Gender equality in our supply chain

In 2025, the tier 1 supplier factories* making our products employed over 1.1 million workers, 59 percent of whom were women. Across the countries where we operate, cultural norms, legal frameworks and levels of gender equality vary. We work to support equal opportunities and well-being for women workers in parts of the apparel sector connected to our business.

H&M Group has signed the  Women’s Empowerment Principles, a UN initiative that provides guidance to businesses on gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, marketplace and community. Our work is also connected to topics covered by SDG 5, the UN Sustainable Development Goal focused on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls as part of the UN’s 2030 Agenda.

Across our supply chain, our work focuses on four areas:

• Health and safety
• Worker Voice
• Career and development
• Wages

We address these areas at two levels:

• Factory management systems
• Industry and country-level collaboration

Our work has been informed partly by external expertise. For example, in 2020, we consulted with Plan International to update and strengthen our gender equality strategy.

There are specific challenges related to gender equality that demand extra attention. For example, gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) is a widespread human rights violation. We work with suppliers, trade unions and partners to strengthen how these risks are identified and addressed.

International labour standards provide an important reference point for our work on fair and equal treatment. This includes the International Labour Organization’s Convention 190 and Recommendation 206, which recognise everyone’s right to a working environment free from violence and harassment. We use these instruments to inform our approach to preventing and addressing GBVH with our suppliers, trade unions and partners.

Health and safety 

Supporting gender-sensitive health, safety and grievance systems

Health and safety is a foundation of our gender equality work in the supply chain. We expect supplier factories to establish and maintain health and safety committees and accessible grievance mechanisms, including channels for workers to raise workplace concerns such as sexual harassment. In selected production markets and facilities, we also support suppliers in strengthening these systems so they better reflect gender-related risks. Many factories we work with provide training on sexual harassment and other gender-related issues, including how workers and management can recognise and address these concerns.

Example: Gender-based violence and harassment guideline and training

In 2022, we worked with Jane Pillinger (PhD), a specialist in gender equality and gender-based violence at work, to update our approach to preventing and addressing GBVH. This included training and workshops for employees involved in National Monitoring Committees, focused on awareness, grievance handling and supporting tools for suppliers.

Working in collaboration with IndustriALL and its affiliates, we also created a GBVH guideline for suppliers based on ILO Convention 190. The guideline helps factories identify risks, strengthen policies and grievance mechanisms and improve how concerns are addressed through worker and manager training. We rolled out the guideline to our tier 1 suppliers during the summer of 2023.

This joint work was recognised in the Global Deal (OECD/ILO) Flagship Report 2022. The Global Deal is a multi-stakeholder partnership of governments, businesses and employers’ organisations, as well as other organisations, who work for the promotion of social dialogue and industrial relations as effective means for achieving decent work.

In 2025, we worked with over 130 factories employing more than 288,000 workers to carry out gap analyses against our GBVH guideline. The process helped identify areas for improvement at facility level and is informing our 2026 focus on worker awareness, trust in reporting channels, safety walks, worker surveys and risk-based follow-up.

Example: Multi-stakeholder project addressing sexual harassment and violence in India

We are founding members of the Textile Industry Coalition (TiC), launched in India in 2024. The initiative brings together brands, manufacturers, government agencies, trade unions, civil society organisations and research institutions. Together, the coalition works towards a common goal of promoting zero tolerance for sexual harassment and violence in Tamil Nadu, India.

TiC has worked with 13 production units across Tamil Nadu and supported community projects in six districts. The initiative includes eight modules addressing issues at both factory and community level:

1. Understanding gender
2. Prevention of sexual harassment
3. Protection of women from domestic violence
4. Protection of children from sexual abuse
5. Participatory safety audits
6. Building allyship
7. Training of trainers
8. Participatory monitoring and evaluation

• At factory level, the project supported participating production units with safety-related measures, including audio messages communicating the project’s zero-tolerance approach to sexual harassment during morning assemblies and working hours. Suppliers were also encouraged to communicate their commitments related to sexual harassment prevention publicly, for example on their websites.
• At community level, 300 community members (236 women and 64 men) across 28 communities received training on community safety topics, including how to identify safety concerns, carry out safety checks and support prevention activities. In addition, more than 100 community figures — including health workers, teachers and elected village council — were engaged to help raise awareness of gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH).
• At government and policy level, the Directorate of Higher Education, Directorate of Industrial Safety and Health, and Directorate of Technical Education have initiated revisions of existing inspection formats to strengthen enforcement of POSH compliance (India’s Prevention of Sexual Harassment Act, which aims to ensure safe, respectful workplaces and requires employers to prevent, address and respond to workplace sexual harassment) across industries. The project is also exploring opportunities to revive the POSH portal provided by the Tamil Nadu government, with the aim of improving its efficiency and functionality.
• A total of 39 organisations from key textile industry constituencies have joined the coalition, reflecting a shared focus on addressing sexual harassment and violence in workplaces.

Worker Voice

Strengthening women workers’ access to grievance channels and workplace dialogue.

Sensitive issues, including gender-based violence and harassment, are often underreported and difficult to detect through standard social compliance monitoring. We have therefore carried out research to better understand barriers women workers may face when raising concerns in factory environments, and how grievance mechanisms can be designed with consideration of women workers’ access.

This work has been supported by external research expertise and includes insights from focus group discussions and worker surveys. The findings are intended to inform practical guidance for suppliers, including tools such as checklists and a step-by-step approach to help strengthen gender-responsive grievance mechanisms.

Career and development

Supporting more equal access to skills development and career progression.

We have developed a framework to help suppliers take a more structured approach to skills development and career progression. The framework covers workplace practices related to technical skills, training pathways and progression opportunities, with particular attention to women workers’ access to training, career development and promotion opportunities.

To inform our future work in this area, we have also contributed to an independent research study examining gender disparities in career progression in garment manufacturing. The study covers four major production regions: Bangladesh, North India, South India and Pakistan, and draws on survey data from more than 6,000 factory workers. It explores differences in workers’ aspirations, expectations, opportunities and outcomes related to progression into higher-skilled, high-paid or supervisory roles. Findings and recommendations are expected in 2027 and will inform how we develop our work on skills development and career progression.

Wages  

Supporting more structured wage and benefits processes

According to UN Women, the gender pay gap stands at 16 percent, which means women earn 84 percent of what men earn, across industries. Differences in pay can add up and affect women and their families over time.

We work with suppliers on wage and benefit management systems in parts of our supply chain. These systems refer to the policies, processes and data suppliers use to set, review and communicate wages and benefits. This includes how pay is linked to role, skill level and progression, and how suppliers assess whether workers doing equal work receive equal pay, regardless of gender.

Research by independent experts found that factories with fully implemented wage management systems showed a 5 percent higher pay increase for workers than factories without such systems.

You can find out more about our wages work here.

Example: Gender pay-gap study

Since 2021 we have worked with wages expert Professor Raymond Robertson to map and understand the gender pay gap in our supply chain. Together we created a wage survey that collected data over two years on the wage and skill levels of workers at all our tier 1 suppliers, covering over 1,300 production units.

The findings show a statistically significant pay gap between men and women in most production countries. The pay gap varies across factories and countries and seems to grow as workers move up the pay scale. It appears to be driven by the skill gap between genders, as men tend to have acquired more technical skills and therefore benefit from higher wages. Men are also generally promoted at higher rates and receive higher raises when promoted. The research indicates that wage management system programmes may contribute to reduced pay gaps at the top of the wage scale.

* Tier 1 suppliers are companies we do business with directly for product manufacturing or processing. Tier 2-4 suppliers are involved in earlier stages of the value chain, such as component production, processing, and raw material production.