In March 2023, sisters Parvathi and Janaki, both in their 20s, visited a Foxconn-run plant in southern India after reading job postings on WhatsApp. Upon arrival, a security guard at the main gate turned them away after asking, "Are you married?" During an interview in her local shanty town, Parvathi explained, "We didn't get the jobs because we are both married." She added, "Even the auto-rickshaw driver who took us from the bus stand to the Foxconn facility told us they wouldn't take married women, but we thought we would still give it a shot."
A Reuters investigation revealed that Foxconn, an Apple supplier, has routinely denied jobs to married women at its largest iPhone assembly factory in India. The tech giant justified this practice by claiming women have more domestic responsibilities than their male counterparts.
