Vague Concepts and Issue Washing: Women’s Empowerment in Fashion Supply Chains

This paper explores women’s empowerment in fashion supply chains, providing a definition and an analysis of women’s empowerment reporting by major fashion brands. Using a systematic literature review, we identified 45 articles on women’s empowerment in supply chains and developed a theoretical framework. We applied the framework to seven multinational fashion groups and analysed their communication materials over five years. Women’s empowerment programmes, initiatives and actions are not aligned with women’s empowerment definitions. To operationalise women’s empowerment within supply chains, women workers must be able to procure leadership positions and have the opportunity to intervene in the decision-making process where local, cultural, and social contexts are considered. We provide insights into women’s empowerment including, the need for a consistent definition and the first steps to develop a framework towards women’s empowerment in fashion supply chains while also identifying the drivers, impeders, enablers and outcomes of women’s empowerment in supply chains.