Events for ETI Members

ETI Members' Roundtable 2
Issues affecting women workers

TGWU, London
7th March 2002

• Background and purpose of roundtable
• Who participated?
• Key points from presentations
• Women workers and codes: experiences from Nicaraguan factories & farms
• Issues from Verité's experience with women workers in Asia
• Key discussion points
• What can ETI do to help? - summary of recommendations
• For further information…
   
• Advance Flyer
   

Background and purpose of roundtable

This roundtable was organised jointly by the ETI Secretariat and ETI member Central American Women's Network (CAWN). The purpose of the seminar was to raise members' awareness about some of the particular issues which affect women workers, and to offer some practical suggestions to help uncover and address some of these concerns.
 

Who participated?

Overall there were 14 participants from ETI member organisations, representing 6 companies and 3 NGOs.
 

Key points from presentations

Women's issues: lessons from the ETI Zimbabwe Pilot

Presentation by Fiona Mabbott, ETI Pilot Project Manager. For a copy of the presentation slides or further information please contact Fiona (fiona.m@eti.org.uk)

Background: the aim of the pilot was to test and evaluate different approaches to monitoring labour standards on horticultural farms and packhouses in Zimbabwe.

Lessons on inspection methodology: to ensure that an audit properly identifies problems faced by women workers, it is necessary to have: women auditors responsible for interviewing women workers; women-only interviews in private locations to identify sensitive issues such as sexual harassment and discrimination; and direct communication with women workers (auditors can't rely on male managers or supervisors to pass on information to women workers).

Issues particularly affecting women: male supervisors using their position to demand sexual favours from women working for them; long working hours (particularly damaging because women also have domestic responsibilities, and because husbands use this as an excuse to philander); women tend not to have access to jobs with permanent employment status, so not entitled to accompanying social benefits such as maternity leave; poor facilities (toilets more important for women for privacy, lack of breast feeding breaks makes it difficult for nursing mothers to work).

Effecting change: designate most senior woman in the workplace as point of contact for women workers; prioritise training and promotion of women into permanent, supervisory and managerial roles (has benefits for all women workers not just the individuals involved, through reduced risk of sexual harassment, better communication between supervisors/managers and other women workers). 

Women workers and codes: experiences from Nicaraguan factories & farms

Presentations by CAWN guests Claudia Blanco, Rural Workers Association of Nicaragua (ATC - IUF affiliate) & representative of COLSIBA (Latin American Banana Workers Union Federation); and Lesbia Guerro, garment factor worker & voluntary labour rights promoter of the Maria Elena Cuadra Women's Movement (MEC) in Nicaragua. For more detailed notes on the presentations, please contact Man-Kwun (mankwun@eti.org.uk)

Background: ATC and MEC were both set up to promote the rights of women workers, through informing and training women workers about labour issues and their rights in the workplace, and providing other support services.

Main problems faced by women workers: for women working on banana plantations and in factories, there are underlying social/economic problems in particular high unemployment rates (so workers have little choice or bargaining power to negotiate conditions) and many women having to bring up children without support from fathers. Common problems faced in both industries also include age discrimination (employers seldom recruit women over the age of 30-34, and they often lay off existing workers when they reach this age), and having to leave work very early in the morning so leaving children alone at home. Specific problems on banana plantations: cancer (caused by pesticides ??), fungal infections on feet, patches on skin, losing hair and sight, encephalitis. Specific problems in maquilas include respiratory and gynaecological problems.

Codes - worker awareness, role of training and implications of codes for (women) workers: Workers who receive training and who work for workers' organisations - such as Claudia and Lesbia - are quite well informed about codes. However, most workers are not even aware that codes exist, let alone what is in them or why they exist, although it was noticed that there was better awareness amongst garment industry workers compared to workers on banana plantations. The reason that workers are not aware about codes is that employers are not respecting them, so they are doing little to inform workers or to implement the code. At present, therefore, codes are not helping workers. However, if workers receive training, then codes can help workers - they can then use them as a weapon against their employers. The problem is that organisations such as MEC do not have resources to train all workers, and employers are unlikely to train workers about codes because they do not want them to know and demand their rights.

Monitoring issues: women workers' organisations such as MEC and COLSIBA have an important role to play in monitoring - workers trust them so will reveal their problems and the true situation. On banana plantations in Nicaragua, important not to involve government people in monitoring - owners have strong links with government. 

Issues from Verité's experience with women workers in Asia

Presentation by Jacqui MacDonald, Verité Regional Representative. For copy of presentation slides contact Adil (adil@eti.org.uk),

Background: Verité is a non-profit organisation established to provide solutions to labour and human rights exploitation in global production, and has extensive experience of carrying out audits with workers in Asia.

Why focus on women's issues? (a) manufacturing workforce in many countries is composed largely of women (up to 90% in some cases); (b) women experience disproportionately high number of abuses e.g. illegal pre-employment pregnancy screening, sexual abuse, forced contraception, harassment, low wages; and (c) as the primary childcare provider, women have particular needs (on-site breastfeeding and daycare, medical care, appropriate jobs in case of pregnancy, maternity leave, etc.).

Women workers in India: Key characteristics: vast majority (96%) of women workers work in "unorganised sector" and women only represent 15% of organised sector employment; women represent only minority of membership of trade unions (5-20%), and negligible representation amongst TU officials; 11.3 million child labourers in 1991, 38% of whom were girls; low levels of literacy amongst women workers; cultural perception that women's work is only an extension of household work; sexual harassment/abuse - an NGO study on a cross section from 5 cities reveals 98% prevalence of sexual abuse at workplace; in rural areas, "social change agents" such as family planning workers, nurses, midwives are viewed with "evil eyes" and are most affected by abuse.

Women workers in China: Key characteristics: unions sharply restricted under Chinese law, and representation especially weak in export-oriented factories where women make up the vast majority of workers; pregnancy testing etc. - under Chinese law married women are required to be tested annually, and need to have permission to give birth before becoming pregnant, and to carry a card stating whether they may get pregnant. Most female workers in the export-oriented sectors are unmarried but are still required by employers to undergo pregnancy testing; sexual harassment not uncommon but difficult to detect; workers often fined as a disciplinary measure. Interviewing women workers: interviewing female workers in China is difficult - often unwilling to talk, even to other Chinese women; often decline to be interviewed if they see the interviewer recording their answers in any way; the fact that many live in company dormitories presents difficulties in obtaining true off-site interviews; Chinese workers often not aware of their legal rights, so fail to report violations even when violations occur.

Women workers in Sri Lanka: Key characteristics: non-employment of pregnant women; non-employment of married women unless they are skilled operators; employing women only between the ages of 18-25; local law allows for paid maternity leave and nursing breaks, but often not respected by employers. Interviewing women workers: Strong hierarchical management system means workers very scared to talk inside the factory, so interviews must take place in the evenings at workers' houses, and preferably with workers who live alone with their families and not in big boarding houses where there are a number of workers; women in garment factories often very educated (at least 10th grade education) and though they appear submissive inside the factory because of the threatening management system, at home they are very vocal and critical of the management.

General tips for interviewing women workers: need local, female auditors who are familiar with culture and language of workers; be aware that the workers themselves may not always initially identify discriminatory behaviour as such; need to be very careful about protecting workers from risk of recrimination for taking part in interviews.
 

Key discussion points

Educating workers about codes

The importance of increasing workers' knowledge about codes was a key message emerging from Claudia and Lesbia's presentations and ensuing discussion. Workers need to know what codes are for, what is in them, how they can help workers. From their own experience, Claudia and Lesbia felt strongly that without a pro-active approach to worker education about codes, workers will remain ignorant about them and as a result codes will have little if any impact on their lives. Improved worker knowledge also reduces the need for outside "policing" of standards - workers will be able to monitor for themselves. Main discussion was around role of suppliers in worker education - suppliers also need training on codes and labour issues, can supplier and worker training be done together? Can suppliers (with the involvement of an "honest broker") be relied upon to train workers? On the whole Lesbia and Claudia felt it was difficult to rely on employers to train workers on codes, because they will never like their workers to find out about their rights - it is like giving workers a weapon they can use against their employers. The best people to train workers are local unions, or if these are not effective, other organisations like MEC who are trusted by workers and know the local industry. But such organisations don't always exist.

Auditing - practical issues

There was a lot of interest from participants about Verité's auditing approach and experience. Questions included: how does Verité define discrimination? (use ILO codes); do they prompt workers if little worker awareness of certain aspects of discrimination? (yes but done very carefully because risk of biasing the answers); do they provide feedback from audits to workers? (would like to but generally they don't because not contracted to do this by companies); average length of audit? (generally 2 days but can be 3-4 days if there are difficult issues, large number of sites) average proportion of audit spent on worker interviews? (two thirds); do they ask workers themselves to prioritise issues important to them? (generally no, although if particular issues are raised consistently by workers, they will inform management); is there any point in doing worker interviews on a one-day gap analysis? (emphatically yes, a lot can be learnt in a day especially through focus group discussions).

Interest in more in-depth information on specific issues affecting (women) workers

Many participants were interested to learn more about some of the difficulties faced by (women) workers in Nicaragua and the underlying reasons, and clearly empathised with their position. In particular, participants wanted to know more about the health problems resulting from pesticide use, and the social conditions responsible for age discrimination against women workers and the high incidence of single parent families.

For more detailed notes on the discussion please contact Man-Kwun at the ETI Secretariat (mankwun@eti.org.uk)
 

What can ETI do to help? - summary of recommendations

Country profiles - ETI used to prepare supplier country profiles. In future, can ETI include information on social issues and norms (including issues faced by women workers) in these country profiles? Comment from Secretariat: no longer doing own country profiles, but developing sign-posting service to other organisations that provide relevant information, and the scope can certainly be broadened to cover social issues, including gender issues.

Provision of training on gender-sensitive auditing skills (interviewing women workers): Comment from Secretariat: Following the completion of the training needs assessment commissioned by the ETI Training Assessment Working Group, ETI is exploring the possibilities for providing training on advanced auditing skills. Gender-sensitive auditing skills and how to interview women workers can certainly be included in this training.

Gender checklist for auditors - Can ETI develop a simple common-sense "gender checklist" that anyone (i.e. non-experts) can use to help plan and implement auditing activities and improvement plans? Comment from Secretariat: Yes this can be done, timing will depend on other ETI commitments and priorities.

Popular education leaflets & posters for workers/translation of codes into workers' languages - As one response to the demand for improved worker education about codes, can ETI develop popular education leaflets & posters (in workers' languages) to help workers understand about the audits and what is a code? One specific suggestion was to use cartoons to put the message across. Comment from Secretariat: Good idea, no reason why this can't be done. Only caveat is that where workers are illiterate or semi-literate then one should expect it to be "social promoters" like Lesbia and Claudia who would be using the leaflets, rather than the workers themselves. Cartoons are a great idea, but probably best to use local artists because they are more tuned in to local humour, cultural references etc.

(Pilot) project to learn about how best to educate workers -to test approaches to worker education, find out what works/what doesn't, how best to bring about change. Advantage of joint project is to pool resources and share learning, and to provide protection to individual companies (how?). Comment from Secretariat: Yes this could be done but need to explore extent of support from wider membership, if support exists develop into proposal for the Board.

Clearer definition of different types/tiers of auditing - Can ETI develop a typology (definitions) which clearly spells out the differences between e.g. risk assessment, management audit, audit with extensive worker interviews, participatory audit? The aim would be to develop a shared understanding and language, to distinguish between poor/acceptable/excellent standards of auditing. One participant felt that such a typology needed to be done by country and sector, because each has different needs. Comment from Secretariat: Such a typology is already used to some extent in the ETI annual reporting framework - this could be further publicised and developed.

Need to educate auditors about risks of carrying out worker audits - e.g. raising expectations, risk of recrimination from employers or supervisors. Comment from Secretariat: this is an important point, and should be incorporated into the advanced auditing training to be developed by ETI.

ETI could use its position to influence relevant high-level institutions and policies - e.g. national governments in pilot countries, international bodies (e.g. EU Green Paper on CSR). Comment from Secretariat: this already happens to some extent within pilot projects, but ETI could do more. Needs to be taken up at Board level.

ETI could organise more events that involve workers - CAWN often invites women workers from Central America to the UK, would be happy to help organise their involvement in any future ETI seminars. Comment from Secretariat: offer is welcomed. Roundtables are designed to meet specific learning needs identified by members, so worker involvement will be considered depending on whether or not it helps to meet the specific aims of roundtable.
 

For further information…

Central American Women's Network (CAWN)
email: cawn@gn.apc.org

Women Working Worldwide:
email: women-ww@mcr1.poptel.org.uk;
Web: http://www.poptel.org.uk/women-ww/
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Report by Barrientos, Dolan and Tallontire (2001) "Gender and Ethical Trade: a mapping of the issues in African horticulture". Copies available from Dr. Anne Tallontire, a.m.tallontire@gre.ac.uk

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