C&A signs UN Women's Empowerment Principles

Alain Caparros, CEO C&A Europe, described C&A’s commitment to gender parity as a key principle of the company’s culture

Source: C&A

“Gender parity and women's empowerment are extremely important to C&A. Women are the driving force behind the apparel industry and our brand: 80% of our employees are women, and approximately the same percentage is true of the workers in our supply chain and the customers who shop with us. The WEPs will guide us to further implement gender parity throughout our organisation and supply chain.”

C&A employs about 60,000 people worldwide. Its products are manufactured in over 2,400 supplier factories in 40 countries around the globe, employing more than 1 million people who are mostly women. “We recognize that many women around the globe face discrimination and structural barriers which impede their success. To address this, we work closely with our corporate foundation to create strong, resilient communities where we source from, and to support the many women in our supply chain that create our products, said Kate Heiny, Head of Global Sustainability at C&A.

In signing the WEPs, C&A commits to the following seven principles:

• Establish high-level corporate leadership for gender equality.
• Treat all women and men fairly at work - respect and support human rights and non-discrimination.
• Ensure the health, safety and well-being of all women and men workers.
• Promote education, training and professional development for women.
• Implement enterprise development, supply chain and marketing practices that empower women.
• Promote equality through community initiatives and advocacy.
• Measure and publicly report on progress to achieve gender equality.

C&A Foundation, the company’s corporate foundation, is working to achieve gender equity in the apparel industry. Both C&A and C&A Foundation strongly believe that to fundamentally transform fashion into a force for good, gender inequality and violence against women must be addressed. In each of its philanthropic programmes, C&A Foundation works with partners to promote women's voices, leadership skills and capacities to exercise their rights. And C&A Foundation helps them influence decision-making in the supply chain.

In 2015, C&A became a signatory of the United Nations Global Compact (UN Global Compact), the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. With this, C&A committed to complying with the ten universally accepted principles, which focus on human rights, labour, environment and anti-corruption, and to take action that advances societal goals.