For more than 20 years, Verité has seen how gender inequality exacerbates labor and human rights abuses in global supply chains. Inequality based on gender comes in many forms including restrictions on the types of work women do, limited access to labor protections, and disparities in compensation. In honor of Women’s History Month, we would like to take this opportunity to touch on the many ways in which Verité sees, and seeks to change, differential impacts on women from prevailing supply chain dynamics in a variety of sectors.
In December 2016, President Obama proclaimed January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, culminating with National Freedom Day on February 1. Here’s what you can do to educate yourself about human trafficking and to take action to eradicate it:
Research and audits carried out by Verité have determined that both legal guestworkers and undocumented immigrants are extremely vulnerable to exploitation, including forced labor and human trafficking, in the United States. This vulnerability is heightened when laws protecting immigrant workers are weakened or go unenforced, as well as in areas in which there are crackdowns on undocumented immigrants, who are forced to go underground and seek employment through labor brokers.
KnowTheChain’s latest benchmark evaluates the 20 largest global food and beverage companies across seven themes related to labor standards. The report found that the response to forced labor risk in the food and beverage sector is inadequate.
