Better rights for women workers
Primark supports women’s rights in the workplace and has a range of programmes such as the HERproject and bank accounts for workers that aim to empower women to exercise their rights and support their development in the workplace and the wider community. However, a particular concern is around the rights of women workers in the textile industry in South India and the employment practices of sumangali*. Reports by NGOs Anti-Slavery International and SOMO have raised serious concerns regarding the rights and welfare of workers which operate sumangali schemes.
Primark does not tolerate or accept the practice of sumangali or any employment practices that inhibit the ability of all workers to exercise their rights. Primark is working with other industry stakeholders - including participation in a significant programme led by the Ethical Trading Initiative - to identify sustainable solutions to the practices of sumangali, and to provide safe and legal employment conditions for female workers. Primark recognises that all stakeholders including the Indian government, trade and industry bodies representing the Indian textile sector, retailers, NGOs, trade unions, and workers themselves must be engaged if these objectives are to be achieved.
Primark has also directly implemented a range of programmes, with support from stakeholders including NGOs, designed to improve employment practices and workers’ rights, empower and educate young women, and increase community awareness.
Improving workplace conditions and rights for women workers
Primark launched the Fair Hiring, Fair Labour initiative in 2011 with Verite, a US-based NGO. This is a programme designed to help factory managers make improvements to their employment and recruitment systems, which in turn provides better workplace conditions for all workers.
The Fair Hiring Fair Labour initiative provides practical guidance and toolkits for factory managers on key management systems including: recruitment and hiring; screening recruitment companies or agents; management of employees; and hostel management.
The programme aims to build management system capacity and internal self-monitoring, and allows suppliers to conduct an assessment of their current practices against key performance indicators.
Once suppliers have assessed their workplaces, they can begin to put in place systems and controls to address these gaps, with support and guidance from Primark, and Verite.
Empowering and educating women workers through health
The HER (Health Enables Returns) project provides health care and education for women in Primark’s factories. Primark is the first retailer to launch the programme in South India for residential women workers. The programme builds on our existing work in Bangladesh which has provided education to 4500 female factory workers on hygiene, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, and nutrition.
The benefits of the programme include increased health awareness; behavioural changes such as proper use of contraception; knowledge of when and where to seek medical care; increased uptake of medical services such as inoculation of children, treatment of reproductive tract diseases; and increased awareness of nutrition and supplements.
There is also a high ‘empowerment’ impact: women who have received the training are seen as leaders in among their communities and pass on the knowledge to their children, neighbours and peers.
“Not only has HERproject given women the knowledge to improve their health behaviour, it has empowered them to seek leadership roles in their jobs and their communities,” said BSR HERproject Manager, Racheal Yeager. “The peer-to-peer model — with women teaching each other about women’s health — has given them the confidence to go against the grain in regions where the traditional role for women is not as strong.”
You can read more about the HERproject in Bangladesh here.
Raising awareness of issues within local communities
Primark is working with a local NGO to better understand the challenges faced by local communities and the young women hired under the sumangali scheme. Through this programme we seek to understand the cultural, social, and economic issues that lead to young women taking employment within the textile industry in South India. The programme also provides support through counselling and guidance services to young women and their families, particularly within the most poor and needy communities.
This programme builds on our existing worker education programme in South India which has provided education and training on key life skills, workers’ rights and the importance of education for children to over 2300 workers since 2009. You can read more about the programme here.
Further information
Click here to read the industry response to the 2011 SOMO report Captured by Cotton. Primark supports this position.
Click here to read SOMO’s 2011 report Captured by Cotton
*Young women, who make up a sizeable majority of the textile industry workforce in southern India, are often recruited from outlying rural areas to work in textile mills. They are given fixed term contracts and provided with accommodation, sometimes within the textile mill or factory compound, and receive a monthly stipend with the remainder of their earnings paid in a lump sum at the end of the contract period. The appeal of this system for young women and their families is that it offers them a lump sum that can be used as a marriage dowry. Although dowry payments are illegal in India, they continue to exist in many rural areas.
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