Written by Praveen Paramasivam
SRIPERUMBUDUR, India (Reuters) – Foxconn’s chairman defended its hiring practices on Saturday after New Delhi ordered an investigation following a Reuters report that the Apple supplier was rejecting married women from iPhone assembly jobs.
“Foxconn hires regardless of gender, but women make up a large part of our workforce here,” Young Liu said at the opening of a housing complex for his workers near Chennai in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
“I can confirm that married women contribute greatly to the efforts we are doing here,” he added in his first comments since the Reuters investigation.
Liu did not answer questions from media at the housing complex, which the state government says is “exclusive” to Foxconn’s 18,720 female workers. The multi-storey housing complex is located near an iPhone manufacturing plant.
A Reuters investigation published in June found that Foxconn systematically excluded married women from jobs at its main iPhone assembly plant in India on the grounds that they had more family responsibilities than their unmarried counterparts.
Foxconn acknowledged some gaps in its hiring practices in 2022 and said it had worked to address the issues, but added that it “strongly refutes allegations of employment discrimination.”
The story has sparked television debates and newspaper editorials. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has ordered the federal state of Tamil Nadu to submit a “detailed report” on the story, and his labor officials have visited the iPhone factory to question executives. New Delhi has yet to announce any findings.
Foxconn told labor officials that its main iPhone factory in India employed 41,281 people, including 33,360 women. Of those women, about 2,750, or about 8 percent, were married.
The company did not break down hiring numbers into specific areas such as iPhone assembly, where Reuters reported discrimination was occurring.
Foxconn has expanded in recent years into India, where it makes iPhones and products for other smartphone brands, and has plans to move into manufacturing AirPods and computer chips.
Liu met with Modi and several senior Indian officials during his current visit, and discussed Foxconn’s investment plans.