Femnet e.V.

Der jährlich erscheinende Bericht gibt einen Überblick über Entwicklungen der Märkte für

• Bio-Baumwolle und „nachhaltig produzierte“ Baumwolle
• Recyceltes Polyester
• Synthetische Fasern auf Grundlage nachwachsender Rohstoffe
• zertifizierte Daunen
• zertifizierte Wolle

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Women workers in garment factories around the world endure sexual harassment on a daily basis. The international apparel brands that source from the factories they work in claim zero tolerance for such workplace abuses, but their efforts to stamp it out have been ineffective. Governments have also fallen short—either not passing laws prohibiting sexual harassment at all or failing to implement the laws and policies they have. Now though, the International Labor Conference is considering a binding convention on violence and harassment at work, including sexual harassment. This presents a moment of unprecedented opportunity to improve global efforts to address some of the most pervasive abuses facing women workers.

This brochure describes the experiences of women garment workers struggling against abuses at work across several countries. It also explains why company-led efforts to police factory conditions have fallen short— and are particularly ill-suited to detecting and ensuring redress for sexual harassment at work. The brochure argues that the effort to create an ILO Convention is the best pragmatic path forward, and one that governments, civil society and industry leaders alike should get behind it.

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This report identifies gaps that need to be addressed in order to improve wages and working conditions for garment workers. It describes our findings on the actual wages that Vietnamese workers in some garment factories receive and the impact of wages on their lives and families.

The garment sector is predominantly made up of women, so low wages plus poor working conditions is a matter of gender inequality. Therefore, paying a living wage and improving working conditions is an effective solution for addressing gender inequality in Vietnam.

The report identifies practices in the global supply chains that lead to this status of wages and the domestic barriers to achieving a living wage. Low wages are the result of unfair business practices within the garment supply chain. The purchasing power of brands is the ultimate cause behind all these practices and is key to the solution.

The report provides recommendations to global buyers, consumers, factory managers, the Vietnamese Government and labour unions for achieving a living wage.

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This report unpacks the concept of “living wages” and sets out companies’ human rights obligations to pay workers a living wage. It details the steps multinational garment companies and garment manufacturers can take to ensure they are meeting those obligations by moving credibly towards paying workers a living wage and developing a roadmap to do so. At the end of most sections, the report identifies practical tools for companies to further investigate how they can develop their plans. 

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The study reveals that in the average supply chain of Australian garment retailers, just 4% of the price of a piece of clothing is estimated to make it back to the pockets of workers. In countries like Bangladesh, where wages are extremely low, the situation is even direr. An average of just 2% of the price we pay in Australia goes towards factory wages. But Oxfam argues that paying living wages — wages that allow the women who make our clothes to live a decent life — is possible.

Women aged 18–25 make up 80% of the factory workers in the global garment industry. Their long hours of hard work have helped to create booming economies and large export industries for countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam and China. But this booming economic growth has not benefited everyone. While revenues continue to grow for many big Australian companies like Cotton On and Kmart, and while factory owners and suppliers to the garment industry across Asia continue to collect profits, the same cannot be said for garment workers.

It does not have to be this way. It is time for this unfair system to change. Brands need to pay living wages to the women who make our clothes — wages that will allow these women to lift themselves out of a life of poverty. Brands have the power — and the responsibility — to make this change.

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