The two aim to implement women’s empowerment strategies at toy factories in India, from preserving women’s health rights to ensuring equal pay.
ICTI CARE has teamed with BSR to advance women’s empowerment in global supply chains.
BSR is a global nonprofit organisation that works with its network of more than 250 member companies and other partners to build a 'just and sustainable world'.
The partnership forms part of a broader collaboration that will see ICTI CARE work with other leading responsible sourcing programmes, including the Business Social Compliance Initiative (BSCI), Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC), The Floriculture Sustainability Initiative (FSI), The Sustainable Trade Initiative (IDH), and Sedex to make women’s empowerment central to supply chain strategies, guidelines and practices.
As well as identifying opportunities to further strengthen ICTI CARE Certification to empower women, ICTI CARE will also work with BSR to design and implement women’s empowerment strategies and support at toy factories in India, from preserving women’s health rights to protecting against harassment and ensuring equal pay.
“India is fast emerging as a dynamic new centre for toy production, which presents unique opportunities to build in ethical standards and get things right from the start," said Carmel Giblin, CEO and president, ICTI CARE.
"Women make up the majority of the global toy workforce and we are delighted to partner with BSR to deliver practical, in-factory support and peer-to-peer training to empower women and enhance their well-being at Indian toy factories."
Peder Michael Pruzan-Jorgensen, senior vice president, BSR, added: “Inventing a code isn’t going to help achieve gender equality in the supply chain. To be effective, gender considerations need to infiltrate the existing standards. This gender code guidance is a first step toward mainstreaming gender considerations into private-sector policies and practices."
Work to develop new and strengthened ICTI CARE criteria for women’s empowerment, as well as in-factory support and training to empower women in at Indian toy factories, will start in 2017.
ICTI CARE’s collaboration with BSR is part of a broader three-year project focusing on mobilising private-sector action for women’s empowerment funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
