Most companies talk about supporting women through their supply chain as if it’s only about buying from women-owned businesses. That piece matters, but it’s incomplete on its own. A credible approach also protects women working throughout the supply chain, including manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics roles where risk can be higher and visibility can be lower. This is where due diligence and supplier standards stop feeling like corporate language and start feeling like practical protection. The goal is straightforward: know your risks, act on them, track results, and communicate honestly.
Supporting Women Through Your Supply Chain Means Protecting Women At Work
Excerpt: Most companies talk about supporting women through their supply chain as if it’s only about buying from women-owned businesses. That piece matters, but it’s incomplete on its own. A credible approach also protects women working throughout the supply chain, including manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics roles where risk can be higher and visibility can be lower. This is where due diligence and supplier standards stop feeling like corporate language and start feeling like practical protection. The goal is straightforward: know your risks, act on them, track results, and communicate honestly.
Two levels of impact, and why you need both
When companies build Women’s History Month campaigns, they tend to default to one lane.
Lane one: ownership and access. Supplier diversity and women-owned spend.
Lane two: workplace experience. Safety, dignity, fair treatment, and protections for women working across the supply chain.
The most credible programs connect both. If your message is empowerment, your sourcing process cannot ignore the safety and dignity of the women who make, pack, and ship what you buy.
Why worker protections belong in your “support women” supply chain message
If you buy products, you are connected to the conditions under which those products are made and moved. That sounds big until you translate it into the real contexts where women are often overrepresented or vulnerable:
- Manufacturing lines and subcontracted facilities
- Warehousing and fulfillment
- Logistics, shipping, and transport
- Seasonal and temporary labor environments
This is not about expecting your team to become human rights experts. It is about having a baseline you can defend and a process for what you do when you find problems.
A standard you can reference without becoming a legal expert: ILO Convention 190
The International Labour Organization’s Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) is widely recognized because it clearly establishes that the world of work should be free from violence and harassment, including gender-based violence and harassment. It defines violence and harassment broadly, including physical, psychological, sexual, or economic harm.
If you have ever struggled to articulate what you mean when you say “safe workplace,” C190 gives you language that is specific enough to be operational without requiring a legal rewrite of your supplier program.
Due diligence, translated into normal language
Due diligence can sound heavy, but the concept is simple:
- Know your risks
- Act on them
- Track results
- Communicate honestly
The OECD’s due diligence framing is often used because it’s process-based and repeatable. It describes due diligence as embedding responsible business conduct into policies and management systems, identifying and assessing adverse impacts, preventing or mitigating them, tracking implementation and results, communicating how impacts are addressed, and cooperating in remediation when appropriate.
For Women’s History Month, due diligence is what keeps you out of the “we had good intentions” zone. It gives you a mechanism behind the message.
What to ask suppliers if you want to protect women at work
You do not need to ask everything at once. The point is to start asking better questions than “Do you have a policy?” and to define what evidence counts.
1) What standards do we require, and what proof do we accept?
Ask for:
- Code of conduct and how it is implemented
- Social compliance audits or third-party assessments (when applicable)
- Corrective action process, including how issues are tracked and closed
- What you are looking for is not perfection. You are looking for a system, evidence, and follow-through.
2) How do you prevent and address harassment and discrimination?
Ask specifically about higher-risk environments: manufacturing, warehousing, logistics, and contractor-heavy operations.
- Training: who receives it, how often, in what language
- Reporting: how workers raise concerns safely, including anonymous options
- Protection: how retaliation is prevented
- Outcomes: how complaints are investigated and resolved
- Referencing ILO Convention 190 helps here because it provides a recognized definition and scope for violence and harassment, including gender-based violence.
3) Who is responsible for labor practices across subcontractors?
Many issues hide in subcontracting.
Ask:
- Do you use subcontractors, and if so, how are they approved?
- How do you monitor labor standards beyond your direct facilities?
- What happens when a subcontractor fails to meet requirements?
4) What is the remedy plan when something goes wrong?
Due diligence is not about avoiding bad news. It is about having a response path. Ask:
- What is your escalation process?
- How do you provide remedy to affected workers?
- What leverage do you use with upstream partners to prevent repeat issues?
- The answer you want is not “we’ve never had a problem.” The answer you want is “here’s what we do when we do.”
A simple Women’s History Month playbook that doesn’t feel performative
This structure works because it is honest and action-driven.
Step 1: Make a clear commitment in operational language
Examples:
- “We are strengthening supplier standards related to harassment prevention and grievance mechanisms.”
- “We are expanding supplier documentation requirements in higher-risk categories.”
Step 2: Explain your definition and your evidence
Your audience does not need a 40-page policy, but they do need to know you’re not making claims without proof.
- What standards do you use?
- What documentation do you accept?
- What do you do when evidence is missing?
Step 3: Spotlight women through the supply chain, not only founders
Founders matter. Workers matter, too. Credible storytelling can include both:
- Women-owned businesses you source from
- What you expect from suppliers regarding working conditions and harassment prevention
- How people can report issues and how remedies work (at least at a high level)
Step 4: Report back after March
Trust is built in the follow-through: what you did, what changed, what you learned, and what comes next. The Women’s Empowerment Principles explicitly emphasize measuring and reporting progress as part of credible equality work.
What this looks like in branded merchandise programs
Merchandise programs sit at the intersection of brand and supply chain reality. They show up in onboarding, recognition, events, and client moments, and they’re also where teams can accidentally create waste, rush decisions, or accept vague claims because deadlines are real. If you want to support women through this category, focus on moves that protect both credibility and outcomes.
Move 1: Buy fewer things, better
Low-quality, low-retention products create waste and weaken your impact story. Useful, well-made items create repeated brand touchpoints without feeling disposable.
Move 2: Build choice into the experience
Choice-based programs reduce waste and increase the likelihood people select what fits their life. It also lets you curate toward your standards rather than defaulting to one-size-fits-all.
Move 3: Match your claim to your proof
If your message says “women-supportive supply chain,” your sourcing process needs to show:
- How you define and verify women-owned (when you claim it)
- What supplier standards you require
- How you handle risk, documentation, and remedy
A practical way to shop your values without becoming a supply chain expert
One of the easiest ways to keep Women’s History Month sourcing credible is to build values into how you browse and shortlist products in the first place. Ethical Swag uses an emoji-based rating guide designed to help teams make faster, more consistent choices by surfacing key values and supplier practices at a glance, including “Good, Better, Best” tiers and values-based filters.
The key here is not the graphics, it’s the behavior change: you start your selection process with the values you care about (for example, women-owned sourcing), then layer in other attributes that match your commitments (like B Corp-aligned suppliers, recycled materials, or domestic production), and use tiering to stay on budget while still raising the bar where it counts.
Where Ethical Swag fits, and why we talk about this the way we do
At Ethical Swag, we help teams source products people actually want to use, and we do it with a sourcing lens that respects both brand experience and supply chain realities. We’re a Certified B Corp, reflecting verified standards for social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency. We’re also certified through WBE Canada, which supports procurement teams working toward supplier diversity commitments. We do not treat any certification like a shortcut or a badge that replaces diligence. We treat it as one part of building a system: clearer standards, better sourcing decisions, and more honest communication.
FAQ
Is sourcing from women-owned businesses enough?
It is meaningful, but incomplete on its own. A credible approach also considers worker protections and the risk of harassment, discrimination, and unsafe conditions throughout the supply chain.
What is a widely recognized reference for preventing harassment in supply chains?
ILO Convention 190 is a widely recognized reference point because it addresses violence and harassment in the world of work, including gender-based violence and harassment, and defines violence and harassment broadly, including physical, psychological, sexual, or economic harm.
What does “due diligence” actually mean in practice?
A practical definition is: identify risks, prevent or mitigate harm, track whether actions worked, communicate honestly, and support remedy when appropriate. The OECD’s due diligence framework is often used because it’s process-based and repeatable.
What can we do during Women’s History Month that won’t feel performative?
Tie your message to a real operational action: strengthen supplier standards related to harassment prevention and grievance mechanisms, document what proof you accept, and report what changed after March.
How can we talk about this without overclaiming?
Use operational language. Say what you do, how you verify, and what you are working to improve. Avoid blanket phrases like “ethically made” unless you can define exactly what you mean and how you validate it.
Summary
Supporting women through your supply chain is not only about who owns the business you buy from. It’s also about protecting women working across the supply chain through clear standards, due diligence, and a plan for remedy when issues arise. Referencing established frameworks like ILO Convention 190 and using a repeatable due diligence process helps keep Women’s History Month messaging grounded, specific, and trustworthy.
If you want your Women’s History Month campaign to be backed by real sourcing standards, we can help you build a merchandise program that aligns supplier expectations, verification, and choice-based experiences, without making your team carry the whole diligence burden alone. Reach out at info@ethicalswag.com or book a Free Swag Project Intro Call.