Chapter 5
Annual Topic Gender-Based Violence
Gender-based violence was our 2020 Annual Topic in the Textiles Partnership. In February 2020, 14 Partnership members formed an expert group on this topic, which addresses the issue as it relates to the Partnership’s three areas of work, i.e. to support members in the 2021 Review Process, to promote collective engagement, and to create support services and exchange formats. In November 2020, the Steering Committee decided to extend the mandate of this expert group.
News
Annual Topic 2020
In 2020, Gender-based violence is highlighted as the annual topic in the Textiles Partnership. Introduction to the topic and overview over the activities.
7 Webinars on Gender-Based Violence
In the course of the year, many events related to the Annual Topic were held, examining discrimination, gender-based violence and harassment. Here is a screenshot from a session at the Members’ Meeting entitled ‘How to address the sector risk of gender-based violence at factory level. Perspectives from Bangladesh’
New Resources
A new guidance document deals with the gender-sensitive design of social audits. It was developed in a project by members of the PST, the International Association of the Natural Textile Industry (IVN) and the Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS). Over the past months, the project partners have worked intensively on the challenges of identifying gender-based violence in social audits and how gender-sensitive audits can be better integrated into due diligence processes.
In addition, nine country-specific factsheets on gender-based violence in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Myanmar, Ethiopia, India, Pakistan, Poland, Turkey and Vietnam are available to PST members in the members’ area.
3 Articles on GBVH
News
ILO Convention No. 190
In this interview, Dr Christina Stockfisch of the German Trade Union Confederation, who was actively involved in the negotiations, explains what progress the Convention represents, and what it is about in real terms.
Guest article by Sina Marx (FEMNET)
Prevent violence against women in factories. But how?
All over the world, irrespective of their origins, incomes or the sectors they work in, women experience violence in the workplace. […] The textile industry is one of the sectors that foster structural violence towards and harassment of women workers.
News
Invisible Women: Due Diligence Risks & Gender Data Gap
Although women account for an estimated 70% of the 60 million garment and textile workers worldwide, they are often ‘invisible’, with little accurate data or information available on their participation, roles and conditions of work. Text written by Stephanie Barrientos.
Annual Topic 2021: Responsible Purchasing Practices
Effective cooperation between purchasing companies and suppliers based on partnership is crucial to protect the rights of workers in the supply chain. The COVID-19 crisis has once again made this particularly clear. With the Annual Topic 2021, we want to contribute to an industry-wide improvement of purchasing practices and to create space for progress towards good working conditions and living wages; in the sense of the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for the textile sector. More Information