Made by Women

Many women working in the garment industry lived in precarious conditions before COVID-19. The pandemic has exacerbated these existing inequalities and created new challenges for women workers.

Goals

Made by Women aims to support meaningful change across the garment industry by promoting improved practices in global supply chains, strengthening women’s leadership and working with governments to promote public policies which will positively impact workers.

We do this by engaging with workers and worker organizations, factories, brands, industry associations, governments and civil society partners. We work with partners from around the globe in countries across Asia and we are increasingly working in new sourcing countries such as Ethiopia.

We work with the industry to highlight the need for a just recovery from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic which recognizes the needs of women workers.

We have seen many encouraging stories of change through our programs and we want to ensure this impact reaches more women across the globe.

Program and initiatives

Preventing Violence and Harassment at Work

Garment factory managers in Asia are taking action to make women feel safer at work.

Women Take the Lead

Women employed in garment factories across Asia are becoming leaders at work and in their communities.

Working in Partnership

If we want to create meaningful change across the garment industry, we can’t work alone. CARE partners with like-minded organizations to increase the reach and depth of our impact.

Responding to COVID-19 in the Garment Sector

Our sustained focus on empowerment of women in the garment industry has created positive change for tens of thousands of women.

Results

We have advocated for improved national and global laws to protect women workers, such as the ILO Convention on Violence and Harassment.

CARE’s work with industry at all levels has resulted in improved processes for addressing workplace harassment, such as global Standard Operating Procedures for addressing sexual harassment in supply chains and country-specific toolkits supporting suppliers to address this in factories.

Our work with workers and community organizations in enabling women to hold management accountable and increasing the number of women in leaderships roles.

Most recently, CARE’s COVID-19 response is addressing some of the immediate needs of women garment workers resulting from the pandemic. We are providing support to individuals to adapt to the changing nature of work so they are more resilient to economic shocks and working to address systemic barriers which place the burden of risk on workers.

Resources

Made by Women: Impact Report 2020

Learn what we’ve achieved so far, what challenges we still face and where we’re focusing for the future in this report highlighting Made by Women’s impact since its inception in 2016.

Made by Women: Impact Overview 2020

Read a snapshot of the impact of Made by Women’s work to improve the lives of female garment workers in Asia and what changes we’ve seen in the sector.

Made by Women: Impact Overview 2019

Made by Women works to change the lives of female garment workers in Asia. This report reviews the impact of Made by Women's work and partnerships from 2016-2019.

Made by Women: Impact Report 2019

This report gives an updated snapshot of the working environment for women in the garment industry, outlines our impact to date, and highlights significant achievements in 2018-19.

Dignified Work: Crucial for Women’s Empowerment

Learn more about Dignified Work and our response to the impact of COVID-19 in the garment sector on CARE Insights, CARE’s information hub with in-depth research and commentary on key issues affecting women.

This Is Not Working: A Global Opportunity for Change

CARE Australia’s report on violence and harassment in the world of work that outlines the key arguments for the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention. (March 2019)

Read the report

Fashion Transparency Index 2019

CARE contributes to Fashion Revolution’s annual transparency index, which assesses factors ranging from traceability to spotlight issues such as gender equality.

Read the report on Issuu

Fashion Transparency Index 2018