Women Garment Workers’ Mental Health & Wellbeing

Women Win is excited to share new research on “Understanding Drivers and Prohibitors of Women Garment Workers Mental Health and Wellbeing” in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. This study was funded by lululemon and conducted in collaboration with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). The research intentionally employed a participatory approach by engaging local women garment workers, women’s rights organisations, mental health experts, and researchers in each of the three countries to elicit contextual knowledge and grounded realities about:
  • Unique aspects of mental health, beyond general well-being, with a focus on women garment workers
  • What constitutes positive mental health and wellbeing for women garment workers, and
  • Key determinants of mental health and wellbeing in the garment factory setting, according to women workers.

This research brief is intended for brands, suppliers and industry partners that want to understand more about the state of women’s mental health and wellbeing in Asia’s garment industry. The work contributes to the existing knowledge base that looks at worker mental wellbeing beyond basic wellbeing. It also provides a unique insight into this space centering women’s voices while using a newly developed ‘Mental Health and Wellbeing Key Indicators Framework’.

Our hope with this brief is to elevate the conversation on the critical nature of worker mental health and wellbeing among brands, suppliers, and other industry partners. If you are interested in joining this conversation, please reach out to us directly to get involved.

Contextualised and Innovative Solutions

Win-Win Strategies designs and supports our partners to implement tools across a variety of geographies and workplaces across the value chain. We offer guidance to both women’s rights organisations as well as corporates motivated by taking a women-centred approach to their work and/or due diligence efforts.

Drawing The Line Tool

The ‘Drawing the Line’  tool uses a play-based, participatory approach to identify key issues that women face in the workplace, taking a women-centred approach as their perspective is crucial for determining a sustainable solution. Participants create their own meaning by using cards as prompts and tell the facilitators, who are from Women’s Rights Organisations in their area,  what their realities are and where/how protection can be implemented. It is often used in conjunction with other tools/standards, such as zero-tolerance standards for abuse and harassment and codes of conduct.  We have used this tool in both our sports and workplace programming. Our most recent workplace examples are in garment industries in India and Myanmar and the Kenyan tea and flower sectors.

The Gender-Responsive Due Diligence platform offers a range of informative resources and practical information on how to apply a gender lens to supply chain companies’ human rights due diligence process. This platform allows companies to actively manage any adverse human rights impacts in your international supply chains in a way that responds to the needs of people of all genders, specifically of women.  

Win-Win Strategies uses this platform to guide companies and networks in applying Gender-Responsive Due Diligence practices.  This is largely done through tailored and context-specific webinars and trainings. If you are a supply chain company looking to focus on Gender-Responsive Due Diligence then contact us for more information here.

This platform on Thinkific offers a range of open-source and free courses.
The most relevant courses to Win-Win Strategies are the Gender-Responsive Procurement,
Play-Based Methodology and Corporate engagement courses.