www.ituc-csi.org decent work, decent life for women
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www.ituc-csi.org
Decent Work, Decent Life for Women
www.ituc-csi.org
ITUC
• Represents 170 million workers
• in 158 countries and territories and
• has 316 national affiliates
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ITUC Equality Department
• Gender and equality policies, programs and campaigns
• Migrants - Domestic workers
• Other issues: - Racism and Xenophobia- LGTB Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender- Elderly- Disabled
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Women in trade unions
• Average women membership rate is 40%
• Women are under represented in elected and leadership positions
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ITUC Constitution
• Aims at gender parity in leadership positions at national, regional and international level
• Congress: gender parity in trade union delegations is required
• Executive Board: 30% of its members are women
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ITUC Women’s Committee
• Women’s Committee and representation in the General Council and Executive Bureau
• Once in the 4 years: Women’s Conference – October 2009
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Women’s Committees
National Centers• ETUC + PERC• Americas• Africa• Asia/ Pacific
Trade unions
International/ regional
structures of the
Global Union
Federations
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Global Facts and Figures
• Today 40% of the world labour force are women (1.2 billion);
• Women account for an increasing proportion (60% - 70%) of the world’s poor and working poor;
• Informal economy: 60% or more are women workers• Export Processing Zones: 80/90 % of the workers
are young women. • Global supply chains: MNE’s take advantage of less
well paid and organised labour
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Global Facts and FiguresWomen earn 10% of the world’s income. Work two-thirds of the world unpaid work. Those in waged employment earn an average of three- fourths of the male wage for the same work, or work of equal value.
Gender Equality Report on 8 March: • Global Pay Gap in 2008: 16,5 % - in 2009: 22 %• Earnings between men and women widens with age• The higher the education– the higher the negative impact• Trade union membership has a positive influence on the gender
pay gap• Women receive less promotions and are less compensated for
working overtime – compared to men
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Decent Work, decent Life for Women
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Global Facts and Figures
• violence and sexual harassment at or near the workplace – 1 out of 3 women experienced violence in her life;
• women between 15 – 44 are more at risk of death/ disability through domestic violence then through cancer, motor accidents, war and malaria.
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Global Policies on gender equality
ILO DECENT WORK AGENDA: The four pillars of Decent Work:
1. Standards and rights at work, 2. Employment creation 3. Social protection 4. Social dialogue.
ILO Conference 2009: Conclusions andrecommendations on gender equality http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_108259.pdf
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Global Policies on gender equality
Calling for a review of national labour legislation: 1. Urging governments to ratify and implement ILO Conventions e.g. :• C. 183, Maternity protection • http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C183• C. 156, Workers with Family responsibilities• http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C156• C. 100, Equal Remuneration• http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C100• C. 111, Discrimination • http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/cgi-lex/convde.pl?C111
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Global Policies on gender equality
Urging governments to implement:
• CEDAW (United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women), international statement of women’s rights signed by 185 countries – agenda for national action
• The Beijing Global Platform for Action which commits governments to “ensuring that gender perspective is reflected in all our policies and programmes” and the Beijing Declaration which includes ‘Section F’ on Women and the Economy.
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Global Policies on gender equality
• The UN Millennium Development Goals 2015:
• (1) Hunger and poverty – refers to decent work - including women and youth
• (3) Gender equality - increasing number of women in wage employment and
• (5) maternal health
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Global Campaign for Decent Work, Decent Life for Women
Objectives:
• Decent work for women
• Organising women workers and
• achieving gender equality in trade union structures, policies and activities
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CampaignPrevious achievements of
International campaigns for women:
• Increase women membership - up to 150%;
• Increase of women in elected positions;
• Unions intensified policies/ actions on gender equality at work e.g. maternity protection (183), child care, pay equity, protection from sexual harassment.
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Since the launch of the Campaign on 8 March 2008
• 102 National Centers in 64 Countries join the Campaign
Activities focus on: • Maternity protection rights – ILO Convention 183• Child care facilities, Work – life balance – ILO
Convention 156• Pay Equity – ILO Convention 100• Gender equality in trade unions
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Decent Work, decent Life for Women
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Campaign actions
• Gender Equality at the centre of collective bargaining and social dialogue
• More women in elected positions and increase of women membership rates
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Campaign actions
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Campaign actions
• Ratification/ implementation of ILO Conventions on gender equality
• Encourage involvement at national level: CEDAW, MDG, Beijing Platform of Action
• UN Commission on the Status of Women• Conclusions of the ILO Conference on
gender Equality - 2009
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Campaign Actions
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Campaign Actions
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Focusing on Key Dates
• 8 March - International Women’s Day• 7 October - World Day for Decent Work • 25 November - UN Day for Elimination of
Violence Against Women .
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Campaign Actions
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Achievements Current Campaign
• Croatia, 2008: the Croatian parliament has approved a new gender equality law
• Australia, 2009: Paid maternity leave for working mothers
• Korea: 2008: Legislation on Equal Employment and support for the Reconciliation of Work and Family
• New Zealand, 2008: introduced legislation for breastfeeding breaks
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Achievements Current Campaign
Gender Pay Gap Report• World wide media coverage of the first ITUC
report on the Gender Pay Gap on 8 March 2008• Major international organizations/ institutions
start to include the issue into their annual reports (ILO, UN, NGO’s).
• The report is the most hit item on the ITUC website.
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Achievements Current Campaign
Decisions for Life Project: • 2009: Reached 5000 young women in the
service sector• Trade union Campaign teams – Web
journalist teams in 14 countries• Cooperation between ITUC – UNI –
WageIndicator Foundation – University of Amsterdam
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Campaign Methods used:
• Questionnaire/ reports – media attention• Coalitions/ networking: women in unions, women
in parliament, NGO’ s• Preparing changes/ amendments to labor law/
collective agreements• Organize discussions in trade unions to develop
model clauses on gender equality for collective agreements
• Training on gender equality• Organising women workers
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ITUC Materials on Gender Equality
Publications• ITUC Campaign Guide: Decent Work, Decent Life
for Women• Achieving Gender Equality, Trade Union Manual• Action Program on achieving gender equality in
trade unions• Trade Unions say NO to Violence Against Women• Stopping Sexual Harassment at Work• Women’s Charter
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ITUC Materials on Gender Equality
Reports: • The Global Gender Pay Gap• Gender Inequality at Work• The Decent Work Agenda: A Gender PerspectiveResolutions: • Violence Against WomenStatements• For the UN Commission on the status of Women
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CAMPAIGN WEB PAGE AND E-MAIL LIST
• Women Conference webpage: http://www.ituc-csi.org/spip.php?rubrique268 - click on ‘equality’, ‘women’
• Campaign webpage: www.ituc-csi.org - click on ‘equality’
• Email list – [email protected]
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Decent Work, Decent Life for Women Campaign