Locations: Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Sri Lanka and Vietnam
Summary: Women play a critical role in the apparel industry and a vital role in the future of societies. When we help a woman in a developing country better her life, she's able to make positive changes in the lives of her family and in her community.
Many programs in the developing world focus on helping women gain employment. In 2007, we launched the Gap Inc. P.A.C.E. (Personal Advancement & Career Enhancement) program to help female garment workers in developing countries advance beyond entry-level positions and toward their potential.
The program leverages our relationships with key vendor partners. P.A.C.E. was designed and developed in partnership with Swasti Health Resources and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW). CARE International is a key implementing partner and our vendors also play a critical role.
P.A.C.E. currently operates in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam. So far, more than 7,500 women have participated in elements of P.A.C.E. The first phase of the program is a life and workplace skills education program of up to eight modules of learning. The approximately 85 hours of training cover such topics as communication, problem-solving and decision-making, general and reproductive health, legal literacy, financial literacy and gender equality. In Cambodia, 24 percent of the women enrolled in the first year of P.A.C.E. could not read or write. We learned from this experience that literacy training needed to be a module that is added to the curriculum in certain locations. As a result of the program’s literacy training, participants who previously did not know the Khmer alphabet can now write their names and basic words, and can read and recognize key words and sentences in factory signage.
In most settings, participating women are given paid time off for a portion of the training, but are also asked to invest their own time as well to ensure personal ownership of their learning and success. The second phase of the program, conducted by our partner factories, focuses on technical training, aligning the content with workers’ learning abilities and technical potential.
Creating Impact
The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) evaluates the P.A.C.E. program globally. Below are highlights from ICRW's research on the program in India and Cambodia.
After completing the P.A.C.E. program in India and Cambodia:
- Women reporting that they had better workplace relationships and communications skills increased by at least 36 percent.
- Women reporting a greater belief in self and their own abilities increased by 32 percent.
- Women reporting that they are saving regularly and at a greater rate increased by 69 percent in India and 35 percent in Cambodia.
“P.A.C.E. has improved women’s sense of self worth and their ability to contribute effectively both in their homes and at work,” says Priya Nanda, Director of the Social & Economic Development Group at ICRW. “The data from our evaluations shows consistent results: Women’s self-esteem, work efficacy and ability to be a positive influence on the work environment improves through the program. This program’s evaluation is allowing us to provide the evidence that women are force multipliers – in other words, there are multiple levels of impact created by expanding opportunities for women, and the benefits accrue not only to the women themselves, but are passed on to others around them.”
“With improved workplace and communication skills, women gain the respect of their colleagues and supervisors at the factory,” says Dotti Hatcher, Executive Director of Gap Inc. P.A.C.E. Global Initiatives. “Of more importance, they gain the respect of their communities and families and build more confidence in themselves.”
The women speak to these changes in themselves. Disha, a worker in India, says: “The information given in P.A.C.E. is of tremendous use for us. It educates us on various subjects. It also helps us in solving our problems by informing us about our rights. If these kinds of programs become a regular feature, it will help us address so many of our problems. All workers should get the opportunity to learn like we did.”
