72% of workers in Apple's India factories are women; Foxconn best performer

Women workers in blue-collar jobs account for 72 per cent of the over 1 lakh direct jobs generated by Apple’s vendors and their ecosystem in their factories in India. Most of the jobs have been created in the last 20 months, and most of the women workers have entered the job market for the first time.

The gender data is based on details provided to the states and the central government.

The Apple ecosystem — it includes its three vendors that assemble iPhones (Foxconn, Pegatron and Wistron), and component suppliers like Tatas, Salcomp, Avery, and Jabil — has become the largest single-brand hirer of women in the country. Most of the over 70,000 women who have been hired are in the age group of 19-24 years, with an average age that is closer to 21.

When it comes to gender, the Foxconn factory is the best performer among the three vendors, with 30,000 women workers out of a total of 35,000 — or as much as 85 per cent. And among its component suppliers, Jabil is the top performer, having employed 4,200 women (70 per cent) out of a total of 6,000.

Most of the young women who have been recruited have passed the Class XII exams or have simple diplomas. Nearly all of them are deployed on the assembly lines. Apple’s ecosystem runs a special skill development programme that trains the young women for a couple of weeks. Women empowerment is expected to be discussed in CEO Tim Cook’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Gender-friendly

• Most women workers are first-time employees
• Their average age is 21 and most are 19-24 years old
• Nearly 85% of the workforce of Foxconn and 70% of the workforce of Jabil are women