Women Breaking Barriers in Shipbreaking
Who: SEWA / Grieg Green
What: Women workers in downstream ship recycling industry
"We finally feel that someone sees us and cares about our safety."
In Bhavnagar, Gujarat, 230 women workers gathered for a Convention on November 26, 2024, to share their stories from their everyday work and discuss their daily challenges with guests from ILO (International Labor Organization), IndustriALL and Gujarat’s authorities.
IndustriALL is a global union representing 50 million workers in 140 countries in the mining, energy and manufacturing sectors. It is a force in global solidarity taking up the fight for better working conditions and trade union rights worldwide and was present at the Convention to support SEWA in the efforts to improve conditions for the downstream workers in the shipbreaking industry.
During the convention, the women workers openly shared from their experiences. They face a variety of challenges during their work to separate metals from e-waste and to recycle used mooring ropes into new plastic textile products. The challenges include health issues from contact with hazardous substances, injuries from lack of protective equipment and appropriate tools, as well as income reduction due to increased frequency of heat waves and a recent descending market with limited access to ship scrap.
Examples of initiatives to support the women were shared. SEWA’s heatwave insurance, which provides income replacement to members during periods of extreme heat is a significant step towards protection of the women workers. Grieg Foundation’s funding of training, tools, protective equipment, and umbrellas are effective practical solutions: "The umbrellas and PPE kits have changed everything," one women worker stated. "We finally feel that someone sees us and cares about our safety."
Caring about women workers in the downstream ship recycling industry
ILO’s representative highlighted the significance of the downstream work for environmental sustainability and raised concern regarding ongoing issues faced by women workers, such as health problems, and significant wage disparities between men and women in the same roles. It was acknowledged that these women workers are often invisible, unrecognized, and without any social security benefits. ILO advocated for the inclusion of the downstream industry workers in the Hong Kong Convention.
The Hong Kong Convention (HKC) is an international ship recycling regulation which comes into force June 26th 2025. The Government of India is in process of establishing Policies and Rules to enforce the HKC nationally. SEWA presented a Memorandum highlighting the contribution of the informal women workers to the circular economy, and their need for social security and protection from health hazards to be included at Policy level.
The representative from the local authorities assured that the informal women workers’ visibility within the ship-breaking and recycling industries would be prioritized moving forward.
The Convention will be followed up from SEWA with further discussions with India’s Government.
Read more about the project here