and advocacy for national and EU level initiatives that advance the role of women in global supply chains.
According to the European Institute of Gender Equality (EIGE), by 2050, improving gender equality would lead to an increase in EU GDP per capita by 6.1 to 9.6%, which amounts to EUR1.95 trn (US$2.29bn) to EUR3.15 trn.
