Companies get more women to work in factories

MUMBAI: The participation of women workers in factories and the manufacturing process may not have gone beyond 10% overall, but a nail products factory of Hindustan Unilever (HUL) at Haridwar is changing that paradigm. It’s being run by an all-women’s team. While this is perhaps an industry first, many such big steps are now being taken by women workers in the FMCG industry.

At Gits Food Products (Gits), 95% of its labour force today is female, while at Procter & Gamble’s Hyderabad plant, legal approvals have been sought to ensure women work in all shifts. Two startups have also entered the same group: Prothom Industries, a contract manufacturer and exporter of toys to one of the world’s largest toy companies, has an all-women assembly process with 300 workers. And in Mumbai-based Mydentist, a dental care chain, about 90% of its 1,000 plus workforce is women.

At HUL’s Haridwar manufacturing unit, the final on-boarding of the all-female team was done in December 2014.