Femnet e.V.

NEWS - 2025

Fashion’s Hidden Cost: Systemic Change for Women’s Safety & Health in Garment and Footwear Factories

This article was written by our Partner NGOs CIVIDEP and TURC in connection with the International Women's Day 2025.

As the world marks International Women’s Day 2025 with the theme #AccelerateAction, it is crucial to confront the systemic gender biases embedded in global supply chains. Women in garment and footwear factories remain at heightened risk of gender-based violence and health hazards. Yet their specific needs are consistently overlooked in legal frameworks, corporate policies, and workplace structures.

The Multi-Actor-Partnership (MAP) on 'Gender and Health in Garment and Footwear Sectors', comprising Cividep India, TURC Indonesia, FEMNET, and SÜDWIND (both Germany), seeks to address these injustices through policy advocacy and worker-driven solutions. Our findings highlight the urgent need for Gender-Responsive Occupational Health and Safety (G*OSH) guidelines to tackle both physical and mental health concerns.

Gender-Based Violence and Health Risks in Garment & Footwear Factories

Bloodtests in a health camp. © CIVIDEPWomen workers face multiple layers of risk in their workplaces, commutes, and even factory-provided accommodations. These risks range from verbal abuse and physical intimidation to sexual harassment. However, health hazards resulting from workplace conditions are equally pervasive.

Reproductive Health Issues: Fear of retaliation prevents workers from taking essential toilet and hydration breaks, leading to chronic urinary tract infections (UTIs) and menstrual irregularities. Severe cases have resulted in miscarriages, forced abortions, and even early hysterectomies due to excessive strain.

Lack of Hygiene & Medical Support: Poor sanitation and inadequate healthcare facilities contribute to long-term reproductive and general health deterioration. Many factory-provided hostels also fail to maintain basic hygiene standards, exacerbating health risks.

Mental Health Impact of Workplace Harassment

A worker from Indonesia says, “What makes work stressful is the harsh treatment and constant scolding from our superiors."

Workplace stress is a silent epidemic among women in the sector. Survey data from worker groups (Cividep and TURC) indicate that:

• 87% experience chronic stress, affecting their concentration and work efficiency
• 66% report loss of appetite due to mental distress
• 54% suffer from insomnia, leading to long-term health complications
• 68% experience recurring headaches linked to stress and anxiety

Despite these alarming statistics, factory management rarely provides mental health support. The burden of unpaid care work at home further compounds women’s stress, forcing them to endure exploitative work environments with little recourse. “Sometimes, the pressure of meeting production targets keeps us awake at night, and it affects our appetite. My husband believes I worry more about work than our family,” said a garment worker.

Systemic Power Imbalances and Workplace Exploitation

The Role of Brands

Fast fashion’s relentless demand for low production costs and rapid delivery timelines fuels an exploitative environment where:

• Supervisors use intimidation tactics to enforce unrealistic targets
• Wage suppression and contract insecurity discourage workers from speaking out
• The threat of dismissal or blacklisting forces women to endure unsafe conditions in silence

Workers’ Lack of Bargaining Power

Brands and suppliers hold disproportionate power over workers, leaving them with few avenues for redress. The absence of strong, independent trade unions worsens this power imbalance. Government labour protections exist on paper but are rarely enforced in practice.

Home-Based Workers: A More Extreme Case of Exploitation

Women working from home, often in informal contracts, suffer even greater vulnerabilities:

• No legal protections or access to social security benefits
• Isolation prevents them from reporting abuse
• Lack of healthcare access worsens physical and mental health conditions

TURC’s initiative to create Occupational Health Unit Posts offers an intervention model, providing health screenings and support services tailored to home-based workers.

Gender-Responsive Occupational Safety & Health (G*OSH) Guidelines

The MAP initiative is advancing concrete recommendations to improve women’s working conditions:

• Strengthening workplace committees with women-led leadership to address harassment and health concerns
• Male sensitisation programs to foster a culture of zero tolerance for gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH)
• Expanded health benefits covering reproductive health, mental well-being, and ergonomic risks

The responsibility for ensuring a safe workplace lies with multiple actors, including brands, factory management, governments, and international regulatory bodies. Despite existing labour laws in India and Indonesia that address occupational safety, these laws focus on physical safety while failing to integrate a gender-sensitive perspective. Factory management also neglects to raise awareness about GBVH, leaving workers uninformed about their rights.

Brands, in particular, must take accountability by ensuring fair pricing and longer lead times for suppliers, reducing the pressure that fuels exploitative practices. Stronger European regulations and international directives are also necessary to hold brands accountable for unethical labour conditions.

Recognising this structural gap, the MAP team has developed a Gender-Responsive Occupational Safety and Health (G*OSH) guideline through consultations with various supply chain stakeholders and workers. These consultations aimed to ensure that the guidelines are practical and inclusive.

The guidelines advocate for forming and strengthening statutory committees in factories, ensuring equal representation of workers and management with gender balance. Women-led committees can create lasting change by giving workers the confidence to speak up. Additionally, transparent reporting mechanisms, workplace training, and industry-wide collaboration are crucial to addressing GBVH and improving overall well-being.

TURC’s Occupational Health Unit Post provides a model for practical intervention, offering free health screenings every three months for home-based workers. This initiative has enabled better-targeted interventions and improved healthcare access for some of the most vulnerable workers in the supply chain.

 Conclusion

Women in garment and footwear industries stitch the very fabric of the global economy, yet their fundamental rights to health, safety, and dignity remain at risk. Systemic change is long overdue. The time to act is now.

On this International Women’s Day, let us #AccelerateAction toward a world where the women behind fashion are no longer invisible. Brands, policymakers, and consumers must commit to fair and gender-responsive workplaces. Because behind every stitch and every step, there is a woman who deserves good health, respect, and a future free from exploitation.