Made by Women — Garment Factories in Asia

We want to ensure garment workers are respected at work and their voices are heard.

CARE has the ambitious goal of economically empowering 8 million women garment workers through dignified work by 2021. Why? Because the garment industry is an important employer in Asia and around the world, but women workers are disproportionately represented in the most vulnerable, marginalized, low paid and impoverished forms of work in the industry.

CARE has been working with the garment industry for more than 20 years and we have already had a positive impact on the lives of tens of thousands of workers.

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 aim to support meaningful change across the garment industry in Asia. We do this by engaging with workers and worker organizations, factories, brands, industry associations, governments and civil society partners in Asia, and we are increasingly working in new sourcing countries such as Ethiopia.

So what changes do we want to see? We want to ensure workers’ rights are protected so they are safe from violence and exploitation. We want to support women to voice their concerns and work together to access their rights at work. We want supply chains to be more ethical and transparent so all workers within them are respected and protected.

CARE’s Response to the Impact of COVID-19 in the Garment Sector

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on garment workers is devastating. The International Labour Organization estimates that nearly 25 million jobs could be lost as a result of the pandemic and the future of the industry is uncertain. A recent rapid assessment of women garment workers by CARE Bangladesh found that 39% of workers are facing food shortages or crises, and many fear loss of jobs and salaries while a similar assessment by CARE Cambodia found that 88% of workers have reported that their income has reduced as a result of COVID-19.

CARE is now focused on protecting the rights and needs of women in the garment sector across our country portfolio in Asia and Africa. Our response efforts focus on supporting women workers to adopt COVID-19 prevention strategies, to access support services – including health but also psycho-social, sexual health and GBV services – and receive much needed financial support for themselves and their families, including through cash transfers. In addition, we are aligning our work with global efforts, including endorsement of the COVID-19 Call to Action in the Global Garment Industry and the Civil Society Shadow European Strategy for Sustainable Textiles, Garments, Leather, and Footwear. It is critical that we respond to the immediate needs of women workers, but also lay the groundwork for recovery.

Domestic Workers — Women’s Rights in Latin America

CARE has established partnerships in Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, and Guatemala, and more recently in Mexico, Colombia, and Honduras. These partnerships engage in research, exchange of experiences, communications strategies, coalition building, and networking and capacity building, with the goal of influencing public policies, strengthening their organizations, and improving the lives of more than 10 million domestic workers across the region by 2030.

Read more about our work with domestic workers in Latin America

Preventing Violence and Harassment at Work

We supported adoption of the ILO Convention on Violence and Harassment, a global law focused specifically on preventing violence and harassment in the world of work which was formally adopted at the International Labour Conference in June 2019.

Read more about our work with the ILO Convention