Equal Employment Opportunities for Women and Men

Promoting Gender Equality - A Resource Kit for Trade Unions

Gender Promotion Programme
International Labour Office
August 2001

Promoting Gender Equality - A Resource Kit for Trade Unions

 
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Booklet 1 Promoting gender equality within unions

Table of Contents

1. Increasing the participation of women in unions

2. Recruiting women as union members

3. Promoting the participation of women at all levels of the union structure

4. Internal structures for the promotion of gender equality

References and additional reading

Additional examples and case studies

1. Increasing the participation of women in unions

"Unions are still not 'women-friendly' and the inclusion of gender perspectives in all trade union policies and programmes is far from being achieved" (1)
 
"Unions can - and must- take up the challenge of transforming the labour market through equality and justice. While it is true that women have been swelling the ranks of the unions, more action is required to ensure their access to union leadership positions. Much remains to be done to organize them, in particular those belonging to vulnerable groups (eg. the informal sector and atypical work) and young women" (2)
In spite of their increasing participation and the fact that they constitute most of the new members, women are still under-represented in unions. For example, out of the total membership of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) of 156 million in some 148 countries, women account for about 61 million. Women are even more seriously under-represented in trade union leadership. While they make up about 39 per cent of global trade union membership, they represent only one per cent of the decision-making bodies of unions. Gender equality is far from being a reality within the trade union movement.

Unions must take steps to overcome the barriers to female participation and to ensure that women are visible and active in all aspects of union life - as members, activists and leaders. If trade unions are to champion gender equality in employment as a basic human and workers' right, then first and foremost they have to show that equality is an integral part of their own internal policies and structures. Unions cannot be credible unless women are adequately represented and fully involved in all union structures and business.

It is important that trade unions formulate specific statements of policy on gender equality. Such statements could be in the form of resolutions and policy documents adopted by congresses or executive boards, special publications, position papers, equality plans, guidelines on gender, positive action programmes. A policy statement can serve as a benchmark for future union action. Implementation of the policy on gender equality can be effective only when treated as a mainstream union issue rather than a "women only" issue.

Barriers to women's participation in union membership and leadership

  • Women do not understand or appreciate how unions can benefit them;
  • Women fear reprisals from employers (including losing their jobs) for joining unions;
  • Women do not have time to join or participate in union activities because of conflicting family responsibilities, and childcare facilities are lacking or too expensive;
  • Women often lack the confidence to join unions or to aspire to leadership positions;
  • Religious and cultural norms and traditions prevent women from joining;
  • Women face objections from their spouses or families;
  • The male-dominated culture or activities of the union or hostile reactions from male members discourage women from joining;
  • Stereotyped ideas persist about women's abilities, preferences and roles;
  • Unions are not sensitive to the needs of women workers;
  • Membership dues are a problem especially for poor working women;
  • Women are more likely than men to be in atypical forms of work or in the informal sector where they are difficult to reach and organize;
  • There may be legal constraints to some groups of women workers joining unions;
  • Entrenched union rules and structures are not conducive to women's participation and advancement to leadership positions;
  • Informal procedures in the unions for nominations or appointments rely on established male networks.

Source: Accompanying report on The Role of Trade Unions in Promoting Gender Equality.

 

2. Recruiting women as union members

To target women for recruitment, unions must recognize that women have particular needs and priorities

Recognizing that women may have particular needs and priorities different from those of men, unions need to adopt special measures to recruit female members. Unions have found that recruitment tends to be more successful when they adopt a multi-pronged approach consisting of a range of measures over a period of time, rather than rely on any single measure:

Raise awareness of the benefits of unionization;

Improve the public image of unions, including publicizing success stories;

Solicit the views of women workers, understand and give credence to their concerns and needs;

Make women visible in unions;

Provide services to specifically meet the needs of women workers;

Carry out special organizing campaigns.

 

Raise awareness of the benefits of unionization

A survey of national centres and trade unions found that the single most important reason why women do not join unions is because they do not understand how unions can help them. Therefore, unions need to raise awareness and sensitize potential women members on the benefits of unionization. "Empowerment, first and foremost, requires awareness which is fed by knowledge" (3). Awareness raising is part and parcel of organizing and educational campaigns. Publicity, including making use of the media, helps to get the message out to the largest number of people possible.

Guidelines:

Carry out research -- through talking to women, conducting surveys, polling methods, holding discussion/study groups, etc. -- so as to have a clear understanding of the concerns, needs and constraints of the potential women members targeted;

Gather gender-disaggregated statistics and facts, so as to be able to make the case convincingly;

Formulate and present messages that women can identify with and be motivated by;

Widely publicize the successes of the union in dealing with gender equality and women's issues;

Determine the types of activities and media that would be most appropriate for reaching the target groups - information sheets, leaflets, press kits, internet and e-mails, seminars, study circles, etc.;

Recognize that many women may lack the self confidence to join unions:

A union in Côte d'Ivoire found that its women-only study circles have been very effective because the women feel confident to express their opinions and "appreciate not having to worry about male domination or superior experts".
 

Ensure that efforts are continuous: awareness raising and sensitization cannot be a one-off measure;

Remember that awareness raising and sensitization should not be confined only to potential women members - male members, spouses, families and communities also have to be convinced of why women should join unions;

Aim to change stereotyped or traditional ideas and attitudes which may be held by not only men but also women;

It is not enough to focus on the rights of workers and the benefits of collective action; it is necessary to make women understand how individually their particular needs and concerns will be met.

To boost the motivation of women to take a more active role in trade union activities, the General Municipal Boilerworkers Union (GMB) in the United Kingdom organized a series of meetings and training, starting with issues of direct relevance to women. The aim was to draw in women who otherwise would not take part in union meetings. The subjects discussed included how to ensure better recognition of women working part-time, how better maternity leave provisions could be guaranteed or improved benefits achieved. The training courses also tackled issues such as stress management and sexual harassment.

Source: ETUC, UNICE and CEEP. 1995. Women and training in Europe a compendium of good practice. Brussels: ETUC, p.23.

Unions benefit working women

  • Unionized workers make more than non-unionized workers in the same job. (In Canada, unionized women workers make 33 per cent more than nonunion women workers, unionized temporary workers earn $4.80 per hour more than nonunionized temporary workers);
  • Workers in unions have more job protection than workers without unions;
  • Union workers have better benefits: health benefits, pensions, paid maternity, sick leave, parental leave, flexible work time, dental care, workplace child care, access to benefits for lesbian and gay workers - to mention a few;
  • Unions provide protection against arbitrary management decisions - rules and procedures for assigning hours, for transfers between jobs, for promotions are written down in collective agreements;
  • Unions support workers against unfair or discriminatory employer practices - unions will process grievances and help with human rights complaints;
  • Unions negotiate pay and employment equity plans to improve wages and access to jobs for women and equity group members;
  • Unions can provide support and counselling services for their members;
  • Unions negotiate protections against discrimination and harassment of employees on the basis of sex, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and disability;
  • Unions provide educational and training opportunities for their members;
  • Unions provide collective security and the opportunity for collective action.

Source: Canadian Labour Congress, Women's Work A Report. 1997, p.76.

 

Improve the public image of unions

If women are to come to unions, unions must be credible and welcoming to them. Unions need to improve their public image and especially to publicize widely their efforts and successes on behalf of women workers. Many people still see unions only as strike agents. Unions are often portrayed negatively in the media or receive little positive publicity. To improve their public image, unions should:

Guidelines:

Seize every opportunity and use all means to publicize union actions, especially success stories on behalf of gender equality and working women;

Demonstrate the wide range of ways in which trade unions can benefit women workers;

Develop good relations with the media - newspapers, television, radio, etc., and regularly inform and involve them in union activities:

A union in Ghana has a special annual project, Media Encounter, at which awards are presented to journalists who have positively portrayed the trade union movement.
 

Issue frequent press releases or regular information sheets on the various activities of the union;

Forge alliances and participate in joint activities with other social groups and organizations - in civil action, community projects, campaigns at national and international levels, education and training programmes, etc. - so as to show the relevance and raise the profile of trade unions in the wider community and society.

Solicit the views of women workers, understand and give credence to their concerns and needs

Unions are traditionally male dominated, and it is normally men's views that shape union cultures. To integrate women into unions, it is important to provide them opportunities to express their particular needs, concerns, priorities or constraints and to allow them to do so in contexts where they feel comfortable and confident:

"We need to ask ourselves whether women have to change to take part in unions or whether unions need to change to respond to a different kind of worker" (4)

Guidelines:

X Do not adopt a top-down approach to organize women workers; involve women and seek their views - especially if the top is dominated by men;

X Do not rely on stereotyped ideas about women's abilities, preferences and roles;

Women are claiming the right to be different from men - so unions need to understand how they want to be different;

Provide women the opportunities and fora - such as discussion groups, study circles, seminars and conferences, education and training programmes - where they can freely and confidently express their opinions;

Women-only fora or restricted groups may be important in those situations where the women lack self confidence, worry about male domination or are intimidated by 'superior experts';

Make use of facilitators that the women feel at ease with, including approaching target groups through 'one of their own'.

Make women visible in unions [ also Sections 3. and 4.]

Unions can be credible to potential women members only if women are visible inside and outside of the unions - seen as being actively involved in all aspects of union life, as members, activists and leaders. Women must be adequately represented in all structures, levels and activities of the unions. One critical measure to enhance the participation and visibility of women is the establishment of women's structures or equality structures within the union. The work of the women's structures, however, should be integrated into the mainstream work of the unions, failing which there is a high risk of marginalization.

Guidelines:

Establish an equality structure or women's structure within the union and ensure that it has the mandate and financial and human resources to carry out its functions effectively;

X Do not assign sole responsibility for gender equality or women's issues to the women's structure; such issues should be mainstreamed into all union policies and activities;

X Do not assign, as a matter of course, posts to women which reinforce stereotypes, such as appointing women only as education officers or equality officers. Women should be present in all union structures including in economics, research, organization, negotiation, etc.;

Ensure that women are adequately represented at all levels and in all structures of the union - especially at the highest decision-making bodies -- through affirmative action measures, proportionality policies, quotas, targets, reserved or additional seats, double nominations, etc.;

Ensure that women are represented and active in negotiating teams [Booklet 2];

Encourage and profile positive role models among women members:
The Malaysian Trade Union Congress had a leadership by example campaign with the slogan "a working mother but also a leader in the union".
 

Promote the active participation of women in meetings, missions, congresses at the national, regional and international levels;

Maintain and expand networking between union women at national, regional and international levels;

Make gender equality and women's issues mainstream union issues;

Organize high-profile events, such as annual conferences, to discuss gender equality and women's issues.

Provide services to specifically meet the needs of women workers [ also Booklets 4 and 5]

As an organizing tool, unions are placing emphasis on providing direct services to women workers. Such action is seen as necessary and important to address the specific needs of women and to help them understand in practical terms the benefits of unionization to them. The range of services that unions can provide is very wide, depending on the circumstances and needs of the intended target groups. This is certainly one area where unions can be very innovative in terms of the types and delivery of services and facilities for women workers. The ICFTU 7th World Women's Conference in Rio de Janeiro in May 1999 emphasized that:

"unions should use new approaches to organizing -- eg. provide services like credit/welfare/practical services/training/job creation funds. Unions must have a social face".

Related to the provision of services is the issue of what model of unionism is best suited for recruiting women workers. There are essentially two models.

The "service model" is built upon a transactional relationship between the union bureaucracy and its members -- the members pay dues to the union in exchange for services. Continued membership and loyalty to the union tends to depend on the satisfactory delivery of services. In most developing countries, unions provide special services to workers as a recruitment strategy.

On the other hand, the "organizing model" is based on the assumption that the empowerment of workers will enable them to find solutions to their problems. The emphasis is, therefore, on collective action. Recruitment of new members is usually carried out through one-to-one contact between members and their co-workers rather than by union officials. This does not mean that the union does not provide services -- on the contrary, it provides essential service functions such as compensation advice, delivery of social wage improvements and advocacy of new benefits. But this model devotes particular attention to mobilizing rank and file activists to do the work of organizing their co-workers. The emphasis is on active participation of members in campaigns and other forms of trade union action.

In the real world, there is no single or simplistic formula for success. The service model and the organizing model are at two ends of a continuum, and many unions rely on a spectrum of approaches.

In Benin, trade unions have projects for:
  • setting up cooperatives whereby household goods are bought in bulk to enable women members to obtain them at lower prices;
  • laundry services for working women in their neighbourhood so as to alleviate their heavy workload at work and in the home and to also create employment for other women (operating the laundry services);
  • facilities near the main market for children of women vendors to facilitate breastfeeding and childcare, while allowing the women to continue working;
  • a women's theatre group which is helping to educate women not only on issues relating to unionization but also social issues such as family planning, health, education of girls, the disadvantages of polygamy. This is especially important because the majority of the women are illiterate.
 

The service and organizing models of trade unionism

Service Model Organizing Model
Union is seen as external - third party Members own the campaign to unionize their workplace
Union officials tell members how the "union" will solve their problems Members generate own issues and organize to solve them together
Relies on employer to provide list of worker's names to union official Workplace and staff attitudes crucial - names and information are provided by workers
Relies wholly on employer for workplace access Initial organizing can be done outside work - in worker's homes, etc.
"Cold" hard selling of union membership by organizers First recruiting steps are to establish contacts, find natural leaders, uncover issues.
Union sold on basis of services and insurance protection Workers empowered to find solutions themselves through education and support
Reliance on full-time officials to recruit, solve problems Workplace organizing committee formed; workers encouraged to build the union through one-to-one organizing
Aim is to recruit only - "sign on the dotted line" - not organize Recruitment and organizing integrated
Results achieved, but likely to be short-term Results obtained through sustained efforts - more likely to be permanent
Workers blame "the union" when it cannot get results Members share decisions and solve problems together with union leaders
Organizers resent members for not coming to meetings or participating. Members complain that they pay the fees and the union does nothing Members identify with the union and contribute to activities. An attack on the union is seen as an attack on themselves
Management acts - union reacts - always on the defensive Union has its own agenda - members involved, keeps management off balance - image is positive, activist
Source: Trade Union Training Authority. 1996. Building an organizing union. Book 1. Melbourne TUTA.

Carry out special organizing campaigns

Recruitment efforts tend to be most successful when unions conduct special organizing campaigns aimed at women workers. In selecting recruitment methods, unions should take into account the specific problems of women workers and the local conditions for recruitment. It is very important to monitor and evaluate the impact of particular organizing strategies, so that lessons can be learnt for future campaigns.

Guidelines:

Carry out planning sessions to determine the:

Ensure that the union leadership fully backs the campaign -- some unions have cited the hostility or lack of support and encouragement of male leaders as a reason for failure;

Ensure maximum publicity for the campaign;

Enlist support from the community: identify possible contacts, allies, other supportive organizations, the media, and determine how to involve them in reaching potential women members;

Meetings should be scheduled at times convenient for women workers and at locations acceptable to them. All efforts should be made to keep to the time-table, and, wherever possible, child care should be made available;

Conduct a post-campaign evaluation. Assess why some tactics worked while others did not, what were the strengths of the campaign, what could have been done differently, and what factors were beyond the union's control.

The ICFTU-APRO had a very successful 1+1=Women Power campaign to encourage more women to join unions. At its 16th Regional Conference in 1996, the ICFTU-APRO launched the campaign with an animated video. The aims of the campaign were:
  • Every woman member to be mobilized to recruit at least another woman in herworkplace to join the union;
  • The 1+1 campaign to be a household-based "join the union" campaign for women workers.

To further the campaign, in 1997 the ICFT-APRO launched a set of place mats as a campaign tool. The objectives of the place mats campaign were:

  • Home use of the place mats will generate conversation and discussions, sensitize both female and male members of the family and help them to recognize the importance and advantage of women joining trade unions;
  • Children will be sensitized at an early age on the rights of women;
  • Use of the place mats in cafeterias and food outlets will be help workers understand the role of trade unions and motivate them to become members;
  • The various scenarios depicted in the place mats will help families to understand gender issues and thus motivate the working members to negotiate for family-friendly benefits and rights in collective agreements.
 

3. Promoting the participation of women at all levels of the union structure

"The trade union movement is faced with some stark choices. Unions can continue to support widespread discrimination within their ranks, while they talk about equality and solidarity, or they can tackle the problems they face in integrating women" (5)

The traditional thinking was that women should find their own place within existing union structures, but often these structures are rigid, rather bureaucratic, male-dominated and intimidating to women. Traditionally too, women's presence has been concentrated in those structures associated with female stereotypes, and they have been poorly represented in the executive or in the structures dealing with economics, research, organization, negotiation, international affairs, etc.

More and more unions are now introducing statutory reforms to make their structures more gender-sensitive and women-friendly. They also have affirmative action or positive measures to deal with the effects of past direct and indirect discrimination and serious disadvantages that women members face. Unions have also found that where there is a high degree of awareness and appreciation of gender equality issues among the general membership, the participation of women in leadership positions tends to be more commonplace.

To promote the proportional representation and active involvement of women, not only in leadership positions but in all union structures, unions can:

Adopt specific policies, plans or targets for improving gender equality and the position of women in the union;

Adopt positive measures to increase women's representation in leadership positions;

Amend the union constitution or statutes to make structures more conducive to gender equality and "women-friendly";

Keep statistics disaggregated by sex;

Raise awareness of gender equality and women's issues among both female and male membership;

Provide education and training for women, in particular to build their confidence and leadership capabilities;

Address the specific needs and constraints of women, so as to enable them to participate more actively.

Adopt gender equality policies, plans or targets

Many unions have demonstrated their commitment to improve proportional representation within the union and to encourage women to seek leadership posts by formulating and implementing:

The International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW) Charter on Affirmative Action:
  • unions should adopt a policy of affirmative action at job entry;
  • unions should encourage places reserved for women on government, tripartite or employer funded schemes;
  • information on course opportunities should be made available at schools and to family members of male unionists and at women's centres;
  • women should be included in negotiation teams;
  • women should be encouraged to meet prior to the negotiating round to voice their own needs;
  • women be included on organizing teams;
  • unions should adopt affirmative action measures to ensure a representative number of women in all conferences, and statutory bodies;
  • unions should appoint a person at national level with specific responsibility for women's issues or equality issues;
  • unions should establish specific structures for women, such as a women's committee at national, regional and local level;
  • measures should be adopted to ensure that women are represented on the highest decision-making bodies of the trade union;
  • unions should ensure that a fair share of resources are earmarked for affirmative action programmes and women's training;
  • unions should ensure that their publications provide a regular space for information
 

Checklist:

Turn policy statements and plans into reality with implementation steps and specific practical measures;

Set a timetable for achievement;

Support or back up the policies, plans, affirmative action programme with the necessary changes in union statutes or constitution and with proper allocation of financial and human resources;

Monitor and evaluate implementation.

The African Regional Organization of the ICFTU (ICFTU-AFRO) and its affiliates implemented a project on Integrating Gender Perspectives into Trade Union Work between 1997-1999. The ten selected national centres that participated in the project were UST-Chad, ONSL-Burkina Faso, UGTT-Tunisia, USTN-Niger, UNTM-Mali, COTU-Kenya, NACTU-South Africa, TFTU-Tanzania, ZCTU-Zambia and ZCTU-Zimbabwe. Recognizing that it is not enough to just have official policies on gender equality, the project aimed to promote the full integration of a gender perspective into all aspects of trade union work. To achieve this longer term aim, the project focussed on (a) raising awareness of gender and equality issues among trade union trainers; and (b) bringing about a change of attitudes among union leaders and members. Men and women trade union educators were the target group for this project, owing to the decisive role they play in changing the attitudes of men and women within the trade unions. The project consisted of training seminars at the national, local, federal and regional levels. In using interactive learning methods and techniques, a woman trainer and a man trainer ran each activity, with an equal number of men and women participants. Gender perspective teams (GPTs) responsible for implementing and monitoring the activities and follow up were established at the international level and within each of the organizations involved in the project. An evaluation of the project found that the impact had been good in relation to:
  • change of attitudes towards gender issues;
  • shift in policy in most of the national centres which had participated; most have a gender policy in place;
  • issues of equal opportunities in relation to participation, representation and constitutional review are being addressed by various centres;
  • some centres have adopted a quota system to ensure that women are always included in various programmes and activities;
  • overall, the project established the relevance of the need for trade unions to continue implementing gender programmes which raise awareness among women and men.
 

Adopt positive measures to increase women's representation in leadership positions

Goals or policy statements alone may not be adequate to achieve gender equality, especially where direct or indirect discrimination against women is deeply rooted in union structures and practices. Therefore, many unions have adopted affirmative action programmes or positive measures particularly to increase the participation of women in leadership positions, including:

The experience of unions has shown that such positive measures lay the basis for both faster and more spontaneous progress towards gender equality. Unions have reported that where they have reserved seats for women in the executive, in fact, women have succeeded to being elected to such positions in their own right. Of course, it is important to monitor and keep statistics of implementation of these measures.

ACTU-Australia made world union history in October 2000 when the affirmative action policies of a major national organization resulted in a new executive of 50 per cent women. This was the achievement of the targets set by the ACTU Congress, for 25 per cent female representation in the executive in 1993, 30 per cent by 1995, 49 per cent by 1997 and equal representation by 2000.

 

Amend the union constitution or statutes

It is often necessary to amend the union constitution or statutes to make structures more conducive to gender equality and "women-friendly". By introducing changes in their rules and regulations, unions demonstrate tangibly their commitment to the promotion of gender equality and allow positive measures to be more effectively implemented. Unions can introduce statutory reforms for several purposes:

Guidelines:

Establish gender equality or women's units;

Ensure that the gender equality or women's unit has adequate financial and human resources;

Give mandatory, rather than advisory or consultative, status to the gender equality or women's unit;

Reserve seats, establish a quota system or numerical targets for women on executive bodies;

Observe a proportionality principle so that women are adequately represented at all levels of the union structure and in all education and training programmes;

Ensure that women have places at union congresses;

Adopt new ways of conducting union business, such as the way in which nominations are made for posts.

When the National Mines and Allied Workers Union (NAMAWU-Philippines) affiliated with the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) an ad-hoc women's committee was created. To be truly operational and functional, the ad-hoc women's committee submitted a resolution to amend the constitution of the NAMAWU to formalize its status and to reserve a seat for women on the executive board. It prepared and submitted rules for administration of the NAMAWU Women's Committee to the executive board, and solicited the support of members of the executive board to approve the proposed amendment. When the amendment was passed, two additional seats on the board were created to represent women and youth. The formalized Women's Committee implemented the rules for administration, particularly through the setting up of women's committees at the local and enterprise levels.
 

Keep statistics disaggregated by sex

Many unions are still not able to provide accurate information on their membership by sex. Although the policy of the ICFTU requires separate reports on male and female membership in the annual questionnaire, union figures are often based on estimates. If unions are serious about promoting gender equality, they must systematically maintain and publicize statistics disaggegated by sex of membership at each level of the union structure and of participation in union activities. Such statistics are also necessary for monitoring and evaluating the progress made or the effectiveness of different action taken to promote gender equality.

Raise awareness of gender equality and women's issues among both female and male membership

Unions have found that where there is a high degree of awareness of gender equality and women's issues among the general membership, the participation of women in leadership positions is more likely to be regarded as unexceptional. Sensitization is particularly important where stereotypes and traditional attitudes regarding the roles and capabilities of women remain strong, and also where the hostility or lack of support from male leaders and members is a serious barrier.

Guidelines:

Target male-dominated unions through awareness raising campaigns on how improved representation of women at all levels will benefit them and enhance the image of the union;

Give increased visibility to women leaders;

Provide leadership by example; get women leaders to be role models;

Use non-sexist, gender-neutral language in all union communications;

Gather and publicize regularly figures on participation by sex of the membership in all union structures and activities;

Ensure that union education and training materials incorporate gender equality and women's issues and reflect the female voice;

Arrange special activities that promote solidarity among male and female union members:

In Bangladesh, unions have adopted a policy that for every two paid organizers, one is male and the other female.

In Argentina, UPCN male and female members who participated in "shared actions to defend the union" now talk about "we are UPCN".

Provide education and training for women members

Education and training programmes are very important for:

Such education and training courses can target only women or be general courses open to both women and men. In the general courses, it is often necessary to adopt positive measures to ensure proportional representation of women. The courses can cover a wide range of issues: basic training, leadership training, training of organizers, training of trainers, skills training, the training of study circle leaders, consciousness raising, and training in equal opportunities and gender issues, training of negotiators, legal and economics courses, training on the role of women in development, management training, legal literacy, time management, health and safety issues.

The Women's Committee of the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT) of Colombia has, in collaboration with the Department of Education of the National University, set up a special school to train women unionists for leadership positions. Three levels of courses are offered, and a maximum of 60 women can be enrolled in each course, which runs for a period of six months. The subjects which are taught with a gender perspective include Labour Economics, Labour Law, Politics, Communication Skills, Negotiation. Those enrolled in the courses have to be either young female activists who are planning to develop a career in the union or women who are already in relatively high union leadership positions. However, male union members have not been very supportive of this initiative, claiming that women who graduate from the school become "problem cases". They refuse to allow the union to pay for tuition fees and make it difficult for the students to obtain the authorization necessary for them to attend the school.

Address the specific needs and constraints of female members

A major reason for women's lower participation in unions is the constraints they face in terms of family responsibilities. For unions to be more "women-friendly", it is important that their own structures and policies are more family-friendly. Unions can also have women-specific programmes and activities to address women's particular concerns and problems. Many of these efforts have been evaluated to be successful because they directly meet the needs of women within and outside the workplace, allow women to feel comfortable participating, help them to gain confidence, and make them feel that the union is relevant to them.

Checklist:

Provide appropriate trade union training and workers's education:

TUC-UK arranges distance learning for women who cannot attend courses due to family responsibilities.

In Belgium, unions hold training days for women on subjects such as pensions, job classification, etc.

AFL-CIO provides a toll free number for obtaining information on women and unions, and also on how much the pay gap with men costs women.

 

Negotiate with employers for women to have paid time off work to ensure their participation in union activities;

Arrange meetings and activities at times that do not conflict with family responsibilities:

In India, unions arrange lunch hour meetings to "feel the pulse of women's problems".

Provide child care facilities to assist women to participate in union activities;

Hold meetings, seminars to discuss specific equality or women's issues, such as on sexual harassment, breast cancer, family planning, mothers' classes, domestic violence, etc.

4. Internal structures for the promotion of gender equality

Unions all over the world are appreciating the need for special structures to encourage the participation of women in trade union activities and to create the conditions for equal opportunities and treatment within trade union organizations. These special structures can take a number of forms and have a number of functions and responsibilities. The special structures include women's or equality:

The main differences between the different types of structures are that the committees are usually elected within the union, the wings or sections are parallel structures (for women and men) in the unions, and the departments, secretariats or officers are appointed and include paid, full-time positions.

The women's structures deal with women's affairs and equal opportunity issues and are especially important in trade union movements which are male-dominated and in which women's interests and perspectives would otherwise be overlooked or ignored. Rather than women's structures, some unions are setting up equal opportunity units to reflect the ideal that gender equality is not just a "women's issue" that can be dealt with only by including a women's component in activities and that both men and women members have a stake in improving the position of women.

 

Role of women's/equality units within unions
The main functions of the women's unit or the equality unit within unions are to:
  • provide women effective representation within the union;
  • give women space to raise the issues which affect their lives and work;
  • create awareness of the special needs and constraints of women;
  • promote advocacy for women's issues and gender equality concerns;
  • help to enhance the visibility of women in unions;
  • provide a training ground for women in practical organization and leadership;
  • spearhead efforts to achieve gender parity in all union activities and programmes;
  • assume specific responsibility for mobilizing and organizing women workers;
  • organize women's conferences regularly or on specific topics;
  • implement equality policies and programmes; and
  • monitor progress in implementation of equality policies and programmes.

For the women's or equality structures to be effective, it is important for unions to:

Checklist:

Confer them statutory or constitutional, rather than just advisory or consultative, status within the union;

Ensure that they are integrated into the mainstream work of the union - otherwise, there is a high risk of marginalization of the women's or equality structure;

Provide them adequate financial and human resources, including their own budget -- currently many women's structures are hampered by the inadequate resources and often have to raise their own funds or take loans for special activities;

Assign them power to take initiatives;

Enable them to have direct inputs to the decision-making bodies - either by reporting directly to the executive and/or being represented on it;

X Do not relegate women's issues or gender equality concerns to the women's or equality structure, so that only women discuss and deal with them and the rest of the union can forget about them.

"When establishing a women's committee, it is important to set down in writing the aims and planned activities of the women's committee, together with mechanisms for monitoring progress and how the union will fund the work of the committee. These guidelines can also include measures to integrate the committee, its work and its members into all areas of union work" (6)

Our women's committee does not form a separate organization but is placed under the executive board. It is the responsibility of the women's committee to implement the matters decided by the women's organization, to stimulate the women members in the union and establish a system designed to encourage women members to positively participate in union activities. The committee's main activities are to:
  • isten to women's complaints and grievances and determine wherein the problem lies;
  • reflect women's views in the executive board;
  • foster women activists;
  • sponsor communication between women activists;
  • participate in campaigns and other activities in the wider society;
  • reflect women workers' views in local and national politics.

What is important is to formulate women's committees from the ground up. The committees would form a pyramid, resulting in a solid basis for the women's committee. Examples of the work of women's committees:

  • At one union, most of the members were young girls not interested in union activities. They had poor attendance records at union meetings. However, this changed after the women's committee was set up, because the leader of the middle level women's committee made out printed handbills to let women know what happened at the union meeting. She gave one to each member and called on them not to skip the workshop meeting. She held monthly meetings of women to discuss the workshop problems. When women members could not solve their problems on their own they began to understand why they should take the problems to the union meeting.
  • Women members found that their share of the wage increase was much smaller than men's. They used their committee to launch a signature campaign and succeeded in increasing their share of the wage rise.
  • In order for the women's committees at various levels to work together to achieve their objectives, one of the Japanese unions named the period from March to June each year 'the time of women's action'.
  • In truly free and democratic unions all the members should share. If you have a women's committee, hidden problems suffered silently by women can be disclosed.
  • At one of the tailoring locals in Japan, a woman assumed the post of local president. She took up the problem of different retirement ages for men and women. Mens' retirement age was 55 while women retired at 45. When an informal meeting was held, one woman spoke up saying that it was alright for women to retire at the age of 45. Since she was something like a boss at the workshop when she spoke up the rest refrained from speaking. The women's committee asked the union to find out if her opinion was the opinion of most of the members. They surveyed what all the members thought. It appeared that the women members' wish was to be treated equally with men. After a local meeting the union began to negotiate to equalize the women's and men's retirement age.

Source: Case study by a textile worker in Japan in ICFTU. 1995. Equality: the Continuing Challenge. ICFTU Education Materials. Brussels: ICFTU.

References and additional reading

Braithwaite, M. and C. Bryne. 1993. Women in Decision Making in Trade Unions. Brussels: ETUC.

Canadian Labour Congress. 1997. Women's Work A Report. Canada: CLC.

Cook, A.H., V.R. Lorwin and A.K. Daniels. 1993. The Most Difficult Revolution Women and Trade Unions. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.

European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC), Union of Industrial and Employers' Confederations (UNICE) and European Centre of Enterprises with Public Participation (CEEP). 1995. Women and Training in Europe A Compendium of Good Practice, published at the Initiative of the European Social Dialogue. Brussels: ETUC.

International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). 1994. Recommendations of the 6th World Women's Conference of the ICFTU Changing the World Through Equality - the Trade Union Vision, The Hague, 25-28 October 1994.

____________________________________________________ 1995. Equality: the Continuing Challenge. ICFTU Education Materials. Second Edition. ICFTU/LO-FTF Project Development of Study Materials. Brussels: ICFTU.

__________________________________________________ 1999. Conclusions and Recommendations of the 7thWorld Women's Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 18-21 May 1999.

___________________________________________________ 2000. 17th World Congress Statement Making Vision into Reality: Priorities for the ICFTU in the 21st Century. Durban, South Africa, April.

___________________________________________________ May 2000. Women Workers: Reaching for the Sky Trade Unions and the Beijing Platform for Action. Report written by Kate Holman. Brussels: ICFTU.

Website: http://www.icftu.org/displaydocum...9120339&language

International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW). 1997. Bargaining for Equality. Education Materials for Women at the Work Place. Geneva: IFBWW.

International Labour Office. 2000. The Role of Trade Unions in Promoting Gender Equality Report of the ILO-ICFTU Survey. Geneva: ILO Gender Promotion Programme.

Olney, S. 1996. Unions in a Changing World Problems and Prospects in Selected Industrialized Countries. Geneva: ILO.

________, E. Goodson, K. Maloba-Caines and F.O'Neill. 1998. Gender Equality: A Guide to Collective Bargaining. Geneva: ILO Labour Law and Labour Relations Branch and Bureau for Workers' Activities.

Trade Union Training Authority (TUTA). 1996. Building an Organizing Union. Book 1. Melbourne: TUTA.

Trebilcock, A. Strategies for strengthening women's participation in trade union leadership,International Labour Review. Vol.130 No.4. pp.407-426.

Union websites on equality:

http://www2.icftu.org/ (ICFTU Website)

http://www.cut.org.br/f205.htm (CUT-Brazil)

http://www.cgt.com.br/areas_de_acoes/mulher.html (CGT-Brazil)

http://www.sttk.fi/finalku.htm (STTK-Finland)

http://www.dgb.de/fe/gs_zukunft2.htm (DGB-Germany)

http://www.tuc.org.uk/ (TUC -Great Britain)

http://www.mclink.it/com/cisl/coord.donne/home.htm (CISL - Italy)

http://www.aflcio.org/women/ (AFL-CIO - United States)

http://www.labor.net.au/about_unions_safe/womenhist.html (ACTU-Australia)

http://www.clc.ctc.ca/ (CLC - Canada)

Additional examples and case studies

Recruitment through publicizing union efforts and successes

This is how the ASU-NSW Clerical and Administrative Branch Union in Australia attempts to recruit especially women members through publicizing its efforts and successes:

"The Australian trade union movement was formed over 100 years ago to protect the rights of employees against unfair and/or harsh practices by employers and improve the standard of living of members.. Trade unions have also endeavoured during that time to improve the conditions of employees, particularly women. For example, equal pay for work of equal value, parental leave, family leave, child care and access to Occupational Superannuation, were all issues bargained for and won by the union movement.

The ASU - NSW Clerical and Administrative Branch notes with great interest the recent election of the the first female President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU). She said 'joining a union is your best form of insurance in the workforce and often people don't appreciate the benefits until they individually face a problem. It's also joining a movement that has historically, on a collective basis, achieved many improvements for women'.

Trade unions have put a lot of time and effort into securing awards and enterprise agreements which protect employees' conditions of employment. Conditions which non-union members also benefit from. The ASU - NSW Clerical and Administrative Branch is particularly interested in issues concerning women, and sees the promotion of 'family friendly work practices' as a key issue in the future. Issues such as part- time work, job sharing, career-break schemes, variable-year employment, varying flexible hours arrangements, short term absences during times of family crises, etc, are all issues relating to 'family friendly work practices'. All of these practices need to be properly negotiated in order that they are not used for exploitation but for the benefit of the employee and his/her family.

.........It is the strong belief of the union that only union membership can provide ultimate protection of your basic human rights and your working conditions. With few exceptions, an individual as such, has little influence or control over the pay and conditions offered for his/her labour. A union representing an individual has the influence which flows from its resource capacity, knowledge and expertise. It is only through collective action that unions are able to hopefully secure positive outcomes for their members.

Source: from the recruitment Webpage of the ASU-NSW Clerical and Administrative Branch Union, see http://www.labor.net.au/

 

Recruiting women through providing services

Some of the types of services that unions have been providing as part of their organizing drives are:

Congo: the CSTC has focussed on not only professional problems of women workers concerning equal pay, equal opportunities, professional qualifications and internships but also social problems linked to family life, health insurance.

Kenya: COTU has special education programmes for women, income generating projects, self-help groups and cooperatives.

Latvia: the Latvian Seafarers' Union of Merchant Fleet arranges special insurance for the women, medical examinations , extra payment for maternity leave and childcare.

Philippines: the Trade Union Congress arranges free medical consultations for the women; this has been a relatively successful mobilizing tool as the women often cannot afford to seek medical attention.

Thailand: the Labour Congress of Thailand coordinates a scholarship fund to help children of retrenched workers to continue their education; the fund is contributed to by ICFTU-APRO and the Office of the Prime Minister of Thailand.

 

Special organizing campaigns targeting women

1. General recruitment activities are the responsibility of the affiliates of the Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (FNV). The national unions produce recruitment materials, present awards to members for recruitment efforts, produce special materials targeted at female dominated sectors. But the FNV itself has special measures to recruit women, including a primer explaining what the FNV and its unions have achieved for women, what kinds of activities and training are provided, etc. The leaflet is updated every two years and funded from the budget of the women's department. In 1995, the FNV organized a "huge and expensive "campaign over several months. Large advertisements and billboards were used in which the FNV President was shown supporting a female member (nurse, teacher, secretary, factory worker) under slogans like "If Madonna has one, why not me, FNV your agent". The start of the campaign was accompanied by heavy publicity organized around the top union leadership visiting women at their workplaces. The "FNV your agent" campaign was later extended to cover youth and older workers. The budget for the campaign came from the general promotional budget of the FNV and some of the larger unions. Subsequent analysis revealed that the recruitment of new women members was less of a problem than keeping them as members. To diminish the loss of membership, arrangements were made so that women leaving one sector could maintain their membership in another union.

2. In the United States, the Service Employees International Union has targeted female-dominated occupations with great success. The organizing drives are carefully planned: polling methods are used to determine the attitudes of potential members and care is taken to formulate and present the message of the union to potential members. Almost two-thirds of the organizing staff are female and about half of the union budget is spent on organizing, most of which is directed at women workers.

3. The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions advocates the organizing model both for recruiting and organizing workers in non-union sites and also for recruiting in workplaces that are largely unionized. Organizing, education and action are the three vital components of the organizing model. The involvement of informed, supportive members is necessary to obtain good employment contracts. The benefits of the organizing model are:

  • it is more effective than the servicing model since an employer is more likely to bargain if there is a clear indication that a large number of workers are involved and behind the union;
  • it gives members a sense of power as a group, by letting them share in the decisions and the victories;
  • it educates members about the nature of the dispute between the union and the employer;
  • the union gains power;
  • the organizing model enables a union to take on and solve more problems because more people are involved and available to help.

4. In the Philippines, the Trade Union Congress provides training to enhance the skills and practices of organizers assigned to the export processing zones, where the workforce is largely female. The training includes six months intensive field training and monthly assessments of the trainee's activities. The team of organizers, composed mainly of young women, do not organize at the workplace. Instead, after working hours they go door to door to contact the workers. In two years, they succeeded in helping to create some 27 unions where there were none before.

 

Networking among union women

The Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) is a national coalition in the United States of women from various trade unions. CLUW'S aims are to increase the number of organised women workers, implement affirmative action policies, work for the passage of legislation favourable to women workers and increase women's leadership in trade unions. A Center for Education and Research was established in 1978, dedicated to empowering women workers and developing leadership strategies for women within organised labour. The CLUW supports legislation to end wage discrimination and other gender-based inequities. It also supports the implementation of childcare and parental-leave policies. It has advocated for the Equal Rights amendment, a women's right to choose, pay equity and family leave. The CLUW publishes a number of publications and educational materials to update and educate members about current issues of importance to working women. In accordance with its principles of increasing women's political involvement in labour issues, the CLUW encourages its members to write letters to legislators and to participate in political demonstrations.

Website: http://www.cluw.org/

 

Gender equality policies and programmes

1. The ICFTU Programme of Action for the Integration of Women Into Trade Union Organisations was first adopted in 1978 and updated in 1985 and 1988. The Programme covered organising of women workers, treatment of women as equal members, their participation in trade union power and responsibilities, education and training, information and research. The implementation was monitored and reported on by the ICFTU secretariat prior to each Congress to assess affiliates' progress in achieving its aims: the full integration of women into trade union organisations and their participation in trade union activities and decision-making bodies at all levels.

The 15th ICFTU World Congress adopted two resolutions: "Equality: the Continuing Challenge--Strategies for Success" and "Women and Development", the implementation of which is to be reported to Congress. These resolutions called on the ICFTU and its affiliates to integrate gender perspectives into all aspects of their work, to develop and adopt a Positive Action Programme for Women in Development Cooperation, and to set up a Task Force to oversee the implementation and monitoring of the Programme, which has a minimum target figure of 30 per cent for women's participation in all trade union activities in the framework of international cooperation at national, regional and international levels.

The 17th ICFTU World Congress in 2000 endorsed a Plan of Action entitled End Discrimination: Equality for Women Now, and called on the ICFTU, its Regional Organizations and affiliates to launch in 2001 a three year worldwide campaign 'Organizing for Equality' aimed at doubling women's union membership, with special attention to those in the informal sector, EPZs and atypical work.

2. The New Zealand Public Services Association has adopted a policy to ensure progression towards a truly equitable union. Every elected body throughout the union must aim to include women in the same proportion as they are members of the organ represented by the body. The emphasis is on changing gradually the culture of the union in all its institutional bodies, rather than imposing quotas or reserved seats.

Proportionality targets have been established (with 10 per cent leeway on either side) for women's representation on all national, sector, enterprise and branch level bodies throughout the union. For example, if women make up 58 per cent of the membership, any representative institution must aim to comprise between 48-68 per cent women.

These targets are supported by strategies designed to generate a culture which embodies and reflects equity principles in such areas as recruitment, education and training, appointment and election processes, meeting processes, policy making, sector and enterprise targeting, etc. Specific strategies include:

  • Putting consultation processes in place for women unable to attend meetings;
  • Re-establishing women's networks;
  • Providing gender-specific training, such as assertiveness and confidence building;
  • Using a buddy system to support newly elected women; and
  • Using women-only focus groups.

Recognition is given to the crucial role of organizers, managers and other staff in promoting an understanding of the principle of proportionality and its targeting process.

Source: New Zealand Public Services Association, "Proportionality on elected bodies: a new policy on women's representation in the PSA".

 

Statutory reforms promote gender equality

1. The 16th World Congress of the ICFTU firmly entrenched equality as one of the five priority areas for the ICFTU, and a Constitutional Amendment was passed making gender parity one of the ICFTU's main objectives.

2. The Kenya Railway Workers Union at its 1991 annual delegates congress amended the constitution to make the women's department a legal component within the union structure. The women's affairs coordinator, who was appointed to head the department, was also charged with responsibilities for education within the union. The amendment process involved both women and men at grassroots and national levels. Women campaigned at the grassroots level both for election and to form part of the delegation to the annual congress. The union's Secretary-General acted as the link between the women and the executive board and assisted the women in their efforts to lobby the board to amend the constitution. The constitutional amendment paved the way for the women's department to undertake a number of programmes, which have been judged to be successful. Women have been able to feel that they are an integral part of the union and can participate actively in all union matters without discrimination or fear. The constitutional amendment has therefore strengthened the union and enhanced the role of women.

3. The Chairperson of the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) Women's Committee automatically holds the position of one of the Vice-presidents of the MTUC and is also a member of the Working Committee and General Council.

 

Training for gender equality

1. A project to train women trade unionists as equal opportunities officers was launched by the Confederation of Workers' Commissions in 1991, extended to the UGT, and then brought under the wing of the European Initiative NOW. The intention was to stimulate women members to set up projects in favour of equal opportunities in the workplace. This is achieved through the training of equality officers, who go on to train other women trade unionists. The central aims of the training are to enable participants to pinpoint discriminatory situations in the work environment and provide the impetus for positive action; and to identify new job opportunities for which unemployed women can be trained. The project also underscores the importance of incorporating anti-discriminatory clauses in collective bargaining agreements. The courses are run every fortnight and have flexible time arrangements, adapting to the participants' availability. Trained members are asked to train other groups of women trade unionists at the provincial level, so that the total number trained has been growing.

Source: ETUC, UNICE and CEEP. 1995. Women and Training in Europe. Brussels: ETUC.

2. From 1989 to 1997, the IUF, together with the International Federation of Plantation and Agriculture Workers (IFPAAW) and the ILO, ran an education project within affiliated unions in Ghana, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe to train male and female trade union officials, create a cadre of women specialists, and raise awareness among the rank and file members. An important and innovative approach was the use of songs, drama and role playing to teach male and female rural workers about trade union and gender issues. Group work at training seminars included performances around given topics. Video recordings of the performances were used as means of self analysis and development. The use of drama groups to address workers on issues such as women's rights, labour laws, health and safety and environmental hazards was evaluated as one of the most promising aspects of the project - it increased the participatory effect and cost effectiveness of the project, and helped make women into active and outspoken participants in discussions on union affairs, grievance handling and recruitment.

3. The Polish trade union Solidarnosc, was born out of the movement for democracy, which spread throughout Poland during the 1980s. Women played a major role in the struggle. After Solidarnosc was given legal status in 1989, educational programmes for women were organized with international assistance and the national women's section was established in 1991. However, this structure met with limited success as it had no decision-making powers and was unpopular not only with the male leaders, who called it a women's ghetto, but also with the women members themselves who felt that the existence of a separate section for women was divisive and counter-productive. Recognizing that it was important to include both women and men in the struggle for equality, they adopted the slogan "together we are stronger". As part of the "Together in Solidarnosc", a training programme was conducted. Organizers used the French CFDT manual as a guide and adapted it to the Polish context. Trainers (usually one male and one female) trained in the first stage ran the courses and ensured the equal participation of men and women. The participants have generally evaluated the seminars to be a good forum for discussing equality issues and learning tolerance and solidarity. Some mentioned that they could now avoid stereotypical judgements.

 

Increasing women's representation in leadership positions

1. At the 15th World Congress, the ICFTU Constitution was amended so that five members of the Executive Board could be nominated by the Women's Committee. At the 17th World Congress, the ICFTU, Regional Organizations and affiliates committed themselves to, among other measures, improve monitoring mechanisms to determine more accurately the real participation of women in trade union activities, give particular attention to the way the Gender Integration System is used in development cooperation work, and take urgent action to ensure the full participation of union women in delegations, meetings and conferences at the regional and international levels.

2. Rengo-Japan has adopted a Women's Participation Promotion Programme which is implemented by a special committee whose aim is to raise the women's participation rate in executive committees of all Rengo affiliates to 15 per cent.

3. FNV-Netherlands has also adopted positive action plans to ensure that women's representation on executive bodies should be at least commensurate with female membership.

4. AKAVA-Finland has set a target for the proportion of women in different decision-making bodies to be at least 40 per cent.

5. LO-Sweden has adopted a positive action programme whereby the number of female delegates to Congress and the General Council should correspond to the percentage of women members.

6. The ABPSA adopted a policy on women which provided for gender parity (50 per cent) on the Executive Committee and other committees and for at least one woman to be on each major delegation.

7. The ICTU-Ireland has adopted a policy to ensure that delegations to Congress are proportional to membership.

 

Giving women a voice through women's and equality structures

1. Up to 1993, the National Committee of the Bangladesh Jatiyatabadi Sramik Dal (BJSD) allocated small sums to the Women's Committee for individual programmes; this meant that the Women's Committee undertook only programmes endorsed by the National Committee and it had no annual budget for its own activities. In 1993, the Women's Committee decided to create an independent fund and to open a bank account. The Committee was motivated to undertake small programmes, as the need arose, to help ailing workers in cases of acute emergency and to extend financial assistance to its energetic and committed organizers to work full time for the union. Having its own funds allowed the Women's Committee to respond more quickly to emerging needs. Wanting to begin modestly, the Committee adopted the strategy of collecting a monthly subscription (equivalent to US$1) from the 51 members of the Women's Executive Committee, and a higher subscription (US$5) was paid by the chairperson and secretary.

Gaining the independence to plan their own activities has boosted the morale of the Women's Committee and given it the confidence to pursue further activities. The move has also won the respect of male colleagues and has helped promote an appreciation of gender equality among all members.

2. Recognizing the importance of symbolic acts designating legitimacy, the Tamilnadu Government Officials Unionmade an executive decision to include the name of the Women Committee Chairperson and State Women Organizer on the office letterhead of the union. The aim was to highlight the importance of female leaders and members within the organization. The letterhead measure was a definite deviation from the traditional practice of recognizing only the male leadership and thereby psychologically isolating the women in the union. In addition, the women's committee chairperson was included as a central executive member and on various collective bargaining teams. The women members widely welcomed the moves which they saw as "the union is modernizing its concepts to accept women as leaders". As a result, more women were willing to opt for prominent leadership positions, and there was growing assertiveness and active participation among female members.

3. When the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP-Philippines) was first established in 1965, its executive board was all male. In 1980, a resolution was submitted at the TUCP Convention to make provision in the structure of the federation and local unions to integrate women. In 1985, a resolution called for the creation of women's committees at the federation and local levels. In 1990, the TUCP Women's Committee was transformed formally into an organization called Development Action for Women in the TUCP (DAWN-TUCP). DAWN-TUCP was registered separately as an association so that it could receive and operate funds independently. Officers, members of the Working Committees and regional leaders of DAWN-TUCP are full-time staff/officials of their respective federations. The creation of DAWN-TUCP paved the way for the formalization of women's committees in 13 TUCP federations, and a number of the federations allocated reserved seats for women in their executive boards. The TUCP Women's Department serves as the secretariat and implementing organ of the policies and programmes approved by DAWN-TUCP. These structures are increasingly visible and active in dealing with women's issues. But in so far as the TUCP Women's Department has only one staff member, its capacity to reach a wider range of women workers has been limited.

 
Endnotes

 

1. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions Conclusions and Recommendations of the 7th World Women's Conference, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 18-21 May 1999.

2. "End Discrimination: Equality for Women Now!". Decisions adopted by the 17th. World Congress of the ICFTU, Durban, 3-7 April 2000.

3. United Nations, 1999. 1999 World Survey on the Role of Women in Development Globalization, Gender and Work. New York: UN Division for the Advancement of Women Department of Economic and Social Affairs, p. x.

4. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. 1995. Equality: the Continuing Challenge. ICFTU Education Materials. Brussels: ICFTU. p.29.

5. International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. 1995. Equality: the Continuing Challenge. ICFTU Education Materials. Brussels: ICFTU. p. 58.

6. International Federation of Building and Wood Workers. 1997. Bargaining f