LABOUR: Women Unionists Still Struggle to Be Heard

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

BUCHAREST, Oct 23 2001 (IPS) - Gender equality within trade unions is a goal that has yet to be achieved, despite the fact that the increasing presence of women in the workforce has been the most significant change in the world’s labour markets in recent times.

A report by the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), one of the top international union associations, recognises the notable changes arising from the “feminisation” of labour, as women’s participation in the international workforce now reaches 40 percent.

But the status of women in trade unions is far from equitable, says Kattia Paredes Moreno, coordinator of the WCL’s “Women and Work” division, an office created specifically to promote gender equality in labour organisations.

Until recently, most unions denied the existence of gender inequalities, but the problem is finally beginning to be perceived and understood, according to the WCL.

Unionists are becoming aware that men and women workers face different sets of problems, Paredes said Tuesday during the 25th WCL congress, underway this week in Bucharest.

Couty Fall, a Senegalese expert at the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO), said the participation of women in the decision-making processes of the world’s union movement is insufficient at all levels, whether local, national, regional or international.

Furthermore, the representation of women is particularly lacking in the higher ranks of the trade union hierarchy, executive committees and commissions entrusted with collective bargaining, she said.

The WCL is revising its policies related to the participation of women unionists, said Paredes, adding that while progress has been very slow, and change has not been spectacular, there have been improvements.

The report that Willy Thys, WCL secretary general, presented to the congress, the labour organisation’s highest body, says that, given the presence of women in the workplace and their continued marginalisation, the WCL has the responsibility to make resolving the gender gap a top priority.

This requires truly democratic internal functioning of trade unions so that women and men have equal space in the labour hierarchy and in the decision-making process, says the report.

But unionists from Latin America proposed a modification of the text, changing the restrictive wording of “having” equal space to a more vague “can have access to” equal space.

Thys interpreted the proposed change as a reflection of the conception of the role of women that predominates in certain regions and social sectors of Latin America.

A democratic union movement must promote the participation of women, who face enormous work-related obstacles, stated the WCL secretary general.

Based on global averages, women’s wages are 20 to 30 percent less than those of men, but in some cases the difference is as much as 80 percent, said WCL expert Paredes.

Companies are hiring more women because it is more profitable. It is not necessarily a recognition of women’s abilities, companies are taking advantage of the fact that they can get away with paying women employees less, she stated.

In the remaining days of the weeklong congress, the WCL is to consider a proposal aimed at incorporating women into the organisation’s 40-member federal council, which currently is an all-male body.

The initiative involves designating seven women unionists, who would represent Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and the professional committee, which unites international federations based on activity.

Approval of the proposal would be an important step towards achieving the objective of parity, said Paredes.