WUNRN
INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION – ISSUES: WOMEN
Women have increasingly become part of the
paid workforce and of trade unions, and there have been important achievements
in organising, collective bargaining, and rights. Yet they remain
overrepresented in precarious, low-skilled, low-paid jobs with little prospects
for career advancement.
The ITUC and its affiliated organisations
work together to advance women’s rights and gender equality. The ITUC actively
promotes equality at the workplace and the full integration of women in trade
unions including in their decision making bodies.
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http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/final_iwd_statement_2015.pdf
Count Us In! -
ITUC Statement on International Women’s Day 2015
Photo: Solidarity
Center
In 2015, we celebrate
International Women’s Day as women around the world gather to march for women’s
social and economic autonomy. The 4th Global Action of the World March of Women will bring
together women activists from every continent on the planet, united in their
demands for a sustainable and caring economy and for social justice, peace and
democracy.
Twenty years ago, governments
adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action – a ground-breaking
road map for governments, civil society, trade unions and private sector actors
for the advancement of gender equality and women’s rights.
Twenty years on, the challenges
remain stark:
Women’s trade union membership stands on average at 40 per cent, yet
women occupy only 15 per cent of the top decision-making positions in their
organisations.
Women’s labour force participation rates are stagnating at 26
percentage points lower than those of men.
Women continue to predominate in informal, low-quality, precarious and
undervalued jobs.
Women’s average wages are between 4 and 36 per cent less than those of
men.
Gender-based violence remains an all-too-tolerated
feature of the workplace, with no comprehensive international legal standard to
outlaw it.
The long shadow of austerity
continues to affect women heavily, cutting jobs where women have traditionally
worked, slashing public services which women tend to rely on more than men and
increasing their already disproportionate share of care responsibilities. Women
living in poverty are particularly vulnerable to economic policies that
redistribute wealth away from the 99% to the 1%, whilst their labour subsidises
global and local economies by providing the care services that governments
won’t fund.
On 8th March 2015 the
ITUC calls for unions, governments, policy makers and business to adopt an
economic agenda for women. An agenda that includes a jobs and growth plan to
increase women’s access to decent work. An economic agenda that will tackle
structural barriers to women’s effective labour force participation, including
through adequate investment in care provision, creating decent care jobs for
women and men, family-friendly workplaces and workplaces free from violence. An
economic agenda that will lift women and families out of poverty and provide a
sustainable model of growth.
After centuries of counting on us,
on this International Women’s Day working women everywhere say, “It’s Time to
Count Us In!”
Count Us In to the economy
Count Us In to the labour force
Count Us In to decision-making
Count Us In to leadership