Care.org Care.org
icon icon icon icon icon icon icon

Standardized Guidance for Addressing Violence & Harassment in the Garment Industry

Preventing Violence and Harassment at Work

Clear procedures with strong messages from leadership reduce harassment and make workers feel safer.

CARE and Better Factories Cambodia have developed standardized guidance for all businesses in garment supply chains to address violence and harassment against women and girls. These guidelines are designed to support businesses to take meaningful and effective action to ensure women workers are safe and respected at all levels of the supply chain.

Background

Violence and harassment against women and girls in the workplace has become a prominent global issue, with increasing social and legal pressure for companies to ensure this does not occur within their supply chains. However, tackling such a complex issue is challenging and minimal guidance existed for companies to address this across the breadth of their operations.
Better Factories Cambodia
CARE and Better Factories Cambodia worked in collaboration with brands and manufacturers to produce concrete guidance for supply chain actors to proactively address and respond to violence and harassment against women and girls.

The guidance

The guidelines were designed to guide a diverse group of supply chain stakeholders including brands, retailers, licensors, licensees, agents, manufacturing groups and factories, as well as governments, employer and industry associations, trade unions and non-profit organizations.

The core guidance includes five procedures relating to different areas of the supply chain:

  • Human resource management
  • Procurement, purchasing, & sourcing
  • Supply chain management
  • Client & customer management
  • Subsidiary management

Each procedure is broken down into essential areas for action which cover five aspects of the workplace:

  • Organizational leadership
  • Workplace policies
  • Workplace systems
  • Workplace norms & practices
  • Workplace training

 

The guidance is supported by eight implementation guides, which provide more detail for businesses in the supply chain on how to implement the procedures.

For more information and to discuss how CARE can support companies to implement these guidelines, please contact Lesley Abraham at lesley.abraham@care.org.

 

The Guidelines for Addressing Violence and Harassment in the Textile, Clothing and Footwear Manufacturing Industry were developed by CARE and Better Factories Cambodia. They draw on learning from the Enhancing Women’s Voice to STOP Sexual Harassment (STOP) project, which was funded by the Australian Government, and build upon CARE and BFC’s joint event on the Business of Women at Work, which was also funded by the Australian Government.

 

You May Also Like:

Humanitarian work can't stop.

CARE impacts millions of lives around the world through critical healthcare, nutritious food, clean water, and protection from violence against women and girls. The people we help can’t wait. Support CARE to continue the emergency assistance and aid for women and families every day.