Gap Inc. Sets New Goals to Empower Women in Its Supply Chain

Gap Inc.’s, the parent company of Gap, Old Navy, Athleta and more, is on course to impact the lives of more than one million women and girls through supply-chain vendor and community partnerships by 2022.

The company announced Monday that more than 800,000 women and girls have completed its Personal Advancement and Career Enhancement (P.A.C.E.) program since it was founded in 2007. Operating in 17 countries where its clothing is made, P.A.C.E. was developed to give women the foundational life skills, technical training and support that will help them advance in the workplace and in their personal lives.

In 2019, Gap Inc. enhanced the program with the addition of Empower@Work, a related program developed in partnership with labor organizations Business for Social Responsibility, ILO-IFC Better Work and CARE, formed to promote the sharing of knowledge, skills and networks.

The effects of the global pandemic, particularly the high rate of women losing their jobs worldwide, is driving Gap Inc. to double down on new commitments to foster women empowerment and set new goals for 2025. Gap Inc. is committed to have 100 percent of its strategic factories (facilities representing 80 percent of its total sourcing volume) participate in Empower@Work, and for all of its strategic factories to achieve gender parity at the supervisor level. This means the gender ratio of workers will be the same as the gender ratio of supervisors.

The company’s Gap and Athleta brands have committed 100 percent of their factories to participating in Empower@Work by 2025.

Gap Inc. will also set up gender-equitable workplace committees at all strategic factories and gender-based violence prevention and response training programs at all factories.

Achieving these goals, which are supported by Gap Inc.’s Supplier Sustainability programs, will rely on longstanding collaborations with expert stakeholders to support gender equity in the apparel supply chain.

“Our goal of achieving gender equity at the supervisor level in all of our strategic factories will be driven by our Supervisory Skills Training program. Similarly, our goal of having workers’ voices being heard through gender-equitable and representative workplace committees will be managed through our Workplace Cooperation program,” the company stated.

Both programs were developed in partnership with ILO-IFC Better Work.

Gap Inc.’s focus on women’s rights is reflected in a new collection of three limited-edition T-shirts with feminist slogans. Gap brand will donate $25,000 to non-profit Girls Inc., which serves girls from ages 6-18 across 1,500 sites in the U.S. and Canada, providing them with educational programming and mentorship to support their mental and emotional growth and development.