StreeLink

Breakthrough proposed to demonstrate the feasibility of an inclusive workplace intervention, supported by a community component, to promote gender justice. In doing so, the organisation sought to transform gender relations within the apparel industry, empower women workers to access their rights, and advocate for behaviour change across the supply chain and among men and women within the community. Breakthrough believes that this holistic and comprehensive coverage will lead to promoting positive gender relations in the workplace and within families, improving the rights and lives of the women workers and transforming the apparel industry into a force for good.

The project site was a garment manufacturing factory in Delhi-National Capital Region (NCR) region, and some key project activities included:

• Capacity building and training: The concept behind conducting training workshops with both the women and a key team of the factory management is to create a strong informal network of peer leaders to enable a more inclusive workplace. The method took into account women's limited time, using edutainment tools like theatre. The Breakthrough curriculum was specifically customised based on a contextual analysis. Information on resources, health, and finance was provided during the activities. With a selected team of management, a more traditional training-of-trainers methodology was used so that these personnel could further train their larger team. The training with the factory managers, supervisor, and human resource department was done through classroom training and by using media, arts, and technology, which are Breakthrough's core tools - they are participative and non-confrontational. Having been standardised based on feedback from monitoring data, the curriculum and methodology can form the base of any scale-up to other factories and partners.
• Media campaign and digital technology: Breakthrough developed a media campaign to highlight the issues faced by women in the garment manufacturing sector. This included creation of television, radio, and press products that were released through channels and stations that are popular amongst intended audiences and stakeholders. Videos (e.g., posted on social media - see one example, below, as well as this one) went beyond the usual tropes of violence and harassment to stress that domestic violence, sexual harassment, and workplace discrimination aren't always physical. Examples of distinct social media actions included Facebook Live sessions and a tweetathon (September 2018). Breakthrough further used digital media, including an integrated mobile app that can reach women with specific value-added services, like health and finance information. The media campaign was designed to create better values for working women in the eyes of the community - hopefully driving better recognition for the women in the community, leading to reduction in domestic violence and sexual harassment in public spaces.
• Hyper-local campaigns in the community: Bottom-up campaigns were conducted in the communities where the women workers live. The topics were specific to the concerns emanating from their localities, like absence of street lighting or toilets, domestic violence, or lack of safety in public places in the community. This was driven by on-the-ground activities with support from social and digital media. The idea was to allow local problems to also get attention, in partnership with other organisations operating in the area to ensure sustainability of the change.
• Community mobilisation: Breakthrough used tested tools like video vans and melas (small fairs) to mobilise the community. The vans and melas were accompanied by the Sukhmanch Theatre Group, and interactive games were carried out to engage all members of the community. Health camps were organised as a part of the mobilisation. This activity was designed to ensure that all stakeholders and influencers in the community participate. The van was run continuously for a month, and the cycle was repeated. Held at regular intervals, the melas were often based on a theme.

Running throughout these activities was a challenge for not only factory workers but male and female members of the public to ask themselves: How do we understand the idea of violence? Is it just physical? For Breakthrough, unequal relationships exist because patriarchy and hierarchical workplaces do not have much space for equal relationships. Power equations that put one person in a disadvantaged position compared to the other exist in family and workplaces, and they must be challenged. The quest of StreeLink was to spark conversations around the merits of equal relationships and to do away with the culture of emotional and verbal violence against women.

One strategy for doing this was to celebrate the strength of female friendships, with the message that women are not each other's enemies. The tagline "Aurat Hee Aurat ki Dost Hai" (woman is woman's friend) reinforced the need and culture of sisterhood. For example, through a collaboration with Young Leaders for Active Citizenship (YLAC) and SHEROES, images and narratives were posted - e.g., on the online StreeLink platform and social media - that paid tribute to female friendships.

The StreeLink online platform also allowed women to share, exchange, and collaborate with other women to deal with a variety of problems at home, in public spaces, and at workspaces via the practical, actionable solutions and strength they gleaned from each other. For example, as part of a blogathon launched in December 2017 with Women's Web, writers were invited to weigh in on the "double burden" female workers face - being responsible for all the unpaid work at home such as cooking, cleaning, and childcare, while also working outside the home in paid jobs. "Is this fair? Is this practical? Let's talk! Share your story!" Ten of the submissions were selected to be published online. In a related initiative, in July 2019, on Breakthrough's Facebook feed, Breakthrough broke down a single day in the life of a working woman: "A woman's work can start early in the morning - far before anyone else - and end late at night, long after anyone else. What if that was different?"

Violence against Women, Gender Equity

Sexual harassment and violence, and the threat of it in public spaces, reduce women's and girls' freedom of movement. It reduces their ability to participate in school, work, and public life. It limits their access to essential services and their enjoyment of cultural and recreational opportunities. It also negatively impacts their health and well-being (UN Women, 2011). Although violence in the private domain is now widely recognised as a human rights violation, violence against women and girls, especially sexual harassment in workplaces, remains a grey area and a largely neglected issue, with few laws or policies in place to prevent and address it.

The apparel industry in India, and elsewhere, employs large numbers of women. The garment sector in India is the second largest employer of women as per a February 2015 Times of India report. Nearly 12 million women workers constitute 80% of the total workforce in this sector. India is also a dominant garment exporter (exports in 2013 grossed US$15.71 billion or INR 99,240 crore). Yet, working conditions in the sector remain a challenge, with chronic problems including gender discrimination, excessive working hours, and safety violations. GBV is widespread in India's garment factories, with violence ranging from verbal and physical abuse to sexual harassment and rape; nearly 60% of women workers face some form of abuse (see this report [PDF]). Typically, the women are from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds with poor literacy levels and an overriding patriarchal socialisation that is accepting of intimate partner violence and extends to workplace violence.

Recently in India, there has been tremendous attention to violence against women and GBV. That - along with the passing of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace law in 2013 - makes this an opportune moment to advocate for behaviour change and transformation of gender relations across the supply chain - from the women workers, to their male counterparts, to supervisors and managers - and to create strong platforms that can build industry-wide changes. Breakthrough is working from those premises.

To learn more about these issues, consult a 35-page report (available here) that emerged from a 1-day consultation Breakthrough organised in the context of the StreeLink campaign: "Let's Reframe - Participation of Women in Formal Workforce".