Japanese retail giant Fast Retailing is to invest US$1.6m in a new programme for female workers in garment factories in Asia as part of a partnership with UN Women.
Announced today (28 June), the collaboration is the first formal alliance between UN Women – the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women – and a clothing company based in Asia. The two parties will work together to promote safe and secure work environments for all women and girls.
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The scope of the partnership, which includes the US$1.6m from Fast Retailing over two years (2019-2021), will see the programme set up in Asia, the Japanese company’s main production hub, and a management training programme to further diversity.
“Fast Retailing is committed to ensure that all women who are main players in our business can fully demonstrate their abilities,” says CEO Tadashi Yanai, CEO. “This is essential for the sustainable growth of the entire supply chain, as well as to continue to offer products that meet customer expectations.
“Through our joint project with UN Women, we aim to create an enabling environment for all women in our business and those in our company to play an active role in society.”
While female workers account for around 80% of the garment industry, men occupy the majority of leadership roles, such as line supervisors and managerial positions. Moreover, female workers are often hampered by gender occupational segregation, pay gaps, and gender-based recruitment bias, making it more difficult for them to develop sustainable and fulfilling careers.
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By GlobalDataIn addition, the rise of new automation technologies and robotics in the industry also presents another challenge for female workers as it requires them to acquire new sets of skills to respond to such changes.
Fast Retailing intends to address this by providing specialised training to help mid-career female workers reach leadership positions; providing opportunities for female workers to acquire new skills in areas such as automation; and raising men’s awareness of the importance of gender equality and women’s empowerment.
In its first year, the project will target partner factories in Bangladesh, China and Vietnam to identify specific local gender-based challenges that female factory workers face. Following this, a support programme will be developed to provide specialised training for female workers selected from 200 partner factories in the three countries.
Through the partnership, Fast Retailing and UN Women aim to generate a positive effect to local communities and across the entire supply chain.
“By focusing on women’s economic empowerment and providing women workers with access to specialised training and capacity-building, we are together taking a critical step to galvanise change in the garment industry,” adds UN Women executive director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
In Asia, UN Women already works on a broad range of issues and programmes, and has also implemented capacity-building projects to empower female workers in garment industry in Bangladesh (2016 to 2018), and in China, to raise awareness of the textile and apparel factories in support of women’s entry into the labour market and ensure that women have equal access to professional development opportunities and social protection (2013 to 2017).
Last month, Fast Retailing disclosed all the garment factories supplying its Theory, PLST and other brands as well as Uniqlo and GU.
