Decent Work, Decent Life for Women Campaign

Campaign Previous achievements of International campaigns for women: Increase women membership - up to 150%; Increase of women in elected positions; Unions strengthen/ prioritise policies/ actions on gender equality at work e.g. maternity protection, child care, pay equity, protection from sexual harassment.

Global Campaign for Decent Work, Decent Life for Women Objectives: Decent work for women Gender equality in trade union structures, policies and activities

Since the launch of the Campaign on 8 March National Centers in 61 Countries joined the Campaign Activities focus on: Maternity protection rights Child care facilities, Pay Equity Work – life balance Gender equality in trade unions

Philippines and UK

Decent Work Access to productive work in conditions of freedom, equality, security, and dignity. The four pillars of Decent Work: 1. Standards and rights at work, 2. Employment creation 3. Social protection 4. Social dialogue.

Indonesia

Campaign actions Gender Equality at the centre of collective bargaining and social dialogue More women in elected positions Significant increase of women membership rates

South Korea

Campaign Actions Calling for a review of national labour legislation and urging governments to ratify and implement ILO Conventions e.g. : C. 183, Maternity protection C. 156, Workers with Family responsibilities C. 100, Equal Remuneration C. 111, Discrimination

Burkina Faso

Campaign Actions CEDAW (United Nations Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women), international statement of women’s rights signed by 185 countries 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. The UN Millennium Development Goals

Croatia

Focusing on Key Dates 8 March - worldwide publication of the Gender Pay Gap report II 7 October - 2 nd World Day for Decent Work 25 November - UN Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women on 25 November.

ITUC report 2009: Gender (in)equality in the labour market: an overview of global trends and developments The gender pay gap Women’s position in the labour market during economic downturns Violence against women

Wage Indicator Database wageindicator.org 300,000 individual self-reported surveys in 24 countries ArgentinaGuatemalaPoland BelgiumHungaryRussia BrazilIndiaSouth Africa ChileItalySpain DenmarkKoreaSweden FinlandMexicoGreat Britain FranceUSA Paraguay GermanyThe Netherlands

Belgium

Pay Gap 2008: Global pay gap: 16,5 % 2009: Global pay gap: 22 %

Pay Gap Examples: Brazil 38,5 % Argentina: 29 % Mexico 36 % Paraguay 11 % Denmark: 12 % Sweden: 13 %

Conclusions e.g. 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

Recommendations e.g. Need for statistics Policies & practices: Equal Pay for work of of equal value Trade Union policies and actions on gender equality: at work, in unions Campaigns to organise women workers – show benefits of trade union membership

Spain

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.

Achievements Current Campaign 52nd UN Commission on the Status of Women, March 2008: trade union delegation negotiated successfully to include decent work for women included in the Agreed Conclusions

Achievements Current Campaign Decisions for Life Project: Women in the service sector Trade union Campaign teams – Web journalist teams in 14 countries Cooperation between ITUC – UNI – WageIndicator Foundation – University of Amsterdam

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

Methods used: Questionnaire/ Reports – media attention Coalitions/ networking: women in unions, women in parliament, NGO’ s Coordinate with trade union lawyers to prepare changes/ amendments to labor law/ collective agreements Organize discussions in trade unions to develop model clauses on gender equality for collective agreements Campaigns

Next 7 October: World Day for Decent Work 19-21October: ITUC Women’s Conference 25 November: Stop Violence Against Women 8 March 2010: International Women’s Day

CAMPAIGN WEB PAGE AND LIST Campaign webpage: - click on ‘equality’ list – WageIndicator website: fill in the Survey Project:

Decent Work, Decent Life for Women Campaign