6 March, 2023Today it is the start of the 67th session of the United Nations Commission of Statutes of Women. This year focuses on innovation and technological change, and education in the digital age for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Global unions are demanding a guarantee for decent jobs for women and equal access for all to new technologies.
At the UNCSW 67, global unions are calling on governments to engage in social dialogue for the adoption and implementation of gender transformative plans for equitable access to technology for all, equitable access to quality public education, training and lifelong learning. Gender-transformative plans across the entire education and training systems, ensuring women’s access to STEM-related education, training and jobs and access to re-training and skills development for women whose jobs are impacted by digitalization and automation.
Social dialogue around the impact of digitalization and Industry 4.0 is key for an effective implementation of ILO C100 and 111, enabling pay equity and equal treatment and opportunities for women in a more digitalized world.
Policies should guarantee digital rights, founded on the ILO’s fundamental standards and supported by the implementation of those standards, which are vital for supporting decent work, overcoming gender disparities, including in accessing and using technology and to ensure workers’ health and safety, privacy and decent work/life balance.
Adequate investments and gender-transformative plans should be developed for the creation of decent jobs accessible for all in green energies and industries, as well as in care and health with policies and measures to overcome persistent sectoral and occupational segregation.
Governments need to adopt legislation to ensure workers engaged in the platform economy are recognized as employees, entitled to decent work and ensure that workers in platform and other digitally-mediated and technology-related businesses have full organizing and collective bargaining rights.
Effective policies and legislation to sanction online abuse, are needed to address online hate speech, harassment and violence, including GBVH.
Governments need to guarantee the right for everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, including GBVH through universal ratification and effective implementation of ILO Convention 190, including ILO Recommendation 206.
The UNCSW 67 will last two weeks, from 6 to 17 March. You can follow trade union news on the UNCSW global union blog.
