Gap Inc. announces plans to drive women’s empowerment in its supply chain

Gap Inc. has launched a new initiative called Empower@Work to help female garment workers feel more represented in its global supply chains.

To drive collective action, Gap Inc. has partnered with Business for Social Responsibility, ILO-IFC Better Work, and CARE to launch a platform that will focus on building and deploying sustainable, systemic, and scalable programs that promote gender equity in its global supply chains while ensuring garment workers feel valued and engaged at work.

By 2025, Gap Inc. stated that 100 percent of its strategic factories would be participating in Empower@Work. The initiative includes 100 percent of workers employed in its strategic factories will have their voices heard through gender-equitable workplace committees, and 100 percent of its factories will have prevention and response management systems and training to address gender-based violence.

To achieve Gap Inc.’s goal of gender equity at the supervisor level, a Supervisory Skills Training program will be implemented to improve communication and dialogue between supervisors and workers in its factories.

In celebration of Women’s History Month, Gap Inc. announced that over 800,000 women and girls from 17 different countries where its clothes are made had completed its P.A.C.E (Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement) program.

The program, first founded in 2007, teaches women life skills and how to better advocate for themself at home and during work. Today, it is on track to achieve its goal of reaching 1 million individuals by 2022.

“Gap Inc. is proud to be a founding member of Empower@Work, recognizing the opportunity it presents to reach millions of women with proven programming and tools they can use to uplift themselves and their families for generations to come,” said Mary Beth Laughton, president of Athleta, in a press release.

Image: Gap Inc.