New Delhi: Married women are “systematically excluded” from Apple supplier Foxconn’s iPhone assembly lines at its factory in Tamil Nadu’s Sriperumbudur because of the view that they have more “family responsibilities” than unmarried women, revealed a Reuters investigation.
The news agency spoke to at least 17 employees from over a dozen Foxconn hiring agencies in India and four current and former Foxconn human resources executives, who confirmed that the Taiwan-based company is biased against married women.
Reuters also found dozens of job advertisements by Foxconn’s third-party recruiters and their WhatsApp discussions explicitly stating the requirement for young, unmarried women.
From “women have babies after marriage”, as well as family duties, to metal toe rings and necklaces on married Hindu women could affect iPhone components, several reasons were cited as being behind the discriminatory practice by the sources Reuters spoke with.
“Electrostatic discharge could occur when metals come into contact with phone components, potentially damaging them,” one current and one former Foxconn HR executive told Reuters.
However, the investigation also found women who had gamed the system by concealing their marital status and removing their jewellery before entering the Foxconn campus.
ThePrint reported in October last year that Foxconn has been hiring thousands of women in Tamil Nadu but that one of the first questions women are asked during hiring is whether they are married or not.
Apple and Foxconn, whose policies prohibit discrimination in hiring based on marital status, have denied the charges.
In a statement to Reuters, Foxconn said it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form” and that “married women are welcome to wear traditional metal ornaments while working in our facilities”.
“When concerns about hiring practices were first raised in 2022, we immediately took action and worked with our supplier to conduct monthly audits to identify issues and ensure that our high standards are upheld….All of our suppliers in India hire married women, including Foxconn,” Apple told Reuters in a statement.
However, despite Apple’s claims, the problems persist as the Reuters investigation covered incidents after 2022, between 2023 and 2024.
The new revelations could spell trouble for Apple, which has been looking at India as an alternate manufacturing hub to China amid US-China tensions, added the report.
India will account for about 9% to 14% of iPhone production globally this year compared with 86% to 91% in China, added the report.
There could be legal challenges as well, said the report, citing a 1965 Supreme Court ruling that stated married women can not be fired on grounds of absenteeism.
According to the Reuters report, this is not the first time Foxconn has come under the scanner for dubious practices.
In 2021, protests broke out in Sriperumbudur after over 250 workers suffered food poisoning, with over a hundred hospitalised. Apple put the plant on a short probation in the aftermath of the incident.
In China’s Zhengzhou, where Foxconn runs the world’s biggest iPhone factories, the suicides of nearly 10,000 workers a decade ago raised questions about working conditions.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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