How committed apparel companies are to fighting harassment and discrimination in their supply chains is uncertain. The $2.4-trillion global apparel industry employs millions of workers globally, mostly women. But women experience specific challenges at work because of gender, including pregnancy-based discrimination and sexual harassment.

There is a desperate need for a binding convention because 59 countries do not even have any specific legal remedies against sexual harassment at work. Even where legal remedies exist, they are often poorly enforced.Social audits are one of the primary tools apparel brands use to monitor conditions in factories across global supply chains, to check gender-based violence or harassment at work.

But social audits are not designed to elicit information about gender-based violence or harassment at work. They are not designed to overcome the specific barriers to reporting such harassment. They do not sufficiently create a safe space for workers who experience such harassment.

Violence against women is one of the most prevalent human rights violations. Gender-based violence makes women all around the world suffer daily and undermines their health, dignity and security. Pressure to meet fast fashion deadlines is leading to women working in factories across Asia being sexually and physically abused.