A Garment Factory Audit: Equal Pay, Crèche and the Night Shift
A garment factory in an SEZ employs 240 women and 60 men. Women work on sewing lines; men work on cutting and packing, which carry higher piece rates. A job evaluation shows that the sewing job requires comparable skill but is classified as unskilled. Women's average monthly earnings are 18% lower. The factory has 80 women with children under six but no crèche; it has four toilets for 300 workers. The POSH internal committee is chaired by the HR manager and has no external member. Management proposes a night shift for women to meet an export deadline and calls it empowerment, offering a shared van. The unit is seeking a new export contract that requires an ethical audit in three weeks. A mostly male union has negotiated a night-shift allowance without consulting the women.
1. Conduct a rapid compliance audit. Identify the five most serious gaps and the legal basis for each.
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First, unequal pay. Sewing is classified as unskilled despite a job evaluation showing comparable skill, and women's average earnings are 18% lower. The Equal Remuneration Act, 1976 and the Code on Wages, 2019 prohibit gender discrimination in remuneration for same or similar work. The factory must conduct a transparent job evaluation and correct the wage structure.
Second, the crèche. The factory has 80 women with children under six and 300 employees. The Maternity Benefit Act requires a crèche in establishments with 50 or more employees.
Third, the POSH committee. The HR manager chairs it and there is no external member. The POSH Act requires a presiding officer who is a senior woman, at least two employee members, an external member, and at least half women. An HR-led committee may lack independence.
Fourth, sanitation. Four toilets for 300 workers are inadequate; the Factories Act and the occupational safety code require sufficient separate sanitary facilities.
Fifth, the night shift. Women's night work is restricted under Section 66 of the Factories Act unless a state exemption with safeguards applies. Management cannot simply declare it. The audit should require a time-bound corrective plan.
2. Management defends the night shift as empowerment. How should the consultant respond, distinguishing choice, coercion and care?
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A night shift can be a genuine opportunity if it is voluntary, compensated, safe and compatible with care. But here it arrives with an export deadline, no crèche, inadequate toilets, a compromised POSH committee and only a shared van. For women with young children, night work may intensify unpaid care rather than empower them.
The consultant should ask who chose. Was there a secret ballot? Are women who refuse penalised? Is transport door-to-door and supervised? Are rest rooms, lighting, security and medical facilities available? Is the night allowance equal? Are hours within legal limits? If these conditions are absent, the company should not use empowerment language to bypass Section 66 exemptions. Recommend an independently monitored pilot and a women's committee, not a management decree.
3. The audit reveals that the male-dominated union negotiated the night-shift allowance without women. What process would make the response participatory without treating women as a single interest group?
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Use a participatory gender audit. Create a separate women workers' committee or focus groups with a female facilitator, and hold meetings outside the male union leadership. Use secret ballots on shift preferences, conduct a time-use survey, and map care responsibilities. Train women on negotiation and legal entitlements. Include crèche, transport and safety in bargaining.
Avoid assuming that all women share the same interests: age, migration status, caste and family structure shape preferences. Ask the union to table the women's demands, but do not let it speak for them. The goal is to change power relations in bargaining, not to add a women's clause to a male-negotiated settlement. Document the process for the ethical audit.