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19 September, 2006September 2006
1. BOLIVIA – Women Workers and Trade Unionists Make Proposals for the Constitution
2. CANADA – More Women Bring Home the Bacon
3. CHINA – Women Migrant Worker Dies from Overwork
4. COSTA RICA – SITRAPEQUIA Women’s Congress Discuss CAFTA
5. FINLAND – Gender Pay Gap Can Be Reduced by Reforming Wage Systems
6. GERMANY – In Hamburg, Women Earn about 23% Less than Men
7. INDIA – Women Demand Equal Pay for Equal Work
8. MEXICO – Indigenous Women Have Little to Celebrate
9. NEPAL – National Women’s Workshop Successfully Concluded
10. PAKISTAN – Proposed Rape Reform Law Fails Political Test
11. PALESTINE – Women Support Strike
12. POLAND – Polish Women Are Against Equal Retirement Age with Men
13. RWANDA – African Country has the Highest Percentage of Women Lawmakers
14. SAUDI ARABIA – Women Are Now Talk Show Hosts
15. SOUTH KOREA – Women Earn 64% of Men’s Salary
16. SPAIN – GlaxoSmithKline Participates in an Equal Opportunities Project
17. UNITED KINGDOM – The Focus is on Equal Pay
18. UNITED STATES – Domestic Violence Takes a Toll on Society
19. From our Readers
20. Resources
1. BOLIVIA – Women Workers and Trade Unionists Make Proposals for the Constitution
In Bolivia, the constituent assembly is drawing up a constitution. Women workers and trade unionists have made the following proposals to be included in this constitution:
Women workers and trade unionists find that gender inequalities in connection with access to economic resources, decision-making and involvement in power are an obstacle to achieving equal opportunities.
That is why they propose including the principle of gender equality in the State’s political constitution. Reproductive work should be declared to be a social and State responsibility and as such a generator of wealth. For this purpose the necessary indicators should be established.
The State should be obliged to provide a balanced labour market and guarantee positive measures to provide more and better jobs for women.
Because of the current political situation the women workers and trade unionists in Bolivia want to take advantage of the opportunity presented by the constituent assembly for writing a new constitution to demand and propose changes in Bolivian society and in particular to achieve gender equality.
2. CANADA – More Women Bring Home the Bacon
In February 1967, then Prime Minister Lester Pearson called for an investigation into the status of Canadian women. The study found that 11% of wives earned more than their husbands. New data from Statistics Canada reveal some expected gains but also some reminders of workplace inequity 40 years later.
The data, based on a 2003 study, shows the number of women that are the primary breadwinners in dual-earner couples has increased dramatically. In about 30% of dual-earner couples, wives earn more than their husbands.
According to the report, the reasons include expanded employment opportunities and childcare options, wider access to higher education, and the possibility that for more couples, the rising cost-of-living demands two incomes.
Primary-earner wives are typically a bit older than other working wives, with slightly older husbands and are less likely to have pre-school-age children at home. They are generally more educated, with more than one-third of primary-earner wives having more education than their husbands.
The report shows that when women are compared to primary breadwinning men that do the same job, there is a significant gap in earnings. On average, primary breadwinning wives earned C$41,200 in 2003, far below the C$57,800 earned by their male counterparts. Primary-earner wives in managerial and professional occupations earned, on average, C$68,200 annually while their male counterparts earned C$83,200.
When women earn more than men, average family incomes were C$74,000 compared to C$86,000 for families in which the husband was the primary earner.
Women still have less access to better paying jobs and women are less likely to be partners in law firms, or have jobs as high-paying medical specialists, or even truck drivers or carpenters. There is still bias about which jobs women can do.
3. CHINA – Women Migrant Worker Dies from Overwork
A woman migrant worker from Chongqing died in a toy factory in Guangzhou province after reportedly working non-stop for 21 hours on 8 August. More than 40 workers, who also came from Chongqing, staged a strike to protest against the factory’s intent not to pay compensation to the victim’s family.
The factory management finally agreed to pay the victim’s family 52,000 yuan in compensation. The victim, Yang Xixiang, went out from her home village in 1992 to find work in the city to support her husband’s medical treatment. Her roommate recalled that before Yang was found unconscious in the dormitory, she had worked for 21 hours non-stop, except for meals.
Yang was declared dead from brain stem bleeding after she was taken to the hospital. Her roommate said that workers in the factory always had to work over 12 hours each day. If they do not work the overtime, they are fined by management. When Yang’s husband arrived at the factory, the manager denied that she died of overwork. But the husband was certain that she had died from overwork.
On 17 August, he and his three young daughters kneeled in front of the factory gate demanding an explanation and compensation. After hearing the treatment of Yang’s family, 40 fellow workers from Chongqing staged a strike to support the family’s demand. Under tremendous pressure, the management finally agreed to pay the 52,000 yuan in compensation.
4. COSTA RICA – SITRAPEQUIA Women’s Congress Discuss CAFTA
On 11 August SITRAPEQUIA, the oil workers’ union, held its largest ever women’s conference, attended by over 100 women, to debate women’s work and health conditions in the current work environment in Costa Rica.
The current situation is marked by uncertainty as to whether CAFTA, the free trade agreement with the United States, will, in fact, be ratified by the Costa Rican parliament. The concern is that the country will be handed over to US multinationals, with an increasing demand for privatization.
Privatisation of medical services will mean a decline in citizens’ overall health and poverty and unemployment will rise. The multinationals will be interested in taking over the biodiversity that exists in Costa Rico and utilize this asset for their own profit. SITRAPEQUIA is continuing its fight against the CAFTA and taking it to the streets.
5. FINLAND – Gender Pay Gap Can Be Reduced by Reforming Wage Systems
According to a study by Helsinki University of Technology, differences in pay between men and women can be reduced by instituting wage arrangements based on assessments of the tasks.
The study found that the most important factors in reducing the gender pay gap are sufficient managerial skills in making assessments, equality in the evaluation of the requirements of the job, and the competence of the person in question. The researchers assessed wage and salary systems based on the demands of the job, personal competence, and job performance in municipal and industrial workplaces.
The study involved five local authorities, three chemical companies, one food producer, and two technology companies. According to the study, the municipal sector did not show a significant narrowing of the pay gap between men and women. In several industrial organizations, new pay systems appear to have significantly reduced differences in pay, in particular in the chemicals industry, where the gap was reduced by 30%.
6. GERMANY – In Hamburg, Women Earn about 23% Less than Men
In Hamburg and all over Germany, women only earn about 77% of men’s gross pay. The German trade union federation, DGB, advises women and works councils to take advantage of the new General Equality Law to counteract these trends.
Statistics showed that in January 2006, male blue-collar workers in industry earned some €2,930 gross per month, whereas women earned just €2,267, or nearly 23% less. White-collar workers in industry earned just less than 22% of their male colleagues (€4,545 for men and €3,554 for women). According to EUROSTAT, women are not paid as badly in comparison to men as in other EU countries. The EU average is 85% of men’s pay, while in Germany women only earn 77% of what men earn.
The DGB has developed checklists to make the most of the new law. To check this report out (in German), see www.dgb-hamburg.de and go to Infomaterial and Tips.
7. INDIA – Women Demand Equal Pay for Equal Work
According to a working women’s meeting, the Indian Constitution should provide for equal pay for equal work.
The convention, organized by the All-India Trade Union Congress, put forward a ten point resolution, which called among other things for the immediate payment of wages to women under the Minimum Wages Act. Maternity benefits should be extended to women workers and a social security system put in place for home workers.
Night shifts for women should be banned, and in those cases where it is not possible, a monitoring agency should investigate whether adequate transport was being provided to them. There should be no reduction in wages for piece-rate work. Hygiene should be enforced at work. Permanent employment should be guaranteed, and complaints of sexual harassment at work should be investigated.
Committees should be formed to find solutions to the problems of working women. Bonded labour still prevails among women, and work-related privileges are still not available to most working women.
8. MEXICO – Indigenous Women Have Little to Celebrate
The International Day of Indigenous Peoples on 9 August was not a day for indigenous women in Mexico to celebrate. The isolation and marginalization of the indigenous population has to stop in order for a just society to be created.
The main concerns faced by indigenous peoples continue to be health problems, and high child and general mortality, early births and high birth rate, malnutrition, and infectious and parasite-borne illnesses. Men and women have a large gap in education – 43.1% of women older than 15 years of age do not know how to read and write, with the percentage for men being 23.2. The older the women are, the more likely they are to be illiterate.
Economic participation also varies greatly between women and men – of males older than the age of twelve, 75% are economically active, with 26% of women economically active.
Mexico has the eighth largest indigenous population in the world, and it is second after Peru in the Americas. Most of this population lives in rural and highly marginalized areas. These areas have the worst infrastructure, communications, and services.
9. NEPAL – National Women’s Workshop Successfully Concluded
The ICEM Nepal Committee conducted a joint women workshop of ICEM-affiliated trade unions on 10 and 11 September 2006 with some 70 participants from all four unions.
The first session dealt with gender policy and ICEM programmes. The second session focused on the position of women in the newly drafted interim constitution of the country, and women’s rights as contained in the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), adopted by the UN’s General Assembly in 1979.
The parliament’s decisions on women’s rights and its impact on women’s lives were explained, together with ILO conventions regarding women workers. The women worked in groups to discuss the women’s rights agenda and common gender policy and programmes. The women decided to insist on gender balance in the existing ICEM Nepal Committee, with two men and two women to be nominated from each affiliate.
10. PAKISTAN – Proposed Rape Reform Law Fails Political Test
The Pakistani government has run into difficulties in its efforts to pass a law to end the worst abuses suffered by women who report rape, or are accused of adultery, under an Islamic ordinance. The opposition comes from members of the governing coalition and Islamic parties.
President Pervez Musharraf has sought to use the measure, the Women’s Protection Bill, to appear as a moderate Islamic leader, but the opposition has interfered with his chances. A vote on the bill was postponed on 14 September when the sides failed to resolve their differences.
Under the Hudood Ordinance, enacted in 1979, thousands of women, particularly the poor and illiterate, have been jailed for adultery on the basis of flimsy evidence, often when a former husband refuses to recognize divorce or when a woman has reported being raped. The ordinances require a female rape victim to produce four male witnesses to corroborate her account, or she risks facing a new charge of adultery.
Although the new draft does not satisfy women’s demands to repeal the Hudood Ordinance, the draft does do away with the worst abuses.
11. PALESTINE – Women Support Strike
The Women’s Committee of the General Union of Petroleum, Mining and Chemical Workers in Palestine is supporting the strike in the municipal sector called by the unions to protest against the suffering due to the non-payment of wages and salaries by the Palestinian Authority for the past seven months.
The committee considers that it is up to the government to provide the circumstances for people to live. The women call on the government to find a solution to the problem. The women are bearing the brunt of the economic siege on the Palestinian people. Many of the women are key leaders in the strike movement.
12. POLAND – Polish Women Are Against Equal Retirement Age with Men
As many as 87% of Poles believe that women should have the right to retire earlier than men, according to a recent poll. In the same poll 92% of women defended their right to retire earlier than men, and only 6% agreed on ending their professional career at the same age as men, age 65.
Today, women may retire at the age of 60. The government plans to carry out a special campaign to inform women that their pensions will be much lower if they retire earlier than men. More people have to be employed, otherwise the system will collapse. It has become common in the original EU countries for women to retire at the same age as men.
Work is an antidote for old age, according to the Labour Minister. The EU has recently adopted a directive obliging Poland to equalize the retirement age for men and women.
13. RWANDA – African Country has the Highest Percentage of Women Lawmakers
Women hold 48% of the seats in the country’s legislature. A woman heads the Supreme Court, and half of the country’s judges are women, as are half of the college graduates. In the meantime, women, who used to have no inheritance rights, now inherit equally with men. Rape, once rarely prosecuted, now is commonly punished with sentences of up to 15 years in prison. And if a girl drops out of school, social workers try to get her back to class.
Women are slowly, but surely, assuming leadership roles across much of Africa. Liberia now has Africa’s first elected woman president, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. Mozambique and São Tomé and Principe have women prime ministers, and South Africa and Zimbabwe have female vice-presidents.
Zambia has a woman running for president, Tanzania has a female foreign minister, and women hold at least 30% of the legislative seats in Burundi, South Africa, and Mozambique.
14. SAUDI ARABIA – Women Are Now Talk Show Hosts
In an attempt to start to achieve gender equality in Saudi Arabia, Saudi television stations have begun to hire women for talk shows and news broadcasts, as reported by Reuters news agency on 7 August.
Female journalists there are not allowed to interview people outside their offices or men who are not their relatives. They must also wear the hijab, or Islamic veil, and face arrest if they violate the rules. Even so, female journalists said they are more efficient professionally than men, who only work four hours a day.
15. SOUTH KOREA – Women Earn 64% of Men’s Salary
Seoul Women’s Foundation released a report on 16 August covering a survey it carried out, which reveals that the average female salary is 1.8 million won, or 64% of men’s average salary of 2.9 million won. In addition, the survey revealed women’s economic status worsened as they got older.
More than 74% of men, aged 65 or older, made a living by themselves or through their spouses. However, 50.9% of women were dependent on their children or relatives. Some 23% of women over 65 had no income at all. About 44.6% had less than 500,000 won a month, and 17.7% had between 500,000 to 1 million won. On the other hand, only 9.5% of men had no income.
While men reach their career peak between 35 and 39, women peaked earlier, between ages 25 to 29, and dipped into a slump during their thirties due to child rearing. These women make a comeback in their 40s, but they retire earlier than men (Source: PSI).
16. SPAIN – GlaxoSmithKline Participates in an Equal Opportunities Project
GlaxoSmithKline is participating in the Optima 2006 programme sponsored by the Castilla y León region to promote equal opportunities between women and men on the job. The Optima project is a programme geared to promote equal opportunity policies in human resource management in the region’s companies.
The companies are offered guidance and technical advice to implement actions to avoid discrimination on the basis of gender, and to boost women’s involvement to improve their professional promotion.
The plan starts with an analysis of the equal opportunities situation between men and women on the job in order to detect practices that my create inequalities or gender-based discrimination. After that, there is awareness-building and training for all workers on why it is necessary to incorporate gender perspectives on the job, and in human resource management.
Finally the project designs an equality plan including recruitment policies and hiring women for all jobs, better training and work-life balance measures.
17. UNITED KINGDOM – The Focus is on Equal Pay
A group of public employee pension schemes with assets in the billions has approached FTSE companies to inquire about equal pay for women employees. The Local Authority Pension Fund Forum has sent letters asking the companies whether they have equal pay policies in place, and whether they have conducted equal pay audits. The Forum expects companies to identify, address, and report on equal pay policies.
Scottish Women Earn Less
Female graduates in Scotland can expect to earn around ₤3000 less than their male counterparts four years after leaving university, a report has revealed. In particular, male graduates in law, mathematics, computing, medicine, and engineering all enjoyed considerably higher earnings than their female colleagues.
The report stresses that the gender pay gap is lower in Scotland than elsewhere in the UK. The gender pay gap is most prevalent in agriculture, mining, and quarrying, the construction sector, the transport and tourism sector, and the banking, finance, and insurance sector.
18. UNITED STATES – Domestic Violence Takes a Toll on Society
Victims of domestic violence suffer at work as well as at home, losing costly work hours to distraction and absenteeism, according to new research.
Women lost an average of 249 work hours last year to distraction, about 40% more than non-victims. So-called intimate partner violence costs nearly US$1.8 billion in lost productivity a year, with nearly 8 million paid workdays lost. Overall about 40% of women and 29% of men report violence from intimate partners at some point in their lives.
Distractions included difficulty concentrating, working slowly, having to do work over or doing no work at all. Women who suffered recent violence also missed 143 hours of work to tardiness or absenteeism.
Gov. Schwarzenegger of California: the Terminator
Siding with employers, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill that would have boosted penalties for violating gender-equity wage requirements. The wage discrimination bill, which Schwarzenegger vetoed for the third time, would have increased fines on employers who violate laws requiring equal pay for men and women who perform equal work that required the same skill, effort, and responsibility and was done under similar conditions.
The measure’s author, state legislator Jenny Oropeza, said the bill would have corrected “obvious wage disparities between equally qualified workers.” But Schwarzenegger claimed it would have done “little more than increase frivolous litigation, a result that benefits no employer or worker, regardless of gender.” He said the vetoes were needed to protect California’s economy.
Women Working for Women Bosses
Women who work for women in senior management positions earn more than women who work for men, according to a Washington Post report. If women break through the glass ceiling, it apparently helps other women.
The study looked at more than a million employees in almost 30,000 jobs and 80 cities. It discovered that men who work for men make more than men who work for women. Where women work as senior managers, other female employees make 91% percent of men’s salaries; the wage gap is 81% percent overall.
19. FROM OUR READERS:
Daina Green from Canada writes about the guide she produced for PSI called “Closing the Gender Pay Gap: A Practical Guide for Trade Unions in the Public Sector.” It contains a definition of concepts to understand the pay gap, strategies to close the gap, methods to measure and evaluate jobs, implementation of job evaluation free of gender bias, model tools and weighting factors and sub-factors. It is available from: [email protected]. It is available in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Daina Green also writes about the gender-neutral job evaluation training that she designed for the Public Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago as part of the PSI’s pay equity campaign.
Laila Shriem from Palestine wrote that she organized a successful meeting for women workers in Jenin on international labour law. 20 women attended.
20. Resources
Child marriage is prevalent in many developing countries, putting girls at risk for serious economic, health, and educational problems. Girls who marry young are more likely to live in poverty, experience violence at home and, much less likely to continue to attend school. For information on child marriage see www.icrw.org/html/takeaction/
aboutchildmarriage.htm and a fact sheet at www.unfpa.org/swp/2005/presskit/
factsheets/facts_child_marriage.htm.
Report from Global AIDS Alliance on programs to stop violence, see: www.globalaidsalliance.org
A game to illustrate the global sweatshop and what it means for women: www.simsweatshop.com
Council of Europe’s initiatives to combat domestic violence: http://assembly.coe.int/Communication/
Campaign/DomesticViolence/default_EN.asp
Women and girls now make up half of all international migrants for a total of 95 million, according to the report from the UN Population Fund. The report urges better protection of a population that it says is more vulnerable to abuse and trafficking.
See: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/swpmain.htm.
Also from the UN Population Fund is a manual called Empowering Young Women to Lead Change at www.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/
628_filename_empowering-young-women_eng.pdf
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