NEW DELHI: India’s human rights watchdog said on Monday it had asked government officials to examine reported discrimination by Foxconn, after a Reuters investigation found the major Apple supplier has been rejecting married women from iPhone assembly jobs in the country.
In a statement, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) said it had issued notices to the secretary of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s labor ministry and the chief secretary of the state government of Tamil Nadu, site of a major iPhone factory, calling for a detailed report within a week.
“NHRC observes that the matter, if true, raises a serious issue of discrimination against married women causing the violation of the right to equality and equal opportunity,” it said.
The Reuters story has sparked debates on TV channels, newspaper editorials, calls from women groups, including within Modi’s party as well as opposition parties to investigate the matter. Modi’s federal government has also asked Tamil Nadu state for a “detailed report.”
Modi’s labor ministry, Apple and Taiwan-based Foxconn did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A Tamil Nadu government spokesman referred questions to its labor department, which did not respond.
The Reuters investigation found Foxconn systematically excluded married women from jobs at its main India iPhone plant on the grounds they have more family responsibilities than their unmarried counterparts. Foxconn hiring agents and HR sources cited family duties, pregnancy and higher absenteeism as reasons for not hiring married women.
Responding to the investigation, published last week, Apple and Foxconn acknowledged lapses in hiring practices in 2022 and said they had worked to address the issues. All the discriminatory practices documented by Reuters at the Tamil Nadu plant, however, took place in 2023 and 2024. The companies didn’t address those instances.
Foxconn has said it “vigorously refutes allegations of employment discrimination based on marital status, gender, religion or any other form.”
Apple has said all its suppliers, including Foxconn, hire married women and “when concerns about hiring practices were first raised in 2022 we immediately took action and worked with our supplier to conduct monthly audits to identify issues and ensure that our high standards are upheld.”
Indian law does not bar companies from discriminating in hiring based on marital status, though Apple’s and Foxconn’s policies prohibit such practices in their supply chains.
The NHRC said it “noted the fact that gender equality is not only required in the Indian constitution but the international treaty and covenants.”
State authorities must ensure that all companies follow the norms and regulations relating to labor laws, it added.

ALGIERS, Algeria: Algerian authorities arrested two journalists for publishing a video showing businesswomen protesting how they were treated at a government-sponsored event.
Journalists in Algeria have faced mounting repression since President Abdelmadjid Tebboune came to power four years ago, with possible long jail time on flimsy charges, experts say. Many news outlets have also shuttered due to mounting legal fees.
Sofiane Ghirous and Ferhat Omar of the news website “Algerie Scoop” were detained last week for broadcasting material authorities claimed “constituted incitement and hate speech,” according to a statement from the National Committee for the Liberation of Detainees, a local watchdog group, on Saturday.
In the video, women start-up founders accused the government of “humiliating” and treating them with “contempt” at an innovation event organized by the Ministry of Education and Professional Training.
Ghirous is the editor-in-chief of Algerie Scoop — accredited by the government in 2021— and Omar is the website’s director.
The press freedom group Reporters Without Borders has recently downranked Algeria on its freedom of expression index to 139th out of 180 in 2024 while decrying the country’s “pressure on independent media and threats to arrest journalists.”
In June, the popular news website Radio M announced it would cease publication due to “impossible conditions” while its editor, Ihsane El Kadi, serves a five-year prison sentence on charges alleging his media company accepted foreign funds for his coverage, which was often critical of the government.
Also over the weekend, authorities raided the Librairie Gouraya bookstore in the city of Bejaia, nearly 240 kilometers (149 miles) east of the capital, to prevent the sale of “Shared Kabylia” where a book signing was scheduled for its French author, Dominique Martre. They briefly arrested Martre, the Algerian publisher and several others, including journalists and activists.
In the book, Martre recounts her experiences teaching French in the mountainous region of Kabylia in the 1970s.
Those arrested were released later in the evening, attorney Mokrane Ait Labri — whose journalist brother was among the arrested — said.
The crackdown on freedom of expression comes as Algeria gears up for an election in September. Tebboune will likely seek a second term as president.