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4 March, 2008
1. Colombia – ICEM focuses on South American Country on International Women’s Day, 8 March
2. Germany – Women Set up Network for Nanotechnology
3. India – SEWA Assists Women in Afghanistan in Organising and Skills Building
4. International Labour Organisation – Indigenous and Afro-descendant Women Are Still the Hardest Hit by Workplace-Discrimination
5. International RSI Awareness Day 2008
6. ITUC Launches Decent Work, Decent Life for Women Campaign
7. Iraq – Women are Terrorised in Basra
8. Nicaragua – Equality Law is Passed
9. Peru – Luz y Fuerza Holds Women’s Conference
10. Spain – USO and Solvay Redress Discrimination - University Study Proposes Some 50 Measures for Work-Life Balance - CCOO publishes Booklet on Pregnancy and Breast Feeding
11. United Kingdom – Single, Young Women Work More Overtime than Men
12. Resources
1. COLOMBIA – ICEM focuses on South American Country on International Women’s Day, 8 March
This year, on International Women’s Day (8 March), the ICEM focuses on Colombia, a South American country with some 43 million inhabitants, 52% of whom are women. The country has 20 million people that are economically active, and of that figure, 50% are women. Due to the violence brought on by internal armed conflict, there are four million displaced persons, with 57% of them are women.
Their lands and properties have been confiscated, while children, husbands, and partners have been murdered. Many have been sexually abused and taken advantage of by paramilitaries who arrive at their houses and force them to tend to their needs. It is a familiar sight to see many women in the streets of the main cities begging for food for their children.
Informal workers are estimated to make up the 60% of the working population, or a total of 12 million people. Of this, 63% of them are women, or a total of 7.56 million.
Through ICEM projects, the Global Union Federation has been carrying out leadership development among women members of its affiliated trade unions. As a result, many women have made their way into leadership positions in their organizations.
However, a major concern is the phenomenon of domestic violence.
The ICEM will be in Colombia on 6 March, the Day of the March against Violence, Kidnappings, and Violation of Human and Trade Union Rights in Solidarity with the Victims. On 8 March, of course, we will celebrate International Women’s Day together with the women of ICEM Colombia, where the ICEM will receive a more detailed report on the situation of women in Colombia.
2. Germany – Women Set up Network for Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology is the future. Nano 4 Women has been founded as an independent grouping of women who work in nanotechnology in Germany. It may be that nanotechnology is more open to women than other areas of technology.
Evonik is a company involved in the women’s network for nanotechnology. The network’s goal is to support women in their jobs and in science-related careers. Women are encouraged to have an exchange in the network, and also on the internet, where forums are available and databases that include experts can be culled for concrete projects. Advice is also available for start-ups in nanotechnology. A photography competition has also been held. For more information, visit www.nano4women.de.
3. India – SEWA Assists Women in Afghanistan in Organising and Skills Building
Warfare, drought, economic instability, insecurity and unemployment have wreaked havoc on Afghanistan in the past three decades. Almost 60% of the population of Afghanistan is women.
Decades of civil conflict and hardline rule by the Taliban have left most Afghan women isolated and illiterate. It is challenging for women even to go out alone. India’s Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) has been working with women, widows, and the destitute in Afghanistan since 2004.
In 2006, the government of India requested SEWA to help develop Bagh-e-Zanana as a centre for vocational training. The idea is to develop the centre with facilities for income generation, skills development, and training, recreation, childcare, healthcare, and marketing support. This would help to empower women and enable them to join the mainstream Afghan economy.
In the strife-ridden country, organizations such as the Afghan Women Resource Centre are fighting to combat the practice of families selling their daughters into forced marriages in order to pay off debts. Women’s organizations are doing advocacy and empowering women as well as encouraging them to vote.
4. International Labour Organisation – Indigenous and Afro-descendant Women Are Still the Hardest Hit by Workplace-Discrimination
In its recent Labour Overview 2007 for Latin America and the Caribbean, in spite of overall optimism, the ILO finds that the unemployment rate for women is 1.6 times higher than that of men, with the situation of indigenous and Afro-descendant women much worse.
The ILO finds that hourly wages for the two groups of women make up only 39% of the wages earned by men who are not in those groups. The study was carried out in Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Uruguay.
The problem should be combated by strengthening members of the two groups’ knowledge, and improving statistics and studies on these groups in order to develop suitable policies for change. ILO Convention 100 on Equal Pay, Convention 111 on Employment and Workplace Discrimination, and Convention 169 on Indigenous Peoples has to be better applied. All these conventions make mention of women.
Altogether, policies and programmes must be improved in order to do justice to these two groups. The existing barriers must be eliminated to enable women, the indigenous, and Afro-descendant persons to be fairly incorporated into the job market.
5. International RSI Awareness Day 2008
On 29 February 2008, it was Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI) Awareness Day. RSI is the most common workplace injury in Canada, and it is nearly an epidemic in Brazil. Governments and employers must start taking the disorder seriously. In Canada, for example, one in ten adults suffer from it.
Women have traditionally had high rates of RSI. They often suffer a lifetime of pain. RSI mostly affects neck, shoulders, arms, and hands. RSI Day is a good opportunity to raise awareness and contemplate measures to eliminate it. The injuries can best be eliminated by avoiding monotonous, repetitive and stressful work at fast speeds, and poor work organization, including unnecessary overtime.
Cutbacks and layoffs aggravate the problem. Substandard equipment and lack of control also contribute to it. The first RSI Awareness Day was 29 February 2000. It was chosen because it is the only non-repetitive day on the yearly calendar. In most years, the day is remembered on 28 February.
6. ITUC Launches Decent Work, Decent Life for Women Campaign
The ITUC has produced a poster and a campaign guide for Decent Work, Decent Life for Women. The ITUC also has produced a report on the gender pay gap. There are 67 national labour centres in 55 countries that are participating in the campaign. The poster is available at here. The Campaign Guide on Decent Work, Decent Life for Women can be found here.
7. Iraq – Women are Terrorised in Basra
Since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, militias have been circulating in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city, killing and torturing those seen to be an obstacle to the establishment of an Islamist state. Ambulance drivers know that more than 15 women are killed each and every month. Most are mostly professional women.
The point to the killing and violence is to keep women home and to restrain their participation in political and social life. The Iraqi Women’s League calls for the following actions to be taken to stop the violence:
1. Send an international fact-finding mission to Iraq that is organized by the UN High Commission for Human Rights. Such a mission should investigate crimes against women, help the Iraqi authorities identify the perpetrators, and to stop the crimes;
2. Reveal the criminals and those backing them, and bring them to justice;
3. Disclose the outcome of the investigations;
4. Take measures to safeguard personal freedoms that are constitutionally guaranteed;
5. Take deterrent measures to ensure the safety of citizens and protect their lives; and
6. Act firmly to improve the conditions of women and facilitate their involvement in the reconstruction process.
8. Nicaragua – Equality Law is Passed
The Law of Equal Rights and Opportunities was passed in Nicaragua, after 11 years of being stalled. The Catholic hierarchy and ultra-conservative leaders lamented the approval of the law.
After more then 10 years of opposition by religious and conservative sectors, the law will enter into force in a month’s time after publication in the official bulletin. The term gender is not mentioned in the law, but the point is to promote equality and equity human, civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights between women and men.
Feminists congratulated the Central American’s parliament for passage, but still condemned one stumbling block in the country’s constitution, which prohibits therapeutic abortion, only allowing it in very rare circumstances.
9. Peru – Luz y Fuerza Holds Women’s Conference
The 2nd Women’s Workshop of the Luz y Fuerza Federation was held 24-26 January 2008 in Arequipa, Peru. The objectives of the workshop were to integrate women into the trade union movement, make the women’s role in the federation more visible, and to broaden women workers’ knowledge of themes such as collective bargaining, privatization, history of the trade union movement, etc.
Women should be able to bring their demands into collective bargaining. Case studies were presented on tools that women can use to bring their rights to bear on the basis of international human rights instruments. Amnesty International and several practical cases were explained.
ILO Conventions on equal opportunities were presented. It is important for awareness of rights that are defended by the ILO to be brought to all workers. More and more women attend these meetings every year, and the results get better and better. The women committed themselves to replicating the results of the workshop in their own workplaces.
10. Spain - USO and Solvay Redress Discrimination - University Study Proposes Some 50 Measures for Work-Life Balance - CCOO publishes Booklet on Pregnancy and Breast Feeding
In January, Belgian chemicals company Solvay and the USO union of Spain signed an agreement, which commits Solvay to hire six women who were discriminated against. These women faced bias on the basis of gender between 1999 and 2003.
The six will follow five others who have already integrated into the production process. Solvay must acknowledge that the women passed all tests, including a psycho-technical one, but that they were excluded during the interview, in spite of the fact that all of them met the requirements for hiring valid from 1999 to 2003. This decision will open the way for more women to have access more readily to jobs at Solvay.
A recent study by the Carlos III University in Madrid proposed some 50 measures to promote work-life balance. The measures are geared to administration and business, as well as social partners, and they are also intended to improve the working conditions of those with special difficulties, such as young people and immigrants.
The proposals include the creation of public and private instruments for reconciling work and family life, subsidies and counseling for small and medium-sized companies, and making leave more flexible, as well as making part-time work more accessible.
One of the aims of the study was to examine productivity. There is a close connection between productivity and work-life balance. Better work-life balance generally reduces turnover and absenteeism. Thus, the higher the qualification, training, and experience the worker has, the more expensive it is for the company to replace her or him.
Findings show that people are less and less willing to dedicate their efforts to paid work alone, and therefore, people need to know that they will not be damaging their careers if they take advantage of measures to promote work-life balance.
New technologies have a part to play in better reconciliation of work and family life. This does, however, require a cultural change – typical companies work on the basis of control. Commitment to the company is measured on the basis of time spent at work. New technology enables confidence to be built and evaluation to be based on results instead of working time. Teleworking could be one element of this.
The stress prevalent in the typical women’s jobs must be controlled and reduced, such as in health and education. Similarly, authorities and businesses have to work toward eliminating harassment, bullying, and violence on the job.
All in all, networks must be created on the basis of social services to promote work-life balance.
The CCOO trade union confederation in Spain has published a booklet for trade unions on preventing hazards during pregnancy and breast-feeding. Most women do work during pregnancy and go back to work during the period of breast-feeding.
Companies need to adapt measures to facilitate women working during these times, and risk-prevention should be included in collective bargaining. Some hazards, such as noise and stress, are dangerous for all workers, but they do imply a higher health hazard for pregnant women because of the changes to their bodies or the potential danger to the fetus. For the booklet see www.ccoo.es.
11. United Kingdom – Single, Young Women Work More Overtime than Men
Single women in their 30s do more overtime than anyone else. On the occasion of Work Your Proper Hours Day, which was held on 22 February, UK’s national labour centre, the Trades Union Congress, released a study on overtime. The general assumption is that men work longer hours than women, but the analysis shows that single women of all ages work more unpaid overtime than men.
Women without children are more likely to work unpaid overtime than men without children, but the trend reverses when they have children, with the figure dropping from 24.2% to 27%. The percentage of men working unpaid overtime remains relatively unchanged.
Women no longer have the option to put in extra hours once they have children. This goes a long way toward explaining why the senior levels of most organizations are male and why the gender pay gap persists. Career opportunities are measured by the number of hours put in at work. This limits women’s choices. The unproductive long hours culture does no one any good and detracts from work-life balance.
12. Resources
Health and Gender (in Spanish) by Observatory of Women’s Health, Spanish Health Ministry
Working Conditions in the European Union: the Gender Perspective
Foundation Findings: Work-life Balance – Solving the Dilemma
European Commission Report on Equality between Women and Men, 2008
Women and Men in Decision-making, 2007 (European Commission)
The State of the World’s Children 2008
UK: TUC Gender and Occupational Safety and Health ‘Gender-sensitivity’ Checklist