Male Management Attitudes toward Gender Equity in Garment Factories

Unconscious gender bias in the supply chain often manifests itself as a series of unintentional and automatic mental associations that factory managers and workers have based on gender; it often stems from traditions, norms, values, culture and/or experiences that reinforce gender normative roles. These automatic associations often feed into decision-making and affect the uptake and success of new policies and practices that are introduced to improve gender equity in factory-level settings. To date, very little has been done to explore and understand the current language and mindset of (mostly male) managers in factories prior to deploying gender assessment tools and worker voice. Doing so can help researchers, implementers, and brand staff to introduce diagnostic tools and programming that can lead to gender-transformative approaches that address traditional gender norms in garment factories.

In partnership with Primark, ICRW aims to pilot a research study in four factories in different regions in India to explore the attitudes of factory management toward gender equity to better map the invisible but powerful beliefs, held by male managers, that subtly, and unintentionally, create challenges for women in the workplace. The pilot will seek to understand and create conversation tools to better map such powerful beliefs, held by many managers and influence the type of programming that takes place within factories. This will inform how to proceed with any deployment of interventions such as a gender self-assessment questionnaire, gendered worker voice, or gender equity interventions on the factory floor.

WHAT ARE WE SETTING OUT TO DO?

ICRW aims to –

• Capture managers’ understanding or interpretation of select gender equity themes and/ or drivers of inequity, such as gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH), leadership, etc.
• Create conversation tools to learn about factory management attitudes in relation to gender equity (e.g. preconceived notions on gender norms, inequity at the factory level, etc.)

WHAT METHODS ARE WE USING?

Our research design mainly includes primary research methods such as in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with male management, including managers, in-charges, and supervisors in garment factories across India. A quick literature scan was also conducted to identify priority gender equity themes to explore in the interviews and discussions.

DISSEMINATION

The study findings will be presented to the donor’s internal team and participating factories.