29 September, 2006Amman, Jordan 10 to 12 June 2006
The meeting was opened by Mohammad Jadallah of the General Union of Petroleum, Mining and Chemicals Workers in Palestine. Guests from Jordanian trade unions and fraternal organizations also addressed the meeting.
The 25 women attending the meeting were between 21 and 52 years of age, with many young women present. The women’s expectations for the meeting ranged from making recommendations to support women leaders in Palestine to exchanging information and experience to develop themselves as trade unionists to empowering working women in Palestine to creating awareness among Palestinian women about their rights.
Turid Øygard, NOPEF, made a presentation about women in Norway. The presentation covered women’s rights, women in trade unions, women in society and NOPEF’s future merger. Although it would seem that women are equal with men in Norway, there is still a long way to go there, too.
Men still have plenty of privileges in Norway. For example, women still do not earn the same as men. Turid recommended to the women that in order to make progress in their society, they should use their right to vote. They should build up their self-confidence and self-esteem.
She reminded them that if they wanted to earn the same as men, then they would need to work full-time and share family responsibilities with men. Even for gender equality at work, family life must be changed and fathers must spend more time at home. Women’s participation in trade union life in Norway seems to be stagnating, and it is not easy to identify the reasons for it. It may be that women simply have too much to do with their jobs and their families. And trade unions are often seen as just too much a man’s world.
Carol Bruce, ICEM, introduced the topic of women’s health. Health is just one more reflection of gender equality or inequality, not least on the job. The term gender refers to the fact that everything affects women and men differently – privatization, unemployment, the environment, extremism, health – all things affect women differently from men.
All in all poverty and unemployment are the greatest risk factors for poor health. An abbreviation to describe gender differences in health are that men are the norm, and women are invisible. This phenomenon is just one more reflection of job segregation. Standards are developed with men in mind.
Safety equipment and tools are based on men’s needs, and women often have accidents when using them. Women’s health hazards are less obvious to the naked eye than are men’s, who work, for example in mining. Stress disorders are greater among women than among men, including musculoskeletal disorders. Men develop deafness more frequently as a result of working in generally louder environments. Men suffer more injuries and accidents at work.
Women are more likely to report work-related sickness than men. In general women are less present in research, which means that women must boost their representation. Nevertheless all of these problems pale before the danger represented by HIV/AIDS. Any real solution to the AIDS pandemic will only be by empowering women.
The women did an activity in groups called body mapping and risk mapping. The women drew a front and back picture of a woman’s body and placed dots on the parts where they had felt illnesses or stresses. The body map was supposed to reflect their job-related injuries, illnesses and exposures, bearing in mind, however, that women’s lives are not necessarily clearly broken down between working life and home life, but that the one spills over into the other.
After that activity the women drew their workplaces to indicate where they had suffered accidents, illnesses, stress, etc. After the group work, the women were asked whether they had taken these complaints to the union to be solved. There was some disagreement about whether the union had taken action or not.
On the second day the women played a game about negotiating. Group 1 played a mother who wanted her son to stay home and study, but the son wanted to go play football. Group 2 played a husband that wanted to buy a scooter, but the wife wanted a refrigerator.
Group 3 played a mother who wanted the daughter to stay home to look after her sisters and brothers, but the daughter wanted to go out with her friends. After playing these negotiations out, the groups analysed what they had learned. They realized it was necessary to collect arguments and persuade the other side.
Carol Bruce introduced the topic of collective bargaining. Collective bargaining is now more important than ever since most companies do not want regulations imposed by governments. Negotiations can be at all levels, local, branch, national, etc. ICEM even negotiates with multinationals on so-called global agreements to lay down basic standards.
These agreements generally contain what are called ILO core labour standards. But in trade unions women must already negotiate to get their demands on the collective bargaining agendas. Sometimes it is even more difficult to negotiate with male colleagues than with employers. Women’s committees in trade unions should develop women’s demands in the unions and pass them on to the negotiators. Research also must be done to see what women’s demands can be met.
The women went into groups to decide on what their priorities would be if they were going to negotiate. The list was: job security, respect on the job, health insurance, controlling working hours, more money, maternity leave, occupational safety and health, childcare, programmes for ending discrimination, pension, training, sexual harassment.
The three groups had the following top priorities: Group 1 – job security, respect on the job, health insurance, controlling working hours. Group 2 – health insurance, job security, occupational safety and health, equal pay. Group 3 – respect on the job, more money, controlling working hours, job security. In the analysis we told the women that in the United States and Norway the women’s priorities would most probably have been to have more money.
Turid Øygard introduced the topic of trade union democracy. The women went into groups to discuss how their unions worked and how people were nominated to trade union boards. We found that some of their practices were limiting, such as not allowing any contract workers to be in the union, or only allowing people to be union members who had worked for five years.
The women had to find mechanisms to have their voices heard, instead of simply leaving things up to leadership or planners. Leyla Shream from Jenin explained her experiences in detail as a trade union leader.
The women all gave their views of what the problems were for women to participate in trade unions. Their culture does not easily allow women to participate together with men and to participate in unions.
It is difficult to reconcile family and trade unions. People are more concerned with earning money. According to customs and traditions men are superior to women. Women are seen as inferior.
According to their culture women are ashamed. Women’s environment is a factor. Women have no self-confidence, or if a woman has it, she can be destroyed. Women can only accept traditions; they are complacent, they are not ready to fight.
The intifada influences women. Women cannot move because of all the restrictions, the separating wall, the seizure of land, all the pressures. Women’s husbands are imprisoned or killed, so women must care more for the children. Men have power and authority. Women have too many tasks; they cannot do their jobs properly if in addition they go out to do volunteer work. Women do not support women. Women feel inadequate. Women need awareness workshops. Women need to know they can manage the role. Men need to support women; their support will help. Women can benefit from their precursors. Men need to have awareness of women’s role.
Society and the environment are masculine, and women already need encouragement at home. Women are already stressed in transport. Women should take the initiative and not leave everything up to men.
On the last day the women all stated their conclusions. The political situation is imposed, and thus women must be more positive toward themselves. Women must not leave leadership up to men. Women cannot eradicate situations and traditions; they are born with them.
Women must have self-confidence and determination and must be empowered and work hand in hand with men. We need workshops together with men and families to make it more possible to move. Families need awareness. Society must also change. The best way is to go door to door.
Educational curricula should be modified to reflect new realities, and the importance of cooperation between men and women must be stressed. Women must make alliances to achieve their goals. Men must have awareness and realize what women can do. Women must fight for their rights.
Women need more training on decision-making. In the short term women need training, and in the long term curricula must be changed to raise awareness of women’s role. Women must have more strength than men. We must destroy the walls that separate us from each other.
Palestinian women are strong. Women should have centres to support women. Women need more self-esteem. Women say they are weak, but they can improve themselves as leaders. Women must support women. Women must increase confidence. We must eradicate gender discrimination and get rid of the stereotype that men are everything. We need joint seminars between women and men in order to convince men union leaders to accept partnerships with women. Men must give women the freedom to participate. We should use the media to talk about women leaders. All women would benefit.
The recommendation for future work was to continue with such workshops, but it was emphasized that the next time men must be along. Things will never change until men are made aware of women’s needs. Men must also see how capable women are as leaders. It would also be worthwhile broadening the scope of the countries involved.
The women did an evaluation of the workshop on a point system from 1 to 10, with 1 lowest and 10 highest. The questions were the following: did the workshop meet your expectations? This question scored 7. Did you like the subjects? This question scored 9. Did you like the method? This question scored 8. Did you find the workshop useful? This question scored 8. Will you use it? This question scored 8+.
The seminar ended by passing out diplomas to all the women. Then each woman wrote down on a piece of paper something that she wanted to get rid of, ripped the paper up and threw it in the waste basket in the middle of the circle. Then all held hands and said one word about something that they wanted to fight for such as just peace or gender equality or solidarity.
The 25 women attending the meeting were between 21 and 52 years of age, with many young women present. The women’s expectations for the meeting ranged from making recommendations to support women leaders in Palestine to exchanging information and experience to develop themselves as trade unionists to empowering working women in Palestine to creating awareness among Palestinian women about their rights.
Turid Øygard, NOPEF, made a presentation about women in Norway. The presentation covered women’s rights, women in trade unions, women in society and NOPEF’s future merger. Although it would seem that women are equal with men in Norway, there is still a long way to go there, too.
Men still have plenty of privileges in Norway. For example, women still do not earn the same as men. Turid recommended to the women that in order to make progress in their society, they should use their right to vote. They should build up their self-confidence and self-esteem.
She reminded them that if they wanted to earn the same as men, then they would need to work full-time and share family responsibilities with men. Even for gender equality at work, family life must be changed and fathers must spend more time at home. Women’s participation in trade union life in Norway seems to be stagnating, and it is not easy to identify the reasons for it. It may be that women simply have too much to do with their jobs and their families. And trade unions are often seen as just too much a man’s world.
Carol Bruce, ICEM, introduced the topic of women’s health. Health is just one more reflection of gender equality or inequality, not least on the job. The term gender refers to the fact that everything affects women and men differently – privatization, unemployment, the environment, extremism, health – all things affect women differently from men.
All in all poverty and unemployment are the greatest risk factors for poor health. An abbreviation to describe gender differences in health are that men are the norm, and women are invisible. This phenomenon is just one more reflection of job segregation. Standards are developed with men in mind.
Safety equipment and tools are based on men’s needs, and women often have accidents when using them. Women’s health hazards are less obvious to the naked eye than are men’s, who work, for example in mining. Stress disorders are greater among women than among men, including musculoskeletal disorders. Men develop deafness more frequently as a result of working in generally louder environments. Men suffer more injuries and accidents at work.
Women are more likely to report work-related sickness than men. In general women are less present in research, which means that women must boost their representation. Nevertheless all of these problems pale before the danger represented by HIV/AIDS. Any real solution to the AIDS pandemic will only be by empowering women.
The women did an activity in groups called body mapping and risk mapping. The women drew a front and back picture of a woman’s body and placed dots on the parts where they had felt illnesses or stresses. The body map was supposed to reflect their job-related injuries, illnesses and exposures, bearing in mind, however, that women’s lives are not necessarily clearly broken down between working life and home life, but that the one spills over into the other.
After that activity the women drew their workplaces to indicate where they had suffered accidents, illnesses, stress, etc. After the group work, the women were asked whether they had taken these complaints to the union to be solved. There was some disagreement about whether the union had taken action or not.
On the second day the women played a game about negotiating. Group 1 played a mother who wanted her son to stay home and study, but the son wanted to go play football. Group 2 played a husband that wanted to buy a scooter, but the wife wanted a refrigerator.
Group 3 played a mother who wanted the daughter to stay home to look after her sisters and brothers, but the daughter wanted to go out with her friends. After playing these negotiations out, the groups analysed what they had learned. They realized it was necessary to collect arguments and persuade the other side.
Carol Bruce introduced the topic of collective bargaining. Collective bargaining is now more important than ever since most companies do not want regulations imposed by governments. Negotiations can be at all levels, local, branch, national, etc. ICEM even negotiates with multinationals on so-called global agreements to lay down basic standards.
These agreements generally contain what are called ILO core labour standards. But in trade unions women must already negotiate to get their demands on the collective bargaining agendas. Sometimes it is even more difficult to negotiate with male colleagues than with employers. Women’s committees in trade unions should develop women’s demands in the unions and pass them on to the negotiators. Research also must be done to see what women’s demands can be met.
The women went into groups to decide on what their priorities would be if they were going to negotiate. The list was: job security, respect on the job, health insurance, controlling working hours, more money, maternity leave, occupational safety and health, childcare, programmes for ending discrimination, pension, training, sexual harassment.
The three groups had the following top priorities: Group 1 – job security, respect on the job, health insurance, controlling working hours. Group 2 – health insurance, job security, occupational safety and health, equal pay. Group 3 – respect on the job, more money, controlling working hours, job security. In the analysis we told the women that in the United States and Norway the women’s priorities would most probably have been to have more money.
Turid Øygard introduced the topic of trade union democracy. The women went into groups to discuss how their unions worked and how people were nominated to trade union boards. We found that some of their practices were limiting, such as not allowing any contract workers to be in the union, or only allowing people to be union members who had worked for five years.
The women had to find mechanisms to have their voices heard, instead of simply leaving things up to leadership or planners. Leyla Shream from Jenin explained her experiences in detail as a trade union leader.
The women all gave their views of what the problems were for women to participate in trade unions. Their culture does not easily allow women to participate together with men and to participate in unions.
It is difficult to reconcile family and trade unions. People are more concerned with earning money. According to customs and traditions men are superior to women. Women are seen as inferior.
According to their culture women are ashamed. Women’s environment is a factor. Women have no self-confidence, or if a woman has it, she can be destroyed. Women can only accept traditions; they are complacent, they are not ready to fight.
The intifada influences women. Women cannot move because of all the restrictions, the separating wall, the seizure of land, all the pressures. Women’s husbands are imprisoned or killed, so women must care more for the children. Men have power and authority. Women have too many tasks; they cannot do their jobs properly if in addition they go out to do volunteer work. Women do not support women. Women feel inadequate. Women need awareness workshops. Women need to know they can manage the role. Men need to support women; their support will help. Women can benefit from their precursors. Men need to have awareness of women’s role.
Society and the environment are masculine, and women already need encouragement at home. Women are already stressed in transport. Women should take the initiative and not leave everything up to men.
On the last day the women all stated their conclusions. The political situation is imposed, and thus women must be more positive toward themselves. Women must not leave leadership up to men. Women cannot eradicate situations and traditions; they are born with them.
Women must have self-confidence and determination and must be empowered and work hand in hand with men. We need workshops together with men and families to make it more possible to move. Families need awareness. Society must also change. The best way is to go door to door.
Educational curricula should be modified to reflect new realities, and the importance of cooperation between men and women must be stressed. Women must make alliances to achieve their goals. Men must have awareness and realize what women can do. Women must fight for their rights.
Women need more training on decision-making. In the short term women need training, and in the long term curricula must be changed to raise awareness of women’s role. Women must have more strength than men. We must destroy the walls that separate us from each other.
Palestinian women are strong. Women should have centres to support women. Women need more self-esteem. Women say they are weak, but they can improve themselves as leaders. Women must support women. Women must increase confidence. We must eradicate gender discrimination and get rid of the stereotype that men are everything. We need joint seminars between women and men in order to convince men union leaders to accept partnerships with women. Men must give women the freedom to participate. We should use the media to talk about women leaders. All women would benefit.
The recommendation for future work was to continue with such workshops, but it was emphasized that the next time men must be along. Things will never change until men are made aware of women’s needs. Men must also see how capable women are as leaders. It would also be worthwhile broadening the scope of the countries involved.
The women did an evaluation of the workshop on a point system from 1 to 10, with 1 lowest and 10 highest. The questions were the following: did the workshop meet your expectations? This question scored 7. Did you like the subjects? This question scored 9. Did you like the method? This question scored 8. Did you find the workshop useful? This question scored 8. Will you use it? This question scored 8+.
The seminar ended by passing out diplomas to all the women. Then each woman wrote down on a piece of paper something that she wanted to get rid of, ripped the paper up and threw it in the waste basket in the middle of the circle. Then all held hands and said one word about something that they wanted to fight for such as just peace or gender equality or solidarity.