Gender Equality Programme in Supply Chain

Background

Sexual harassment at the workplace and within the community is a form of violence against women and a human rights violation. It remains a serious and widespread problem for workers in the Indian garment industry. Though it is a legal mandate (Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act 2013 by Government of India) to maintain a robust anti-harassment policy, establish a functional Internal committee and facilitate awareness raising programs about the consequences sexual harassment, brands and suppliers should take an active role in preventing violence and promoting gender equality.

The theory of change is placed in the context of the emerging global ecosystem of transparent and sustainable supply chains and larger policy directions of the Government of India, which has shown a clear commitment towards proactively investing in the wellbeing of the workforce. It not only fulfils the stated commitments and compliances of the Government of India but is also expected to align with the global standards, which aim to bring about Transparency in Supply Chains aligning to the Modern Slavery Act, 2015 UK. The programme will contribute to the goal 5, 8 and 10 of UN- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on promoting gender equality and reducing inequalities.

About the Project

Marks and Spencer (M&S) with British High Commission (BHC) was the first brand to pilot the Gender Equality Programme addressing women empowerment, safe workplace and Prevention of sexual harassment at workplace for the first time in 2016 in two factories of Bengaluru. Scaling up on the success of pilot, it has collaborated with BHC again and approached Change Alliance and Treble Partners to lead the implementation of GEP by working on safe workplace and women empowerment in garment supply chain in 11 factories (2017-2018) in Delhi/NCR (Gurugram) Karnataka (Bengaluru) and Tamil Nadu (Arakkonam) reaching out to 13500 workforces. Subsequently other garment brands of Superdry, Mothercare and Levi Strauss & Co. joined the project during the expansion phase of this project.

In 2018, the project was named Providing Opportunities to Women for Equal Rights (POWER), and in its third phase (2018-2019) it has positively impacted the lives of over 20,000 individuals (9600 factory workers and 11300 workforces in the community members), covering both men and women, in both factory and community settings in areas located in Bengaluru, Gurugram and Manesar. The onsite intervention in the factory to train workers (9600) was undertaken by Change Alliance while the community members training was conducted by another consortium partner.

The theory of change is placed in the context of the emerging global ecosystem of transparent and sustainable supply chains and larger policy directions of the Government of India, which has shown a clear commitment towards proactively investing in the wellbeing of the workforce. It not only fulfils the stated commitments and compliances of the Government of India but is also expected to align with the global standards, which aim to bring about Transparency in Supply Chains aligning to the Modern Slavery Act, 2015 UK. The programme will contribute to the goal 5, 8 and 10 of UN- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on promoting gender equality and reducing inequalities.