iPhone assembler Foxconn no longer seeks unmarried women at a specified age

Foxconn, a key supplier for Apple, is revising its hiring practices in India.

The company, which assembles iPhones at its Sriperumbudur factory near Chennai, had previously advertised roles exclusively for unmarried women, setting age restrictions as well, Reuters reports. These job criteria directly conflicted with the anti-discrimination policies of both Apple and Foxconn. You could say it's a bit hypocritical. But then again, this could be said for many practices in the technological industry.

Foxconn uses outside companies to help hire workers for its assembly lines. These companies are responsible for finding candidates, screening them, and picking who gets interviewed. After an earlier report in June, Foxconn’s human resources team quickly decided to make all job ads the same. They told recruiters to stop mentioning things like age, gender, or marital status in the ads.

They also told them not to include Foxconn’s name in any future ads. People working at the recruitment agencies said that Foxconn warned them they could lose their contracts if they didn’t follow these new rules.

Despite the company’s directive to its recruiters, Foxconn did not publicly comment on whether it had officially ended its previous restrictions against hiring married women. Apple, too, refrained from addressing questions on this issue, although both companies have previously stated that married women are employed at Foxconn’s Indian facilities.

While it remains unclear if the company has increased the number of married women in its workforce, recent changes to job advertisements align with the adjustments Foxconn mandated.

Newly standardized job postings no longer mention specific age, gender, or marital status, the report adds.

The ads instead focus on job benefits, such as an air-conditioned workplace, free transportation, canteen facilities, and a monthly salary of approximately 14,974 rupees (around $177). During a recent visit to Sriperumbudur, Reuters found that many hiring ads conformed to the new template, omitting Foxconn’s name and previously discriminatory requirements. However, local recruiters confirmed that these listings were indeed for Foxconn assembly positions.

The revelations have sparked federal and state investigations into Foxconn’s hiring practices, with labor officials visiting the Sriperumbudur facility in July. While Modi’s government has promoted Apple’s supply chain expansion in India as a boost to the country’s economic development, the investigation findings have not been disclosed, and a request for the report was denied by Tamil Nadu officials due to confidentiality.