Despite some progress, discrimination, sexual harassment and gender-based violence in the textile sector remain one of the most prevalent sector risks. As part of the focus topic of Gender Equality, Partnership members are therefore working together to create a dignified, safe and healthy working environment. To this end, it is essential that all forms of discrimination and violence against all workers, especially women and other marginalized groups in production countries, based on their gender, gender identity, ethnicity, migration status, disability or other socially constructed characteristics, are eliminated. The focus here is to be increasingly on implementation and impact on the ground.

You can find more information on the focus topic of Gender Equality on the Textile Partnership website. 

Despite widespread awareness of the potential impact of discrimination, sexual harassment or gender-based violence, the actual extent of gender-based discrimination remains difficult to measure. This is due to insufficient and non-transparent data and low reporting rates. The lack of data also makes it difficult for companies to develop effective measures to reduce gender inequality and discrimination.  

To address this data gap, the Partnership Initiative Gender Data Gap was launched in 2023. The aim of the PI is to develop a practically applicable manual with the aim of measuring, managing and improving gender equality in companies. The manual’s objective is to be scalable so that it can ultimately be used across countries and stakeholders. Once this data has been evaluated, suitable measures will be implemented and monitored locally with the production sites as part of the Partnership Initiative in order to counteract gender-specific discrimination and measure the effectiveness of the measures. After the pilot phase in Tunisia, the manual will be made available to the members of the Textile Partnership through capacity building and accesible for their own use. 

These members participated in the PI Gender Data Gap

Brands:
Hess Natur-Textilien GmbH & Co.KG, Gerry Weber International GmbH, Global Standard gemeinnützige GmbH (GOTS)

Civil Society:
Hessnatur Stiftung, FEMNET e.V.

Other cooperation partners: 
Two factories in Tunisia: Denim Manufacture, Manufacturing International Company  

The Advancing Worker-Led Agreements on Gender Justice Partnership Initiative and its participating members have set themselves the goal of ending gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) and intersectional discrimination in textile factories in the Tamil Nadu region of India. Female workers, in particular Dalit women from participating supplier factories of partnership members, are to be given access to functioning and gender-sensitive grievance mechanisms.  

However, access alone is not enough. Garment workers must also feel empowered and safe to report complaints related to gender-based violence and harassment as well as discrimination in a broader sense and have confidence in the effectiveness of the mechanism. To this end, internal complaints committees and factory monitors consisting of employees from the workforce of participating suppliers are to be trained on women’s rights, gender-specific issues relating to employee representation and how to deal with complaints.  

In addition, following the example of the Dindigul Agreement to end gender-based violence, legally binding agreements between local workers’ representatives and fashion companies and their suppliers are to be concluded with interested brands and their suppliers. Discussions between brands, suppliers and workers’ representatives began in 2023. The next step is to negotiate the agreements. In addition, among other activities, training is to be offered for female employees in the garment industry to strengthen their leadership skills and enable them to move up into supervisory positions. 

These members participated in the PI Advancing Worker-Led Agreements on Gender Justice

Brands:
C&A, KiK

Civil society:
FEMNET e.V.

Other cooperation partners:
Society for Labour and Development (SLD), Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), Global Labour Justice – International Labour Rights Forum (GLJ-ILRF)