Foxconn India drops recruitment discrimination against married women

Foxconn was first accused of discrimination in June 2024. The company's chair, Young Liu, then tried evading questions about the issue, but India's government demanded answers.

Now according to Reuters, Foxconn has capitulated and has ordered its recruitment agencies to cease discrimination. Foxconn had previously admitted to discrimination around 2022, but denied it was still happening.

The practice went against both Apple's and Foxconn's stated rules of equal opportunity. It's believed that married women were discriminated against on the presumption that they have more family responsibilities than single women, and so had higher rates of absenteeism.

Reportedly, however, unspecified sources say that Foxconn has now instructed its hiring agents to remove mentions of marital status in its job ads. Those ads, recruiting iPhone assembly workers, must now also have no mention of age or gender.

Foxconn is also said to have now mandated that the job ads do not include its own company name. It's claimed that the instruction to remove the name Foxconn from ads was issued in late June 2024, and agents were told their contracts would be cancelled if they broke this new rule.

Neither Foxconn nor Apple have responded to this development. However, both firms have previously stated that married women are hired in India.

The moves come as Foxconn continues to expand in India. And as overall, India is becoming an increasingly significant manufacturer of iPhones.