Brief Policy 3 Re-Dressing for the Future Gender justice for garment workers in Asia Benjamin Velasco, Coeli Barry, Dao Mai Linh, Pabitra Raut, Ploypilin Tinkan, Sidra Saeed and Suchita Krishnaprasad Executive Summary Asia is a critical hub for global garment production, accounting for 60 per cent of the industry’s output in the region. Women and girls represent the majority of workers in this sector, facing enduring challenges related to low wages and unsafe working conditions, issues exacerbated in times of economic downturns. This policy brief explores how to advance gender justice in the garment sector through more equitable and sustainable practices. Should policymakers focus on enforcing existing protections for women workers, or should they prioritise public-private partnerships that respond to global norms and consumer pressures? How can workers’ voices be effectively integrated into decision-making? This policy brief addresses these questions through a comparative analysis of India, Nepal, Vietnam and the Philippines and advocates for worker-driven social responsibility(WSR) as a mechanism to enforce human rights standards within the industry. 1 Introduction Asia’s garment sector is crucial, making up over 60 per cent of global production. This industry has provided women with significant opportunities, helping many to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. It has also attracted foreign direct investment and contributed to industrial growth in the region. However, the low-skilled nature of the work and the surplus labour in South and Southeast Asia have led to persistently low wages and challenging working conditions. Achieving gender justice in this sector requires concerted efforts from policymakers, government representatives, the private sector, civil society, and the workers themselves. Gender justice involves ensuring that women achieve full equality and equity across all areas of life(OXFAM, 2023). Although the term‘women’ 2 is widely understood, this brief acknowledges the evolving concepts of gender beyond the male/female binary and supports the principle that gender justice extends beyond legal and policy frameworks(Barry, 2023). 1 Worker Driven Social Responsibility, http://wsr-network.org. 2  term‘women’ here refers to individuals whose gender aligns with their assigned sex at birth. 1

41 Pakistan (2018) 33 Sri Lanka (2018) 22 Bangladesh (2017) 12 Thailand (2019) 11 Phillipines (2019) 9 Viet Nam (2019) 4 Myanmar (2019) 2 Cambodia (2019) Indonesia (2015) -5 The wage gap is calculated as the difference between hourly wages of male and female employees, as a percentage of the hourly wage of male employees. Figure 1: Wage gap in different countries Source: ILO, 2022. Context and Background Discussion and Analysis The garment sector, often characterised as feminised labour, heavily relies on women workers. Working conditions in this sector frequently fall short of ILO standards. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these challenges, highlighting the inadequacies of long working hours and insufficient statesanctioned social protections. Informalisation and casualisation have weakened trade unions and collective bargaining(AFWA, 2024), contributing to ongoing issues of low wages and gender pay gaps. The figure above from a recent ILO(2022) report illustrates these issues in comparative terms. 3 Addressing gender justice in the garment sector involves navigating a complex landscape of shared and country-specific issues: The Philippines: • Labor Conditions: Although robust labour and regulations exist, their enforcement is typically weak. Unionisation has become increasingly difficult, as factories may relocate to areas with cheaper, more compliant labour if unions push for higher wages. Barriers to freedom of association and collective bargaining further limit avenues for redress for gender-based violence and harassment(GBVH) and other workplace rights abuses (Nathan, Bhattacharjee, Rahul and Kumar, 2022). The pressure to increase productivity intensifies as heat stress and extreme weather events worsen, potentially impacting productivity and disproportionally affecting women. Automation and other changes introduced under the‘Just Transition’ to a carbon-free and more sustainable industry may pose challenges, potentially displacing many low-skilled workers, with women being most affected. However, this transition to a more sustainable industry also provides opportunities for women to upskill and advance into leadership roles, ensuring their inclusion and empowerment in a more sustainable future. • Worker Challenges: High unemployment often forces workers to accept poor working conditions out of necessity. Additionally, stringent labour control mechanisms and fear of retaliation inhibit workers from exercising their right to unionise and negotiate for better terms. India(Tamil Nadu): • Young Bride Scheme: Girls aged 15-18 from impoverished backgrounds are recruited to work in factories for five years, ostensibly to earn money for their dowries. Their living conditions in dormitories and their working conditions on the factory floor are extremely harsh. 2

• Worker Challenges: These young workers face severe challenges due to poor occupational health standards and inadequate access to healthcare, exacerbating the already harsh conditions. Vietnam: • Labour Conditions: Female workers in the leather and garment sectors suffer from various health issues, including diseases affecting bones, joints, nervous systems, and respiratory systems, due to poor working conditions. • Union Structure: The Vietnam Labour Union Law of 2012 permits the formation of unions; however, these unions are under the control of the Communist Party of Vietnam, which limits their independence and potentially affects their effectiveness in advocating for workers’ rights. • Advocacy Challenges: The close relationship between unions and the state contrasts with the more independent nature of unions in the Philippines, affecting the ability of Vietnamese workers to assert their rights effectively. Nepal: • Garment Sector Challenges: The industry faced significant declines due to American trade policies(Shakya, 2018), with the number of factories dropping dramatically from over a thousand in 1995 to just a few in 2006. Although the industry made a gradual comeback, conditions for(women) workers remain dire. • Worker Conditions: Female workers are paid on a piecerate basis without guaranteed minimum wages or benefits, such as security funds and insurance. There are also no fixed or flexible working hours, highlighting the instability and lack of security in their employment. Gender just policy in Asia must address these regional and national level differences, but improving labour conditions requires a multifaceted approach. Countries with strong laws may require strategies to enforce them more effectively, while others may benefit from a vibrant civil society and relatively free journalism, which facilitate more transparent communication about the working conditions women face in factories. Ethnic, religious or class factors can also heighten vulnerabilities, underscoring the need to challenge established structures, whether social, cultural or economic. To fully realise gender equality, there is a need for comprehensive change at both macro and micro levels(Htun and Weldon, 2018). Conclusion Women workers are acutely aware of changes needed to improve working conditions but often lack safe avenues to express their views. Ensuring their voices are heard requires solidarity through legally recognised unions or alliances with advocacy groups. Measures must be taken to protect women workers from retaliation while advocating for stronger legal protections. A multi-stakeholder approach involving government labour agencies, NGOs, the ILO and other international bodies is essential. In Nepal, for example, a tripartite agreement between the Labour Ministry, the Garment Association Nepal(GAS) and Trade Unions(such as the Nepal Garment Workers Union) should be established to address the issues faced by women workers. Local governments must also play a role, as factories fall under their supervision. Social protections need to be established and strengthened where they currently exist. Policy Implications and Recommendations • Strengthen the enforcement of labour laws. • Revitalise trade unions and connect garment workers to these unions to support collective and institutional efforts in improving workers’ rights and benefits. • Promote the effectiveness and independence of labour unions. • In India, introduce grievance boxes on premises for anonymous reporting to address organizing difficulties. • Encourage and support strong workers’ alliances both within countries and across the region. • Support the Vietnam Textile and Garment Trade Union in advocating for better working conditions of women workers, leveraging their secure status and ability to advocate with state agencies and employers. • Promote worker-driven social responsibility(WSR) initiatives. Although WSR mechanisms are often voluntary, they should be legally binding and enforceable, as exemplified by agreements such as the Bangladesh Accord, the Lesotho Gender-Based Violence Agreement and the Dindigul agreement in India. 3 As economies recover post-pandemic, it is crucial to reassess and improve the status of women workers in the garment sector to ensure a gender just society. 3  Social Responsibility: Enforcement-focused; Binding Legal Agreements: Perhaps the most important distinction between WSR and traditional social responsibility models, however, is that companies’ commitments to WSR are legally binding and enforceable, while traditional models are voluntary and lack a meaningful enforcement mechanism. In WSR there are clear, strict, legally enforceable agreements between workers and corporate buyers at the top of the supply chain that require buyers to suspend purchases from suppliers that commit violations so severe as to be considered“zero-tolerance” offenses or fail to rectify violations within a defined period of time. Available at https://wsr-network.org/faqs. 3

References Asia Floor Wage Alliance(2024). Threaded Insecurity: The Spectrum of Informality in Garment Supply Chains. Available at https://asia.floorwage.org/reports/threadedinsecurity-the-spectrum-of-informality-in-the-garmentsector/. Barry, C. and Kahlon, H.(2023). Reflections from COVID-19 and The Prospects for Gender Justice in Thailand. Kathmandu: FES Regional Gender Justice Project. Available at https:// asia.fes.de/news/covid-women-asia.html. Cho Hlaing, Cho(2024). Special Needs of Women Workers in The Garment Sector of Myanmar: Analyzing Labor Policies Through Critical Realist Lens. Available at https://idl-bncidrc.dspacedirect.org/items/21d0d851-f825-45c6-a61eddcf825a7d7c. Htun, M. and Weldon, L. S.(2018). The Logics of Gender Justice: State Action on Women’s Rights Around the World (Cambridge Studies in Gender and Politics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Humphrey, Jonelle, Temisan Fanou and Judy Fudge(2023). Literature Review: Worker-driven Social Responsibility. Governing Forced Labor in Supply Chains. Available at https://gflc.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/LitReview_ WSR_May2023_Final.pdf. International Labour Organization(2019). Guide to Vietnamese labour law for the garment industry. Geneva: ILO. Available at https://betterwork.org/wp-content/uploads/BWV_LLGBooklet_English_2019.pdf. International Labour Organization(2021). Turning up the heat: Exploring potential links between climate change and gender-based violence and harassment in the garment sector. Geneva: ILO. Available at https://www.ilo.org/ publications/turning-heat-exploring-potential-linksbetween-climate-change-and-gender International Labour Organization(2022). Employment, wages and productivity trends in the Asian garment sector: Data and policy insights for the future of work. Geneva: ILO. Available at https://www.ilo.org/sites/default/files/ wcmsp5/groups/public/@asia/@ro-bangkok/documents/ publication/wcms_848624.pdf. International Labour Organization(2023). How to Achieve Gender Equality in Global Garment Supply Chains. Available at https://webapps.ilo.org/infostories/en-GB/ Stories/discrimination/garment-gender. Nathan, Dev, Shikha Silliman Bhattacharjee, S. Rahul, Purushottam Kumar, Immanuel Dahagani, Sukhpal Singh, and Padmini Swaminathan(2022). Reverse Subsidies in Global Monopsony Capitalism: Gender, Labour, and Environmental Injustice in Garment Value Chains. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Oxfam(2023). Gender Justice and Women’s Rights. Available at https://www.oxfam.org/en/what-we-do/issues/genderjustice-and-womens-rights. Shakya, Mallika(2018). Death of an Industry: The Cultural Politics of Garment Manufacturing during the Maoist Revolution in Nepal. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. United Nations(2023). Just Transition. Committee for Development Policy, Report on the Twenty-Fifth Session. Available at https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/ wp-content/uploads/sites/45/CDP-excerpt-2023-1.pdf. Vijeyarasa, Ramona and Mark Liu(2024). From Fast to Gender Just Fashion. University of Minnesota Gender Policy Report. Available at https://genderpolicyreport.umn.edu/ from-fast-to-gender-just-fashion. World Economic Forum(2024). 5 ways to weave gender equality into Asia's garment supply chains. Available at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2024/04/asiagarment-sector-gender-equality/. 4

About the Authors Benjamin Velasco is an Assistant Professor at the School of Labour and Industrial Relations at the University of the Philippines Diliman. He is a doctoral candidate for social development at the same university. His focus is on examining the efforts of women workers, primarily in the export garment sector, to improve their working and living conditions. Before entering academia, he was involved in the labor movement as an educator, writer, and researcher. Coeli Barry is an Associate Professor at Mahidol University in Thailand, specialising in human rights, development, and Southeast Asian culture and politics. With over 25 years of experience, she has authored works such as Rights to Culture and The Many Ways of Being Muslim. Her recent research includes a study on gender justice in Thailand and covers areas like cultural policy, child labor, and conflict resolution. Dao Mai Linh is a Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of Vietnam Women’s Academy and a collaborator for Vietnam News Agency. Her research interests include gender justice and labour policies, anti-trafficking laws, gender stereotypes in sports news and online newspapers, labour law, private international law, and comparative law. Pabitra Raut is a practicing lawyer with 15 years of experience and holds an LL.M in Constitutional Law and International Law. Since 2018, she has worked part-time as a gender cocoordinator at FES Nepal. She was also a part-time faculty member at Nepal Law Campus from 2011 to 2018 and taught Gender and the Legal System in the MA Gender Studies program at Tribhuvan University from 2019 to 2021. Prior to her legal career, she spent 10 years working as a journalist in various media, including FM radio, television, and newspapers. Ploypailin Tinkan is the Program Manager at FES Thailand and focuses on issues of good work and fair economy, gender, energy and climate justice. Her prior roles include policy analyst at Thailand’s National Economic and Social Development Council, researcher at the Faculty of Economics, Chulalongkorn University and Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia. Sidra Saeed is an M.Phil graduate from Quaid-i-Azam University. Since 2011, she has worked as Programme Adviser at FES Pakistan, focusing on youth, gender, and democratic inclusion. She has managed various projects aimed at strengthening democracy through media reforms, empowering local governance, promoting peace and tolerance among youth, civic education and engagement, and upholding the supremacy of the Constitution of Pakistan. She is also the Gender Coordinator for the Pakistan office, where she additionally oversees the internship program. Suchita Krishnaprasad, retired Head of Economics at Elphinstone College, is a life member of the Indian Society of Labour Economics. She has presented and published research on globalization, industrial relations, and gender. She has contributed to ILO projects and FES India’s community health service project. Dr. Krishnaprasad also teaches at CBS, University of Mumbai, and IMPRI New Delhi. 5

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