Fast Marketing Group Works With The United Nations Women's Department To Win More Rights For Women.

In June 28, 2019, the famous clothing retailer UNIQLO's parent sales group announced a global partnership agreement with the United Nations women's agency to create more rights for women in the apparel industry. This is also the first collaboration of the United Nations women's department with Asian clothing companies.

Women have always been the backbone of the apparel industry, and Xun marketing group has long been committed to making women practitioners in all garment industries able to fully demonstrate their capabilities. This is essential for the sustainable development of the whole industry's supply chain, and whether it can continue to provide quality products to consumers.

Ryui Masa, chairman and chief executive officer of fast marketing group, said: "through cooperation with the United Nations women's Department, we hope to create an environment conducive to self development for all the female practitioners in the company and the clothing industry, so that they can play a more active role in the society."

"Women account for the majority in the clothing industry, but they are often assigned to low paid jobs, with little chance of promotion. This time, our cooperation with fast selling group is the opportunity to change this situation. " Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, executive director of the United Nations women's Department, said: "by focusing on women's economic empowerment and providing professional training and opportunities for female employees, we have taken a key step in promoting the reform of the garment industry."

It is understood that in the next two years (2019-2021 years), Xun marketing group will invest 1 million 600 thousand US dollars (about 170 million yen), together with the United Nations women's Department, in the Asian garment factory as the main production base of the group, to carry out projects focusing on the rights and benefits of female employees, and to implement management training programs to widen the future multi career development plan for female employees.

The reality of female practitioners in Asian garment factories is that although female practitioners account for about 80% of the total number of practitioners in the apparel industry, most leading positions, such as production line managers and other managerial positions, are dominated by men.

In addition, female practitioners also face obstacles such as career constraints, wage gap and recruitment bias resulting from gender, making it more difficult for them to achieve sustainable career development. At the same time, new technologies such as automation and robotics, which are emerging in the apparel industry, pose new challenges for female practitioners. They must constantly learn new skills to cope with changes in the industry.

The project framework will focus on the following three aspects: 1., provide opportunities for female practitioners in the mid-term career to support their career development, and provide professional leadership training to help them achieve job promotion; 2., provide new opportunities for female practitioners, including skills to cope with the trend of automation; 3. increase awareness of the importance of gender equality and empowerment by men in decision-making positions, creating an enabling environment for women's career development.

In the first year of the project, female employees working in Bangladesh, China and Vietnam will be surveyed and gender challenges will be identified. According to the survey results, the fast marketing group and the United Nations women's department will develop a corresponding assistance plan to provide professional training for female employees selected from about 200 cooperative factories in these three countries. The fast marketing group and the United Nations women's Department hope to create a more positive impact on the local and even the entire apparel industry supply chain through the cooperation plan.

Fast selling group is one of the largest apparel retail groups in the world. In fiscal year 2018 (as of August 31, 2018), the group's total revenue reached about 2 trillion and 130 billion yen, or about 19 billion 170 million US dollars. So far, UNIQLO has opened more than 2000 shops in 22 countries and regions, including Japan.