Following Reuters’ revelation that married women being turned away from iPhone assembly positions at Foxconn, an Apple supplier, the women’s wing of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s governing party on Friday requested the National Commission for Women to open an inquiry.

Vanathi Srinivasan, national head of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) women’s wing, submitted a letter to the Commission that was posted on X. “It is imperative to conduct a thorough investigation into these claims and ensure that the rights of women employees at Foxconn Hon Hai are protected,” said in the letter.

Rekha Sharma, the chair of the National Commission for Women, responded to the letter on X by writing, “We are doing the needful.” She didn’t go into detail.

According to its website, the National Commission for Women has the authority to look into any issue pertaining to the protections for women outlined in the Constitution and other legislation. It can also summon someone with the authority of a civil court.

There were no comments on the issue available from Foxconn or Apple.

According to a Reuters investigation that was released on Tuesday, Foxconn has routinely denied married women employment at its primary iPhone facility in Tamil Nadu, close to Chennai, on the grounds that they are more responsible for their families than single employees.

Recruiting agents and HR sources at Foxconn, who were contacted by Reuters, gave reasons for avoiding recruiting married women at the company, including more absenteeism, pregnancy, and family responsibilities.

Newspaper articles and TV station debates have been triggered by the event.

Srinivasan called Foxconn’s alleged recruiting practices a “grave issue” in the letter.

“It has come to our notice through various media sources that Foxconn has adopted discriminatory practices against married women,” said Srinivasan.

The letter further claimed that the women’s wing of the BJP had learned that female workers at Foxconn are not even able to use the lavatory during business hours, and those who reside in dorms are not allowed to take time off. Srinivasan did not go into detail about these topics in his letter.

Modi’s labour ministry announced earlier this week that it has asked Tamil Nadu’s labour department for a thorough report on the issue.

Apple and Foxconn claimed they have tried to resolve the concerns after acknowledging mistakes in their employment methods in 2022 in answer to queries from Reuters for their article on Tuesday. However, all of the discriminatory actions at the Sriperumbudur factory that Reuters was able to establish happened between 2023 and 2024. The issues from 2023 and 2024 were not addressed by the two firms.

All of Apple’s suppliers, including Foxconn, employ married women, the company claimed. “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,” the company said.

Foxconn stated that it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form.”

The employment freezes at the iPhone plant highlight the difficulty Apple and Foxconn have in maintaining its declared global inclusiveness goals while extending their supplier chains in this rapidly developing but relatively conservative nation.

Modi has advocated in the past for the elimination of social barriers that keep many Indian women from obtaining employment. Even if Foxconn employs thousands of women in India, discrimination based on a person’s marital status runs the risk of undermining the goals of the prime minister.

(Adapted from Reuters.com)