UNPACKING PAY EQUITY IN FASHION: TÜRKIYE
Unpacking Pay Equity in Fashion: Türkiye presents the unique characteristics of Turkish manufacturing, examines the drivers of gender pay disparities, and offers practical recommendations to help brands, other buyers and suppliers align policies, purchasing practices, and workplace realities in support of equal pay for equal work.
Global Fashion Agenda (GFA) has published a preliminary research paper, Unpacking Pay Equity in Fashion: Türkiye which examines the drivers of gender pay disparities, the limitations of current measurement, and how manufacturers understand and experience both the concept of equal pay for equal work and broader pay equity.
Building on Türkiye’s industry context and the shifting regulatory expectations in key export markets, the paper outlines practical recommendations for policymakers, brands, other buyers, and suppliers to better align policies, purchasing practices, and on-the-ground realities. The aim is to support meaningful progress toward equal pay for equal work while also addressing the wider factors that shape pay equity outcomes across the sector.
Unpacking Pay Equity in Fashion: Türkiye is an openly accessible resource and available for download.
Pay equity is essential to a fair and resilient fashion industry, yet gender pay gaps persist across global value chains, where women are concentrated in low-paid roles and men dominate leadership – an imbalance now under growing pressure from new EU regulations.
In Europe, the average gender pay gap is about 12%, with estimates for Türkiye higher at 15.6 – 17.4%. As a major textiles and apparel hub supplying fast turnaround, high-quality products to Europe and contributing roughly 7.8% to national GDP, Türkiye is uniquely positioned to drive change.
Achieving pay equity in Türkiye’s fashion manufacturing sector requires coordinated action by governments, brands and buyers, suppliers, unions, and workers. Read the paper for practical recommendations.
To develop this insights paper, GFA drew on multiple sources of insight. These included a survey of 43 Turkish factories, collection of aggregated primary data contributed by leading social expert organisations, a series of interviews with Turkish trade unions and worker associations, and contextual desktop research.
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