Married Women Face Job Discrimination At Foxconn's iPhone Factory In India

An investigation by Reuters revealed that two married women were denied employment at an iPhone factory in southern India. Foxconn, a major supplier for Apple, has been systematically refusing to hire married women at its primary iPhone assembly plant in India. The company cites family responsibilities and potential pregnancy as reasons for exclusion, and these rules are verbally communicated to Indian hiring agencies by Foxconn executives. Some hiring agencies have even helped female candidates hide their marital status to secure jobs.

Apple and Foxconn admitted to lapses in their hiring process in 2022 but did not address incidents from 2023 and 2024. While Indian law does not prohibit discrimination based on marital status, both Apple's and Foxconn's policies do. Apple claims to uphold the "highest supply chain standards in the industry" and states that Foxconn employs some married women in India.

Foxconn has faced accusations of rejecting married women from its workforce in Sriperumbudur, India, due to their traditional metal ornaments interfering with the manufacturing process and potentially damaging iPhone components. However, the company asserts that married women can wear these ornaments while working at its facilities. Foxconn has previously faced scrutiny over its work environment and culture, including a series of worker suicides in China over ten years ago.

Recruitment agency officials in India report that job candidates are removing their ornaments and concealing their marital status to secure employment. This tactic is particularly effective if their government-issued ID card, known as Aadhaar, still lists them as unmarried. Some recruitment agencies assist candidates who have not updated their marital status on Aadhaar and are willing to remove their ornaments.

A woman from a town near Chennai shared her experience of working at Foxconn for a year without being detected by using this strategy before quitting for personal reasons in 2023. She stressed the importance of not wearing metal ornaments at work to maintain her disguise and expressed her desire to return to Foxconn when the opportunity arises.