ILO DWT for the South Cone of Latin America

Industrialand EmploymentRelations Department(DIALOGUE)D

IALOGUE

Social dialogue and gender equality

in Uruguay

Alma Espino Gabriela Pedetti

Working Paper No. 15

August 2012

International Labour Office (ILO) DIALOGUE

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Switzerland

Tel.: (+41 22) 799 70 35 Fax: (+41 22) 799 87 49

dialogue@ilo.org www.ilo.org/dial

Working Paper No. 15

Social dialogue and gender equality in Uruguay

Alma Espino Gabriela Pedetti

Industrial and Employment Relations Department

International Labour Office, Geneva

ILO DWT for the South Cone of Latin America August 2012

Copyright International Labour Organization 2012 First published 2012

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ILO Cataloguing in Publication Data Espino, Alma; Pedetti, Gabriela Social dialogue and gender equality in Uruguay / Alma Espino, Gabriela Pedetti ; International Labour Office, Industrial and Employment Relations Department. - Geneva: ILO, 2011 1 v. (Working paper ; No.15) ISBN: 978-92-2-124265-9;978-92-2-124266-6 (web pdf) International Labour Office; Industrial and Employment Relations Dept gender equality / sex discrimination / social dialogue / collective bargaining / equal employment opportunity / role of ILO / Uruguay 04.02.3 Also available in Spanish: Dilogo social y la igualdad de gnero en Uruguay, ISBN 978-92-2-324265-7; 978-92-2-324266-4 (web pdf).

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iii

Foreword

Gender equality and social dialogue are both fundamental values and cross-cutting issues for the International Labour Organisation. In 2009, the International Labour Conference concluded its discussion on Gender equality at the heart of decent work by reaffirming that social dialogue and tripartism are essential policy tools to advance gender equality in the world of work.

This paper is a part of a comparative research project whose objective is to demonstrate that gender equality and social dialogue are mutually beneficial and their promotion should go hand-in-hand. Despite several studies on each topic separately, there is a knowledge gap worldwide on how gender equality at work is advanced through social dialogue. The topic is examined both from qualitative and quantitative aspects:

Participation on an equal footing of men and women in social dialogue, in particular in the tripartite bodies, as well as within government units, trade unions and employers organisations;

Gender equality issues in the agenda of social dialogue, including collective bargaining.

This study provides valuable information on the legal and institutional framework for gender equality and social dialogue in Uruguay. Significant achievements on these issues in practice were initiated by the Tripartite Commission for Equal Opportunities at Work. The Uruguayan example is an illustration of several successful activities of the network of similar tripartite gender equality commissions in Latin America.

We commend the study to all interested readers, as this unique experience might be inspiring for other countries to encourage social partners to take initiatives to promote more balanced participation of men and women in tripartite social dialogue fora, as well as to include gender equality issues in national discussions and collective agreements.

The paper is the result of collaboration of the Industrial and Employment Relations Department, the Bureau for Gender Equality and the ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team for the South Cone of Latin America. Alma Espino with the collaboration of Gabriela Pedetti prepared the national study. Angelika Muller, Gender Coordinator of Sector IV Social Dialogue and specialist in labour law, coordinated the comparative research project and jointly with Maria Elena Valenzuela, regional Gender Equality specialist, the national study on Uruguay. Particular thanks for comments and assistance are expressed to Marleen Rueda, and the Tripartite Commission for Equal Opportunities at Work in Uruguay. This paper was developed with support from the Government of Sweden.

Guillermo Miranda Director,

ILO Santiago-Chile

Moussa Oumarou Director,

Industrial and Employment Relations Department

v

Contents

Foreword .............................................................................................................................. iii

Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................vi

Introduction ............................................................................................................................ 1

1. Background: Labour market and gender inequality in Uruguay ....................................... 2

1.1 Evolution of main indicators: Gender inequalities .................................................. 3

1.2 Effects of the international crisis in the labour market of Uruguay .......................... 9

2. Legal and institutional framework for social dialogue ................................................... 10

2.1 Collective bargaining: employment in the framework of social dialogue .............. 10

2.2 Actors in collective bargaining ............................................................................... 11

2.3 Who participates in collective bargaining? ............................................................. 13

3. The evolution of social dialogue and collective bargaining in a gender context ............. 14

3.1 Historical background ............................................................................................. 14

3.2 Dictatorship and the return to democracy ............................................................... 14

3.3 2005: A new stage in collective bargaining ............................................................ 15

4. Social dialogue and gender equality: The tripartite commission on equal opportunities and treatment in employment .......................................................... 15

4.1 Participants in the CTIOTE .................................................................................... 16

4.2 Workers and employers: gender equality issues in their agendas and actions........ 16

4.3 Management of gender issues inside the National Labour Directorate .................. 18

4.4 Achievements and challenges of the tripartite commission on equal opportunities and treament in employment ............................................. 20

The trajectory .......................................................................................................... 20

First period: 1997-1999 ........................................................................................... 20

Second period: 2000-2004 ...................................................................................... 21

Third period: 2005-2009 ......................................................................................... 23

Results ................................................................................................................... 25

5. Implications of collective bargaining for gender equality .............................................. 26

Summary and recommendations .......................................................................................... 30

Bibliography ........................................................................................................................ 34

Annexe