Gender Equality Around the World : Articles from World of Work Magazine, 1999-2006 [1 ed.] 9789221193180, 9789221193173

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GENDER EQUALITY AROUND THE WORLD

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GENDER EQUALITY AROUND THE WORLD Articles from World of Work magazine 1999–2006

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE • GENEVA

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Copyright © International Labour Organization 2007 First published 2007 Publications of the International Labour Office enjoy copyright under Protocol 2 of the Universal Copyright Convention. Nevertheless, short excerpts from them may be reproduced without authorization, on condition that the source is indicated. For rights of reproduction or translation, application should be made to ILO Publications (Rights and Permissions), International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland, or by email: [email protected]. The International Labour Office welcomes such applications. Libraries, institutions and other users registered in the United Kingdom with the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP [Fax: (+44) (0)20 7631 5500; email: [email protected]], in the United States with the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923 [Fax: (+1) (978) 750 4470; email: [email protected]] or in other countries with associated Reproduction Rights Organizations, may make photocopies in accordance with the licences issued to them for this purpose. ILO Gender equality around the world: Articles from World of Work magazine 1999–2006 Geneva, International Labour Office, 2007 Gender equality, equal employment opportunity, women’s rights, developed counries, developing counries 04.02.3 ISBN 978-92-2-119317-3 ILO Cataloguing in Publication Data The designations employed in ILO publications, which are in conformity with United Nations practice, and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the International Labour Office concerning the legal status of any country, area or territory or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed articles, studies and other contributions rests solely with their authors, and publication does not constitute an endorsement by the International Labour Office of the opinions expressed in them. Reference to names of firms and commercial products and processes does not imply their endorsement by the International Labour Office, and any failure to mention a particular firm, commercial product or process is not a sign of disapproval. ILO publications can be obtained through major booksellers or ILO local offices in many countries, or direct from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Catalogues or lists of new publications are available free of charge from the above address or by email: [email protected] Visit our website: www.ilo.org/publns Typeset by Magheross Graphics, France & Ireland www.magheross.com Printed in (country)

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FOREWORD

Since the first issue in 1992, the ILO’s World of Work magazine has become an effective instrument for sharing knowledge and raising issues related to gender equality in the world of work. The magazine has sought to portray how the ILO responds to such issues, both through its activities at headquarters and, even more importantly, through support to its tripartite constituents – governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations – across all regions of the world. The present publication contains a selection of articles featured in World of Work from 1999 to 2006. The array of articles is comprehensive, ranging from the challenges faced by women jobseekers in Estonia, to an innovative life-cycle approach to gender equality in the United Republic of Tanzania, to progressive policies on paternity leave in Norway. It is hoped that the reader will find this selection both interesting and inspiring. Above all, many of the articles contain good practices of gender equality initiatives that could be replicated elsewhere. In this respect, the publication becomes a real tool for knowledge sharing. Freedom from gender-based discrimination remains a fundamental dimension of decent work and forms part of that universal social foundation of human rights that applies everywhere. Although significant strides have been made towards advancing gender equality, noticeable gaps persist, impeding the concept of decent work from becoming a reality in the lives of all women and men. Symptomatically, women remain less likely than men to be in regular wage and salaried employment; and while women are drastically outnumbered by men in top decision-making positions, their contribution to household work far exceeds that of men in nearly every economy where data are available. Women are also more likely to earn less than men for the same type of work, and women workers are more likely to be found in the informal economy where there is little social security and a high degree of volatility. v

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Gender equality around the world

It is in acknowledgement of the above that ILO considers gender equality integral to its Decent Work Agenda which promotes opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. This acknowledgement also underpins the organization’s commitment to the Millennium Declaration and Development Goals as an overarching principle to reduce poverty and advance social and economic growth. This publication is prepared jointly by the Bureau for Gender Equality and the Department of Communication and Public Information. Although the daily work of these two units might appear quite different, the strategies adopted in our activities are quite similar. Both units recognize the tremendous value of knowledge sharing as a tool to reinforce ILO efforts to service its constituents and both units recognize the intrinsic nature of gender equality in decent work. Finally, this publication owes its existence to our colleagues in the Bureau for Gender Equality and in the Department of Communication and Public Information who selected the articles and compiled the final product: Geir Tonstol, Jessie Fredlund, Philomena De Agrella, May Hofman and Marcel Crozet. Special acknowledgement goes to Thomas Netter who for nine years edited the World of Work magazine and thus most of the articles contained herein.

Evy Messell Director Bureau for Gender Equality

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Zohreh Tabatabai Director Department of Communication and Public Information

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CONTENTS

Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1999

3

Historical profile: Nurses mark formation of labour organization . . . . . . . . . 5 Maternity protection: Proposed revision of Convention No. 103 . . . . . . . . . 10 Low-quality jobs for women: Opportunities or dead-ends? . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Stronger push by the ILO on gender issues . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Palestinian women: Looking for peace on the “Mountain of Fire” . . . . . . . . 18 Baltic blues: For women workers in Estonia, new jobs are lacking . . . . . . . . 23 New ILO report: Gender equality closer, but much still to be done . . . . . . . 27 2000

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ILO/STEP: Working with the innovative microinsurance movement in Sahelian Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 ILO examines progress, looks ahead to Beijing+5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Work from waste: Sweeping change among women workers? In Dar, it’s more than just simple rubbish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 New maternity Convention adopted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Five years after Beijing: Progress towards gender equality, but “patchy and uneven” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49 Women work to close the “occupational safety gender gap” . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA): Giving unprotected women workers in India a collective voice to organize and bargain . . . . . . . 56 vii

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Gender equality around the world

2001

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Forced labour, human trafficking, slavery haunt us still . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 Beyond the “glass ceiling”: Women in the world of work progress, but slowly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 New ILO study: Labour markets less volatile than generally assumed . . . . . 70 2002

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Women’s Day 2002: Women and conflict . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . First ILO gender audit keeps equality on the agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In India, beedi rollers seek new ways of earning a living . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Women in the informal economy: Urgent need for maternity protection . .

77 82 84 88

2003

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Battlefields, hot spots and danger zones: Women break the glass ceiling to break the news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 Workplace discrimination: A picture of hope and concern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Narrowing the gender unemployment gap in Jordan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Women seafarers: Fighting against the tide? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102 2004

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International Women’s Day 2004: Updated ILO report shows “glass ceiling” tough to break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109 New study on women at work: Equality remains elusive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 2005

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United Republic of Tanzania: A life-cycle approach to gender equality and decent work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115 Girl combatants: Women warriors fight their way back into Liberian society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 Modern Daddy: Norway’s progressive policy on paternity leave . . . . . . . . 123 2006

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Women in sports: How level is the playing field? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Women entrepreneurs in Africa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lighting a torch for empowerment: “We matter,” say Filipino domestic workers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . An honest day’s work? Considering the nebulous notion of today’s work–life balance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

131 137 140 145

Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 viii

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INTRODUCTION

This book presents a selection of articles from the ILO’s World of Work magazine over the eight years 1999 to 2006. In various ways, the articles reflect the ILO’s mandate of advancing gender equality in the world of work, either through policies, programmes and activities that systematically address the specific concerns of women and men, or through targeted interventions that enable women and men to participate in and benefit equally from development efforts. The promotion of gender equality in the world of work is enshrined in the ILO Constitution with the affirmation that “all human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunities”. The ILO views gender equality as integral to its vision of decent work for all women and men and as a fundamental principle in the effort to achieve its four strategic objectives: •

promoting and realizing standards and fundamental principles and rights at work;

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creating greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and income;

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enhancing the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all; and

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strengthening tripartism and social dialogue.

The year 1999 was chosen for a specific reason. Soon after Juan Somavia was appointed Director-General of the ILO in 1999, he issued a policy statement on gender equality calling for gender concerns to be integrated in all 1

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aspects of the ILO’s work, from staffing to substance and structure. This forms the background of the ILO’s current Gender Equality and Mainstreaming Policy which accords responsibility to all units and individual staff members of ILO to ensure a concern for gender equality in their respective areas of work. The present publication is an example of how gender is mainstreamed in ILO public information and communication work. World of Work is an independent magazine published by the ILO’s Department of Communication and Public Information. Through its articles, the magazine covers a cross-section of the activities carried out by ILO and its constituents in the promotion of decent work. The articles in this book have not been updated in any way and so provide a snapshot of their times. They are featured chronologically as they appeared in World of Work between 1999 and 2006. A short introduction is provided before each year, indicating some key developments on gender equality in the world of work for the year in question.

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1999 1999 marked the launch of the ILO’s Policy on Gender Equality and Mainstreaming. The Policy stated that mutually reinforcing action to promote gender equality should take place in staffing, substance and structure. The Policy further said that its implementation through the strategy of gender mainstreaming was the responsibility of all ILO staff at all levels. Against this background, ILO adopted a two-pronged approach toward promoting gender equality. Firstly, all policies, programmes and activities should aim to systematically address the specific concerns of both women and men. Secondly, targeted interventions should aim to enable women and men to participate in, and benefit equally from, development efforts. The above developments coincided with ILO findings that women were bearing the brunt of negative social and economic trends around the world. The ILO report Towards gender equality in the world of work in Asia and the Pacific noted that the financial crisis across South-East and East Asia had “toppled women back into uncertain, exploitative and poorly paid work, struggling to keep their families fed and clothed”. From the Baltic States, reports were coming in of rising unemployment rates and deteriorating working conditions for women. Action against this trend was taken by Palestinian women, however, as they increasingly demanded more say in the political, economic and social future of their community. To help in this process, the ILO’s International Training Centre in Turin offered tailor-made training for a group of 300 Palestinian women entrepreneurs and social activists in workers’ rights, employment creation and entrepreneurship.

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HISTORICAL PROFILE: NURSES MARK FORMATION OF LABOUR ORGANIZATION* Linda Carrier-Walker**

The nurse has been the world’s most recognizable symbol of caring, compassion and health expertise. In homes, schools, hospitals, villages, refugee camps and many other settings, nurses promote the health and well-being of their communities, educate, tend to people in need and search for new ways to improve the health of humanity. The International Council of Nurses (ICN) has been representing nurses and nursing worldwide over the past century, advancing the profession and shaping health policy. Very few women in the world had any legally recognized rights, not even the right to vote, when a group of bold, forward-looking women decided in 1899 that the work of nursing was too important for society to remain subject to arbitrary rules and standards. The spirit that moved the founders of the International Council of Nurses was central to a social movement that would eventually lead to the creation of a number of key international organizations, including the International Labour Organization (ILO), all dedicated to the emergence of a better society. The need for change was evident all around them. The height of social progress at the time was the enactment in France of an 11-hour working day, considered a great step forward for working people. In the field of health care nurses had to confront daily problems arising from lack of resources, unskilled hospital administrators, uneven standards of practice and the unavailability of health care in poor tenements. The low status and poor working conditions of nurses were a clear detriment to progress in developing health care which could provide relief and recovery for patients while also becoming available to everyone in need of care. It was with these * Originally published in World of Work, No. 28 (February 1999). ** Director of Communications, International Council of Nurses (ICN).

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issues in mind that several hundred nurses from Europe and North America gathered in 1901 in Buffalo, N.Y, for a Congress to endorse a role and mission for this new organization, which had been formally established as the International Council of Nurses in London in July 1899. Ethel Gordon Fenwick, the founding President of the organization, set out a vision for the ICN when she described it as “a confederation of workers to further the efficient care of the sick, and to secure the honour and interests of the Nursing Profession”. That capsule description captured the consensus among the early members of the ICN that its central mission was to improve conditions for both nurses and patients, through a programme of action that would improve professional standards for nursing practice while also championing the development of quality healthcare services accessible to all. The women attending that Congress of 1901 knew they had become part of an important movement for social change. It was a movement with an agenda which would see nurses assuming a key role in health care as well as in the development of professional working standards and conditions over the next 100 years.

Forging ties with the ILO and WHO The activism of the ICN’s early years included forging relationships with an emerging group of international organizations, among them the ILO, which recognized the profound link between health policy, human health and economics, and that a sound healthcare system required a particular attention to the role, the expertise and the treatment of nurses. Working with the ILO, the World Health Organization (WHO) and other organizations over the past decades, the ICN has contributed to the development of standards which have significantly improved health care in countries around the world. This work of shaping international standards, both for health care and for the working conditions of healthcare workers, has included the development of a number of related ILO Conventions. This international work has gone handin-hand with the efforts by the membership of the ICN, currently 118 national nursing associations, to lobby and pressure for the respect of these Conventions at the national level. The result of that patient but persistent effort, guided constantly by the founding vision of the ICN, has been a steady and clear contribution to improving the working conditions of healthcare workers and to the development of healthcare services which are increasingly available to people around the world. 6

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ICN at a glance •

Founded in 1899 – the world’s first international organization for health professionals

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Representing millions of nurses in 188 countries

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Mission: To represent nursing worldwide, advancing the profession and shaping health policy

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15-member Board of Directors, coming from all regions of the globe

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Run by nurses for nurses, with a corporate office staff of 20 in Geneva, Switzerland

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Annual operating budget of US$4 million

There have been numerous advances registered in that record of social progress, including: •

the establishment of minimum criteria for the “trained nurse” in the period from 1900 to 1910

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developing approaches to advocacy and lobbying by nurses for better health care

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progress in the reform of nursing education and improvements in community healthcare services

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improvements in social and working conditions of nurses and extension of these improvements to all nurses

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development of professional curricula for schools of nursing

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pressing for extension of healthcare services to the poor in urban and rural communities through the development of community health care

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affirmation through the 1950s of the ICN’s world leadership in nursing education and in the development of standards for health care, as expressed through the theme “world health and world solidarity”

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development of a process for defining and promoting basic principles for nursing care and for the training of professional nurses, including those in specialized fields 7

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•

implementation of an International Code of Ethics for Nurses, adopted in 1953, which states “the need for nursing is universal. Inherent in nursing is the respect of life, dignity and rights of man. It is unrestricted by considerations of nationality, race, colour, creed, age, sex, politics or social change.”

•

moving forward in the 1960s to a formal relationship with the ILO, based upon the previous decades of fruitful collaboration

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international extension through the 1970s of ICN’s public and professional information activities, including its extensive publishing programme aimed at professional nurses and other healthcare workers

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ICN leadership in the early 1980s on prevention and care for HIV/AIDS, including programmes to train nurses on providing care for victims of this new disease while also developing methods to protect nurses exposed to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) which causes AIDS

•

active role in defining and protecting the role of nurses through the 1990s in the context of national programmes to reform the delivery of healthcare services. The work in this area has included promotion of criteria for healthcare reform that respect basic human rights, including the right of every person to have access to quality health care independently of social condition or gender.

The impetus for the creation of the ICN at the turn of this century was poverty, discrimination, poor working conditions and human suffering from disease. Though there has been significant progress in reducing the extent and impact of these social conditions they nonetheless remain part of the human condition for most of the world’s population. The nature of the problem has changed in some cases. The impetus to reform a tenuous, unprofessional and inequitable healthcare sector that mobilized the ICN in the 1890s has shifted to ensuring that the modern wave of healthcare reform is carried out in ways that protect the gains of past decades while initiating further improvements to individual health care and to professional standards for healthcare delivery. The ICN continues to inveigh against threats to human life and health which have always been the bane of humankind, and which have motivated its actions from its creation in 1899 to the present day. At the same time, the organization is having to grapple with a range of new issues and human calamities which are shaping its agenda for the new millennium. The emergence of new diseases such as HIV/AIDS and the emergence of new strains of tuberculosis call for new approaches to prevention and treatment. The negative impacts of budget cuts in health care evoke the need for renewed advocacy on 8

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behalf of the rights of patients and of providers of healthcare services. Widespread substance abuse and the development of biological weapons are among new threats which cannot be ignored by an organization dedicated to human well-being. All of these present and future dangers require the intervention of organized efforts by people around the world. Among those committed to addressing these traditional and emerging problems is the International Council of Nurses and the thousands of nurses worldwide whose skills and determination can be mobilized to contribute as much to the future of humankind as they have to its development over the past 100 years.

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MATERNITY PROTECTION: PROPOSED REVISION OF CONVENTION 103*

In June 1999, the International Labour Conference1 will hold its first discussion on the revision of the Maternity Protection Convention (No. 103), which was adopted in 1952. The Convention is being revised to take into account changes which have occurred since its adoption and to bring it up-to-date. Since 1950, women’s participation in the workforce has risen dramatically around the world. Not only are more women working, but more women remain employed throughout their childbearing years than ever before. In the last halfcentury, maternity protection has been marked by progress in law, an evolution in workplace practices and rising expectations regarding the rights of working women. Nonetheless, uneven patterns of protection are evident in many countries, with some women enjoying good benefits, while others are left wholly or partly unprotected. The most basic elements of maternity protection include the right to maternity leave, and the right to cash and medical benefits. •

A period of leave before and after childbirth is essential to protect the health of the woman and her child.

•

Cash benefits replace a portion of the earnings otherwise lost during the leave period and thus enable the woman to recuperate fully from childbirth before her return to work.

* Originally published in World of Work, No.29 (April/May 1999). 1 Meeting annually, the International Labour Conference (ILC) provides an international forum for discussion of world labour and social problems and sets minimum international labour standards and broad policy of the Organization. Every two years, the Conference adopts the ILO’s biennial work programme and budget, which is financed by its member States. Each member country has the right to send four delegates to the Conference: two from the government and one each representing workers and employers, each of whom may speak and vote independently.

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•

Medical benefits, including prenatal, confinement and postnatal care, are the third essential element.

Some of the questions to be explored at this year’s Conference concern these three aspects of maternity protection. For example, what should the minimum standard be regarding the length of maternity leave? Should any portion of that leave be compulsory? What standard should be set regarding the level of income replacement during leave? How should cash and medical benefits be financed?

Core elements These core elements of maternity protection cannot be viewed in isolation. Since many women have access to benefits through their employment, the question of job security arises. The right to leave and the right to return to her job after her absence for childbirth are one aspect of this. Cash benefits as well are often dependent on the woman’s employment status, particularly if they are provided by the employer directly. Job security can also ensure greater continuity in a woman’s contributions to social insurance schemes, through which cash and medical benefits are frequently provided. A further important element in maternity protection involves the conditions in which a woman works. These need to be safe and healthy at all times, but particular attention needs to be paid to the needs of women workers during pregnancy and the nursing period. Dangerous or arduous work, or indeed any work which might pose a threat to the health of mother and child should be avoided and, whenever possible, alternative arrangements made. Finally, the elimination of discrimination in employment, whether in terms of recruitment, access to training, or the possibility of career advancement, is an integral part of maternity protection, ensuring women the right to work on equal terms with men. Leave, benefits, employment security and non-discrimination are among the topics likely to be discussed during this year’s Conference. Health and safety considerations, nursing breaks and related forms of leave, such as parental leave provisions, are also on the agenda. Among the new elements proposed for discussion are methods to encourage countries at all levels of development to gradually improve maternity protection at the national level, for example, by periodically reviewing the length of leave and the level of cash benefits they provide.

Procedures At this year’s International Labour Conference, delegates from governments, and employers’ and workers’ organizations will hold wide-ranging discussions 11

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on the content of the possible new ILO standards. Following this year’s deliberations, draft instruments will be drawn up for consideration and possible adoption in the year 2000.2 The new international standards which are foreseen would usher in a new era of maternity protection for the next century.

The Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No.183) was adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2000. See below, page 46. 2

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LOW-QUALITY JOBS FOR WOMEN: OPPORTUNITIES OR DEAD-ENDS?*

New employment opportunities within so-called “free zones” and “export processing zones (EPZs)” can help women rebuild their lives as well as their country’s economy after wars or natural disasters. In the Dominican Republic and other developing countries, increasing numbers of women are finding work in the zones as well as through micro-enterprises and micro-financing. Still, a new job does not always imply a better life; new work is not always good work. This report examines the experience of one woman who found work, as well as other trends affecting low-quality jobs for women today. In September 1998 Hurricane Georges was one of the most ferocious storms to hit the Caribbean in years. In a region that is regularly pummelled by natural and economic turbulence, the Dominican Republic saw thousands lose their homes and livelihoods in an instant. But Georges’s ferocious winds have been quickly replaced by clouds of dust thrown up by thousands of workers on motorbikes, making their way amidst the debris back to work. The rush hour has resumed and for many here, the rush is to the zona franca. Zona francas, free zones or export processing zones (EPZs) now lead the way to work for millions of women in production chains that reach from the Americas to Asia. Zone factories are given tax and other incentives in return for setting up in places that would otherwise not attract investment. EPZs are one of the growing areas of employment for women, along with labour migration, micro-enterprises and informal sector work, as well as atypical work such as temporary jobs, homeworking, and subcontracting.

* Originally published in World of Work, No.29 (April/May 1999), based on the video Her way to work: The road to quality jobs for women produced by the ILO Bureau of Public Information.

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These employment options for women all share a common denominator; namely, their low quality. They tend to have a low skill content, low pay, low productivity, and low prospects for advancement. With limited access to development resources or workers’ organizations, such jobs are the first to go when economic disaster hits and the last to be covered under welfare, health or other social protection schemes. They may represent the bulk of new job openings for women today. But are they opportunities or dead-ends?

Monica’s story “I wake up early every day to make breakfast for my children as well as to prepare bread and chocolate to sell in the factory,” says Monica Gimez. “Otherwise I wouldn’t earn enough for us to survive.” Monica is a typical EPZ worker; a young female who must support her family alone. She lost her home to Hurricane Georges and lives in temporary shelter provided by the government. Luckily her factory in San Pedro Macoris was able to reopen soon after the storm. Her job is to turn the glued upper shells of boots inside out by hand, in preparation for stitching by another worker. The boots are then exported for sale in other countries at a considerable profit for the employer. Meanwhile, Monica must supplement her meagre wages by selling breakfast at the factory. EPZ work can be tough for women. Shifts are long and followed by hours of domestic chores. The production pace can be gruelling, using out-of-date equipment in unsafe conditions. Sexual harassment is not unheard of. “Zones tend to attract women workers into the low-skilled jobs,” says Auret Van Heerden of the ILO’s Special Action Programme on EPZs. “Coming into that job, many of these women hope to acquire skills and to acquire training which allow them to graduate up the skills hierarchy. That’s one of the obstacles that needs to be removed because, for a combination of cultural and sociological factors which limit women’s advancement, the lack of education and training facilities available, and the lack of a human resources development strategy, women are getting stuck in those jobs.” Some argue that it is better to be stuck in any job than to have no job at all. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Governments like Singapore’s have raised job quality in their EPZs by providing training and support for specific high-return industries such as electronics. The Dominican Republic encourages employers’ groups, like the Association of Dominican Free Zones (ADOZONA), to provide child-care facilities, housing and transport, which target the particular needs of women workers. “After working in the EPZ for a while and learning some skills, a woman can advance in the company or switch to another company,” according to Luis 14

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Low-quality jobs for women: Opportunities or dead-ends?

Pellerano, head of ADOZONA. “Or, as happens in many cases, she can go back home and develop a business that draws upon what she learned in the EPZ.” Monica’s informal breakfast business, selling bags of bread and cups of warm chocolate, doesn’t use her EPZ skills. But it does make her a microentrepreneur, another fast-growing economic activity for women. Informal work or micro-business is attractive for women who cannot gain access to the formal sector, or who need the flexibility to work around family and other job schedules. Women are entering it in ever greater numbers, amounting perhaps to 70 per cent of women worldwide. Finding quality opportunities for work is a problem in the informal sector. Women tend to pursue ventures related to domestic skills such as food preparation or sewing, which are the least remunerative. With less exposure to business practices than men and less access to credit sources, women are more prone to failure. Still, micro-credit programmes, particularly those which target women for small loans, find that their repayment rates can be quite high. World Relief, an NGO which boasts a 99.3 per cent repayment rate from its 180 village banks in Mozambique, focuses on women because they take care of their families and are less likely to default on loans. Women-run microenterprise is at the heart of the economic recovery of war-torn countries like Mozambique and Bosnia and economically strapped areas of south-east Asia.

Competing in the global economy Atypical work, like temporary work, subcontracting or homework, is a growing and largely invisible phenomenon as more companies farm out production to remain competitive in the global economy. They are rarely included in government labour statistics. Yet during an economic crisis in the early 1980s, Philippine homeworkers contributed up to 70 per cent of family income. Germany and the Philippines now recognize homeworkers under their labour laws. Trade unions in Canada are taking them under their social protection umbrella. Worldwide, more women are migrating for work on their own than ever before. The hidden risks in labour migration, especially for those who work in entertainment, are often not apparent to those desperate for a job. The majority of migrant women do domestic work which, because it is done in private homes, is often excluded from the host country’s labour laws. Bilateral agreements between sending and receiving countries and pre-departure orientation sessions for migrant workers, like those run by the Philippine Department of Labour can help make the process more transparent. In combination or by themselves, these new trends in employment are likely to absorb greater numbers of women as the new century begins. 15

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STRONGER PUSH BY THE ILO ON GENDER ISSUES*

Speaking in Geneva to the first special session of the ILO Governing Body held to mark International Women’s Day, Director-General Juan Somavia declared that the ILO will step up its commitment to gender issues, both within its own walls as well as through its global activities. “While I recognize and laud the many serious efforts that have been made in recent years to move forward in mainstreaming gender in the Organization, I must share with you my intention to quicken the pace and strengthen the institutional commitment to this policy,” Mr Somavia said. “The ILO has lagged behind other international organizations in a number of indicators of gender equality. As an organization dedicated to social justice and well-being of workers, we must be in the forefront of this UN effort. “Promoting gender equality is not only the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing to do,” Mr Somavia said. “I therefore intend to give high priority to ensuring that the ILO is counted among the most progressive organizations in the field of gender equality.” Noting that the ILO had played a major role in the past eight decades in setting standards promoting equality for women workers, Mr Somavia cited data indicating that the ILO was lagging behind in its pursuit of gender parity within its own Secretariat. Mr Somavia also pledged to take a number of other actions to augment ILO efforts on gender issues, including: •

Placing gender at the “heart of the ILO agenda”, including mainstreaming

* Originally published in World of Work, No. 29 (April/May 1999).

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of gender and development in the strategic objectives of the ILO in the proposals for the 2000–2001 budget. •

Integrating gender into technical work of the ILO by promoting gender sensitivity in research, advisory and operational work, and integrating gender aspects into programmes focused on the informal sector, small and medium-sized enterprises, data collection, social security, promoting organizations of workers, training, employment-creation schemes, and proposing and evaluating standards, including in ILO branches, and regional and area offices.

•

Urging member States and employers’ and workers’ organizations making up the ILO’s tripartite structure to make a “systematic effort to ensure a greater representation of qualified and experienced women” in their delegations to the International Labour Conference, the Governing Body and tripartite committees, seminars and training courses.

•

Supporting establishment of a day-care facility within ILO headquarters in Geneva to “ensure that both women and men can be committed to their work without sacrificing efficiency, upward mobility or family contact”.

“Renewing the commitment of human and financial resources to the goal of achieving gender equality constitutes a virtuous circle for the ILO,” Mr Somavia said, adding that the case for promoting gender equality was “selfevident and compelling”.

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PALESTINIAN WOMEN: LOOKING FOR PEACE ON THE “MOUNTAIN OF FIRE”* Karen Naets-Sekiguchi**

As the dust settles from the Israeli elections, hopes are high for a revived peace process. Palestinian women are determined to have a say in the political, economic and social future of the West Bank and Gaza. The West Bank city of Nablus is known as “Jabal El- Narr”, or Mountain of Fire, both for the dry, scorched hills that surround it as well as for its role as a hotbed of unrest during the Intifada. Women who live here have had their characters forged during the uprising, casting aside the traditional roles that kept them close to home and family. “The Palestinian woman has lived a completely different life from other women in Arab countries,” says Myasser En- Nubani who lives in a small village outside Nablus and like many women here, played an active role in the Intifada. “She has lived the real struggle and this has formed her personality.”

Women want active participation Now, the prospect of a revived peace process looms on the horizon like welcome clouds of rain, so long absent from the parched skies of the Occupied Territories. Palestinian women are determined to maintain their active participation in determining the political, economic and social future of the West Bank and Gaza. Not content to return to the stereotypic roles they played before the Intifada, women like Myasser have assumed leadership positions in their communities.

* Originally published in World of Work, No.30 (July 1999). ** ILO Department of Communication and Public Information.

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As a Director in the Ministry of Islamic Affairs for the Palestinian Authority, she is trying to redirect the energy of other women towards nation building. She organizes training courses to suit their unique psyche; stones once hurled at the enemy are now used to demonstrate how to pit olives in a course on how to set up an agricultural microenterprise. A first-aid course for rural women uses examples which they can relate to: how to bandage a bullet or knife puncture wound. Many of the instructors in these training courses are women who have experienced the Intifada at first hand.

A new culture for women “This is a new culture for women,” according to Myasser. “The courses we attended in Turin, for example, on raising the awareness of women in all aspects – how she should take decisions in her house and outside the home and participate in society, in the nation – provided a stepping stone for Palestinian women in everything; how they can take decisions and gain status in productive society and how to be influential in Palestinian society at all levels.” To help her in this new struggle, Myasser, along with several hundred other Palestinian women entrepreneurs and social activists, attended a series of courses at the ILO’s Training Centre in Turin, Italy. The Turin Centre is a residential training facility which designs a wide variety of programmes in areas of concern to the ILO and the United Nations. Over a three-year period, the Turin Centre provided specialized training to these women in areas such as workers’ rights, employment promotion, women in trade unions, entrepreneurship and vocational training. It also afforded the women a rare opportunity to confer with their colleagues from different parts of the West Bank and Gaza, a situation normally made difficult by the numerous security checkpoints and restrictions imposed by Israel on travel in the Occupied Territories.

Income-generating projects for women According to François Trémeaud, Executive Director of the ILO and Director of the Turin Centre, the courses “give them information on a number of social matters such as labour rights, equality of treatment, economic information they need for entrepreneurship development and creating small-scale enterprises”. Micro-enterprise and small-scale businesses are likely to be an important factor in achieving a self-sustaining Palestinian state. Many men and women still must cross the checkpoints in search of jobs in the Israeli economy, but as a result of action plans designed by participants in the Turin Centre’s courses, 19

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local Palestinian communities are setting up income-generating projects for women as cooperatives or as home-based work. Local handicrafts such as embroidery, food-processing initiatives such as dried herbs and spices or olive-packing are among the small businesses which are easy for women to start. In a recent conversation, Mrs. Zahira Kamal, a Director-General in the Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, noted that not only had the number of Palestinian women entrepreneurs increased, but that they were even entering nontraditional businesses such as ceramic tile manufacturing or car dealerships. Palestinian women are slowly gaining ground in the political arena. One woman who has never shied away from the challenge to lead and take tough political stands is Hanan Ashrawi. As a former minister in Yasser Arafat’s cabinet and in her present position as Secretary-General of the Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy “MIFAH”, she is adamant about maintaining the leadership positions which women have forged in guiding their nation to future independence. “Palestinian women were always told that the primary issue, the primary conflict, the primary struggle is the struggle for nationhood,” recalls Mrs. Ashrawi, “therefore social justice issues, women’s issues are secondary. Women were always told that there are struggles that are immediate and pressing and issues that can be postponed. Our response was always that if a nation is fighting for self-determination, it cannot withhold self-determination from half its people. So we as women have in a way incorporated a more integrated, comprehensive approach to not just national rights, but to human rights and to social justice as a corrective force on both the nation-building process and on the peacemaking process.” Training Palestinian women: ILO Turin Centre successfully concludes first phase of multi-year project The Training Centre of the ILO has completed the first phase of a multi-year project designed to give Palestinian women from the Occupied Territories a greater voice in forging their own economic and social destiny, as well as in influencing the economic and social future of the West Bank and Gaza. The graduation of a new class of 18 Palestinian women from the ILO Training Centre in Turin concludes a unique three-year programme which provided over 300 Palestinian women entrepreneurs and social activists training and education in such issues as the rights of workers, women in trade unions, employment promotion, entrepreneurship and vocational training.

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Palestinian women: Looking for peace on the “Mountain of Fire”

“Women’s access to paid work is not simply an issue of rights,” said Mrs Intissar Al-Wazir (“Um Jihad”), Minister for Social Affairs and Head of the Inter-ministerial Committee for Women. “It has a crucially developmental role, and human development will not be achieved without the full participation and contribution of women and men on an equal basis. “The assistance of international cooperation in helping the Palestinian Authority in building its institutions and infrastructures is all the more urgent since the worsening economic situation in the West Bank and Gaza may have enormous implications for the Middle East peace process,” Mrs Al-Wazir said. Among those trained were women business managers, trade unionists, trainers, administrators and members of non-governmental organizations. Following a successful conclusion of the three-year programme, the Centre will participate in follow-up activities to evaluate the impact of the training and monitor progress in the Occupied Territories, the West Bank and Gaza. A new proposal for some US$500,000 in funding is also being developed to strengthen education, including the women’s technical college in Ramallah. The training programme, funded primarily by the Government of Italy, concentrated on promoting Palestinian women as “active agents” in the development process in the Occupied Territories. “We have created a new core group of women decision-makers who will be able to exert greater influence on improving the social and economic status of the Occupied Territories,” said Mr. Abdel-Rahman, the Turin Centre’s Manager for programmes targeting the Arab States. Women in the formal economy A number of factors have shaped Palestinian women’s economic behaviour. According to reports published by Birzeit University (1997), the low quota of working women is due not so much to tradition as to the structural limitations of an economy which remains heavily dependent on Israel. The prolonged occupation, external trade barriers and financial restrictions have thwarted the growth of an independent Palestinian economy which could generate sustainable job options for both women and men. The training courses were held in both the Occupied Territories and Italy. The advantage of training abroad is best expressed by course participant Doua Wadi,

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an official of a Dutch-funded NGO called CWEP (Centre for Women’s Economic Projects) operating in Ramallah and Gaza City. “Besides the exposure to international experience and expertise, here in Turin we can meet our colleagues face-to-face and live together for two weeks or more. Back home, because of the numerous security checkpoints, it is practically impossible to commute between our isolated territories without special permits to cross Israel. These are difficult to obtain. Even when we are given permits, they are only valid from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.” Source: World of Work, No.29 (April/May 1999).

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BALTIC BLUES: FOR WOMEN WORKERS IN ESTONIA, NEW JOBS ARE LACKING* Layla Alyanak**

Before independence, women in Estonia were guaranteed full employment and equality in the workplace – on paper. Since then, however, the situation for women has changed. Gone are those guarantees, replaced by the harsh new realities of market economics. Now, both the Government and the ILO are seeking new avenues for assuring equality among working women. As dawn breaks over the farm settlement where Liia, a 38-year-old teacher who lives with her extended family in rural Estonia, the long working day begins before she leaves her home. After making a fire in the stove to get warm water and boil potatoes for the pigs, she feeds the animals and milks her eight cows. Then she wakes up the rest of the family and serves them the breakfast she prepared the night before. “My day starts at 4 a.m.,” she said in a recent interview. “I don’t eat in the morning. I have 10 minutes to get ready and get to work.” In the evening, she corrects her students’ schoolwork assignments. Then, she repeats everything she did in the morning – and gets breakfast ready for the following day. For most people, the effort involved in Liia’s struggle to combine the role of wife and mother with that of income-earner would be enough of a challenge. But these days, Liia faces yet another concern. Should she lose her job, she might have a hard time finding new work in a tough employment market where ads openly call for “young, slim women”. And no matter where she works, she may find herself in a decidedly inferior position – both in terms of status as well as income. * Originally published in World of Work, No. 31 (September/October 1999). ** Freelance journalist, Estonia.

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Since this tiny country of 1.4 million people regained its independence in 1991 – it was independent once before between the two World Wars – women have been hit hardest by the shrinking jobs market. As the workforce has withered from 800,000 to 600,000, more women than men are unemployed or underemployed: 38.3 per cent of women compared with 24.7 per cent of men. Women tend to hold the lowest-paid jobs even when they are more skilled, earn less than men in most occupations, and often work in the low-paid public sector rather than in private enterprise.

New freedoms, more complications In the new transition economy, women’s lives have become more difficult. In addition to the demise of guaranteed employment for all, a shutdown of daycare centres and facilities for the elderly requires many women to spend more time than ever before at home caring for families, which in turn lowers not only their employability but also their household income. Nowhere is the challenge more visible than in rural areas where the dismantling of collective farms has thrown thousands of women out of work. In Tuhala, a rural township some 25 kilometres from the capital Tallinn, Tiiu Soans has found a way to make ends meet: she turned her farm into a country hotel. “It wasn’t easy,” she said. “Five years ago the situation was new and strange. All of a sudden we found we had to cope on our own, make our own choices and have responsibilities.” To help others like her understand the changes sweeping her country, Ms Soans runs the Union of Estonian Rural Women which retrains women and shows them how to deal with the transition. She remains shocked at the gender disparities in her country. “Equality was formally declared, we heard it every day, in the press, on the radio. We all took it for granted that we were equal.”

Unmasking paper guarantees “In Soviet times we heard that word so often,” said Reet Laja, a senior official of the Ministry of Social Affairs, when asked about equality of women in the workplace. “Most women thought they had already achieved equality. They were shocked to find out they had not.” Indeed, in countries in transition where the realities of capitalism and market economics have begun to bite, women are finding that the once loudly trumpeted concept of equality for women in the workplace is no longer a given. “One of the biggest setbacks for the countries in transition has been a marked increase in gender inequality in the political, economic and social spheres,” says the UNDP’s 1999 Human Development Report on transition 24

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Baltic blues: For women workers in Estonia, new jobs are lacking

economies. Indeed, across the former Soviet Union, women are finding that with economic and agrarian reform, it is often their jobs – rather than men’s – that suffer or are eliminated first. Estonia is far from unique. A recent World Bank study in Orel, some 300 kilometres south of Moscow, pinpoints some of the worst aspects of discrimination against rural women. Land redistributed under land reform is based on length of employment and wages – again, women stand to lose since they tend to earn less in their lifetime than men. And while women provide most of Russia’s farm labour, the vast majority of private farms have been and remain in men’s names. One of the most glaring setbacks for women has been in the formal labour market. From lifetime employment to hand-to-mouth existence, women have watched grimly as promises of a stable future disintegrated into joblessness or underemployment. In many former east bloc countries, salaries for women are lower than for equally qualified men. In Poland, university-educated men earn about 40 per cent more, on average, per month than educated women. In Latvia, women employed full time bring home 14–32 per cent less than men. Not only do women make less for the same jobs, but they are concentrated in the lower-paid professions. In Croatia, women make up 70 per cent of office workers and 55 per cent of all low-skilled labour. Many of these countries have laws against gender discrimination in hiring but these are often unenforced. As countries slip towards economic inequity, traditional stereotypes begin to resurface. Says Grazina Gruzdiene of the Lithuanian Trade Union of Food Industry Employees, “High male unemployment is one factor, among others, which is increasingly pushing women into the only role that society has deemed fit for women, as wife and mother.”

Seeking more and better jobs The return to traditional values is intensifying the challenge faced by Estonia’s women. “The general sentiment on gender issues remains patriarchal and conservative,” said Riina Kutt, Estonia’s National Coordinator for the ILO’s International Programme on More and Better Jobs for Women set up in 1997 as a follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and the World Summit for Social Development to reinforce the ILO’s longstanding commitment to gender equality at work. “In fact, with the transition there has been a re-emphasis on traditional gender roles.” Easing these inequalities and providing a way out for rural women is what the ILO hopes to accomplish with a new pilot project in the southeastern 25

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Estonian county of Valga. It plans to help Valga’s most vulnerable women find ways to make money through self-employment. “We picked Valga because it ranks second in unemployment in the country,” said the ILO coordinator. “It is an agricultural area so there is much unemployment since state and collective farms broke down. Lots of jobs for women were lost. They were economically disadvantaged and it has been very difficult for them to find new jobs. Some have high qualifications but there are few opportunities.” By identifying business opportunities for local women, the Valga county project will try to help them turn their ideas into income-generating realities, softening some of the worst blows of economic transition. One option is tourism, since this is Estonia’s hilliest region and a magnet for visitors in both summer and winter. Still, identifying viable opportunities remains a formidable task. At the same time, decades of predictability robbed many women of their ability to plan their futures and make their own choices.

“We have to learn everything . . .” The government is not insensitive to the growing disparities between women and men and is trying to rectify the worst of them. “When I started I wanted to establish a special unit for equality because there was nothing at the government level on gender issues,” said Reet Laja of the Social Affairs Ministry. Few women would choose to turn back the clock, but they now face a fight to reclaim in practice what they once had on paper. One daunting challenge is to convince the mostly male ruling class that there actually is a problem. Another is to roll back emerging “reactionary” attitudes which inevitably return in times of hardship. “An Equality Bureau was only established here in 1996,” says Ms Laja. “Before, there was no need for such a unit. Now you have to prove that inequalities exist because people have no idea of gender issues.” “Women are very educated in Estonia but we have a lack of free market experience,” said Ms Kutt. “We have very limited business traditions in Estonia, though some remain from the time between the wars. We have to learn everything.”

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NEW ILO REPORT: GENDER EQUALITY CLOSER, BUT MUCH STILL TO BE DONE*

In Asia, poverty often has a woman’s face. An new ILO report, Towards gender equality in the world of work in Asia and the Pacific (1999) says that women in the region are poorer than men and hit harder by globalization. Across south-east and east Asia, the Asian financial crisis has toppled women back into uncertain, exploitative and poorly paid work, struggling to keep their families fed and clothed. A recent conference held to examine the evolution of the status of women in the years since the World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995) found that although there has been progress towards gender equality, much remains to be done. Across Asia today, the stories about women who felt the chill of the Asian financial crisis in 1997–98 are legion. There is the story of a Philippine woman who worked as a secretary in a rent-a-car firm before the peso collapsed in 1997, and looked forward with her husband to a bright future with their five children. Today, jobless and recently widowed, she walks in and out of office blocks selling biscuits, earning 150 Philippine pesos (less than US$4) per package. Her market is limited to the large offices with people who can afford a little luxury. Sometimes she gets a little clerical work to augment her income. She hopes that one day she might get “a regular job for a regular income to support my family, since I am all by myself now”. Meanwhile, in the sprawling suburbs of Bangkok, Ratchanee M. prepares for another long day in the car. If she sells a life insurance policy, she’ll earn the commission that will keep her family of four afloat for another month. If not, it will be more than just another frustrating day on the job. Before the crisis,

* Originally published in World of Work, No.32 (December 1999).

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Ratchanee and her husband owned two homes, had two incomes, and were part of Thailand’s emerging middle class. Now, her husband’s company has no staff and no contracts. Ratchanee’s former company has closed its doors, her new job carries a token salary, and both their houses are on the market. Servicing their debts on the houses and on her husband’s business has eaten away the family’s savings, says Ratchanee. “I spend everything on the family.”

Underpaid, undervalued and underemployed These women, and thousands more, have borne the brunt of the Asian financial crisis. Business closures and unprecedented unemployment took a heavy toll on women – heavier than on men. The new report from the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific says that the disadvantage and discrimination that women face in the labour market makes them more vulnerable to events such as the Asian financial crisis. As enterprises failed and companies collapsed, women reeled under the multiple burden of retrenchment, falling incomes, and disappearing markets, as they struggled to provide their families’ basic needs. Even in countries which escaped the crisis, poverty wears a feminine face. Over-represented in agriculture where income levels are lowest, and earning barely enough to meet their personal needs in the informal sector, women are disproportionately represented in poverty. At a recent regional consultation held by the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific to review progress since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995), representatives of governments, employers and workers from more than 20 countries heard that despite some advances, a wide gulf still separates the region’s women from genuine equality.

Fewer jobs mean family woes The financial crisis has marred the lives of millions in the Asian region. For women, it has made the burden of ensuring their families’ basic needs are met even heavier. “With decreasing household income, and decreasing state expenditures on health and social infrastructure, women’s overwhelming responsibility to provide the family’s basic needs has become a particularly painful one,” says the new ILO report. The loss of jobs, the report says, has pushed many women “back into the informal sector or agricultural households where they had to cope with less income and higher burdens for themselves, their children and parents, and possibly their husbands who have lost their formal sector jobs.” 28

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The crisis has brought women face-to-face with unemployment and worsening employment conditions. While overall unemployment rates for women may not have dramatically outstripped men’s as a result of the crisis, in some countries, such as the Philippines, women’s unemployment rose much higher, to 15 per cent, compared to 12 per cent for men. In the Republic of Korea, while women’s unemployment is lower than men’s (at 5.8 per cent compared to 8.5 per cent), the women’s labour force participation rate has dropped by 4.4 per cent, while men’s has remained virtually constant. Among regular workers, women’s employment has dropped by 20 per cent, compared to only 6 per cent for men. In Indonesia, although the women’s unemployment rate has increased by 14 per cent and men’s by 27 per cent, women’s incomes fell by 6 per cent compared to the men’s which fell by 4 per cent. And, the report says, the crisis may well have been hardest on the women whose stories the data does not tell – those in the informal sector. “While both employment and wages in the informal sector have been negatively affected by the crisis, demand for the informal sector’s output has probably been hit harder, but cannot be assessed. A majority of women in developing countries of the region, including agricultural labourers, traditional artisans, weavers, vendors, homeworkers or other informal sector workers in urban areas, are likely to have been particularly hard hit by the financial crisis.” The crisis’s record of hurting the most vulnerable also saw it reach migrant workers and girl-children, and is generally believed to have pushed more girls and boys out of school and into work. In the Philippines, the impact seems to have been worse for girls than boys, and in Indonesia, enrolment rates have declined further for girls than boys. Even in the countries which escaped the crisis, women’s lives are hard. Income levels are lowest in agriculture and related activities, where women are over-represented. In Pakistan in 1995, 67 per cent of women laboured in agriculture compared with 44 per cent of men; in Cambodia, 79 per cent compared with 71 per cent of men; in Nepal, 91 per cent compared with men’s 75 per cent; and in Bangladesh, 78 per cent against men’s 54 per cent.

Is the situation improving? Despite the gloomy picture of women’s poverty and their vulnerability in times of crisis, the Manila meeting heard that there are signs that the situation is continuing to improve – if only slowly. The gender gap between labour force participation rates, for example, narrowed between 1990 and 1997 by two per cent in Indonesia, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore; by three per cent in Australia and Hong Kong, China. The report points to the importance of both economic and social measures to achieve gender equality (see box). 29

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Common understandings: Conclusions of the Asian Regional Consultation Improved data measures to help migrant workers and the girl-child, social safety nets and better access to training and services were among the courses of action charted by participants in a consolidated statement of common understandings which will help guide ongoing ILO work in the region. Among the issues it addressed were:

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Promoting equal employment opportunities

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Ratifying and applying international labour standards

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Data on gender gaps and emerging job opportunities

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Women’s access to schooling, training, credit, resources and markets

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Child care and flexible work arrangements

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Measures to help migrant workers, including “rescue homes” and bilateral agreements

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Extending labour legislation to reach homeworkers

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Monetary evaluation of unpaid work

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Talking with international financial institutions to protect women from the burden of structural adjustment

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Gender-sensitization training for ILO staff and constituents, and involving women in every stage of technical cooperation work

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Social safety nets and organizing women in the informal sector

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Changing attitudes to gender questions

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Legislation to deal with workplace violence

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Equal access to social security benefits

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Ensuring that protective legislation does not disadvantage women

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Supporting “family-friendly” employers, and encouraging employers to promote equality

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Encouraging women’s representation on tripartite and other decision-making bodies

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New ILO report: Gender equality closer, but much still to be done

“On its own, market-led economic growth appears insufficient to achieve gender equality in the world of work – both because prevailing cultural factors impede progress towards equality and because policies have to be in place to transform the economic potential into equitable distribution of gains,” the report says. “In the absence of supportive policies, men rather than women will benefit from economic growth.” In terms of legislation, the report found advancements in a number of countries – including new legislation on sexual harassment and a gradual move away from protective legislation and towards legislation promoting equal employment opportunities. In a message read at the opening session, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said the report showed there had been some progress at the regional level towards women’s economic empowerment. “But it is important to stress that more jobs for women should not compromise on quality, and that in order to ensure gender equity, economic growth should go hand-in-hand with better jobs,” he said, noting that this was something that would be an important consideration at the special session of the United Nations General Assembly scheduled for June of next year. The session will consider progress in the five years since Beijing (referred to as “Beijing+5”). “We are still way behind our purported goals,” said Philippines Government Secretary of Housing Ms Karina Constantino-David. “The general indication is that women remain marginalized and discriminated against in every part of the world.” Describing the Beijing Platform for Action adopted at the Beijing Conference as a “compass that points us in the direction of a fairer more equitable society”, ILO Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific Ms Mitsuko Horiuchi urged participants at the regional consultation to adopt strategies that would achieve those goals – protecting the human rights of women and girls, eradicating women’s poverty, eliminating violence against women, promoting economic autonomy and removing barriers to women’s roles in public life. “Gender equality is really only another way of saying justice,” Ms Horiuchi said. “Discrimination on the basis of sex is unfair, it is unjust and it is discrimination for no other reason than that we are born women.” She cited some improvements in the region – among them the jobs created by economic growth and an increasing recognition of sexual harassment in the workplace as a violation of women’s human rights – however, she said the Asian financial crisis has revealed the dark side of globalization, and women were at particular risk. The preparations for the Beijing+5 Special Session served as a reminder to redouble efforts to implement the Beijing Platform for Action, said former Philippines Senator Leticia Ramos Shahani. “Yet despite our most intense 31

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efforts we are sometimes overwhelmed by the vast amount of work that remains to be done in the field of women’s rights and its related problems of poverty, unemployment, and discrimination.” Even so, Ms. Shahani said, we should not lose hope, and should remember that changes in attitude and structural reform move slowly.

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2000 The new millennium invited global stock-taking on achievements related to gender equality. Five years after the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing, the ILO delegation joined around eight thousand participants at a Special Session of the UN General Assembly in New York to review progress and consider challenges ahead in implementing the Beijing Platform for Action. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia reaffirmed the ILO’s commitment to gender equality, stating that “We take another step towards globalizing social progress when we champion gender equality as a matter of rights and social justice, as well as efficiency and good business sense.” In the same year, the 88th International Labour Conference took a significant step to improve working conditions and opportunities for women by adopting a new Convention on maternity protection (No. 183) replacing the previous Convention (No. 103). The new Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No.183) applies to all women, “including those in atypical forms of dependent work” and those in the informal sector, whereas the previous Convention covered a much narrower category of women workers. It also contains a provision for protection of the health of the mother and child as opposed to the previous Convention which contained no such provision. By late 2006 13 member States had ratified Convention 183. The above occurred at a time of continuous efforts to raise awareness of women workers’ occupational health issues. Over the last decades, it had become obvious that occupational safety, health and environment – through research and application – were seen as a man’s domain. To counter this, the ILO launched a series of training activities aimed at increasing awareness of health and safety risks particular to women workers.

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ILO-STEP: WORKING WITH THE INNOVATIVE MICROINSURANCE MOVEMENT IN SAHELIAN AFRICA* Tor Monsen**

Microinsurance schemes (MIS) for health services are an innovative way of fighting against social exclusion. The ILO-STEP programme (Strategies and Tools against Social Exclusion and Poverty) is giving technical support to one such project in rural Senegal. In the impoverished Sahelian village of Kaffrine, some 400 kilometres southeast of Senegal’s capital Dakar, the Amazone women are in their finest clothes. They have been waiting for some time now for the arrival of an outsider to help them set up a microinsurance scheme (MIS), and now they have begun to dance and sing. When the associate expert of the ILO-STEP programme arrives just before sunset, the drumming continues. The STEP Africa programme is launching a field-training programme on management for microinsurance schemes, and the expert is bringing the initiating parcel of cartoons. Cartoons? Yes, cartoons, and eagerly-awaited cartoons at that. And as the sky darkens, the dancing simmers down and the Amazones gather around the faint light of a torch to look at the drawings they have been waiting for.

Cartoons for Amazones The members of this federation, which includes about 20 women’s groups involving more then 1,000 women in the area around Kaffrine, call themselves the Amazones, because the name evokes the women fighters who once lived * Originally published in World of Work, No. 33 (February 2000). ** ILO Information Officer, Norway.

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in the ancient West African Abomey Kingdom. Today, they are fighting against poverty. And for the Amazones, this is not just any cartoon. Their excitement stems from their participation in its development by the ILO’s STEP programme, and because it will help sensitize and inform future women members of their group about ways of improving the financing of health services through microinsurance schemes. (By mutually contributing to a common fund, the women are trying to insure themselves and their family against illness.) Their struggle is a daunting task. Since the droughts of the 1980s, the region of Kaffrine has suffered from desertification. The main enterprises closed their doors and the local population faces a record rate of unemployment and an almost complete lack of business opportunities. Less than a third of the women can read or write, only half of the children enter school and more than 50 per cent of the people live in poverty. Yet the women in the federation refuse to give up. Since 1988, they have been fighting to improve three main areas of their lives: health, literacy and productive activities. The constitution of the MIS is their innovative tool for improving their social and health conditions.

Microinsurance: A new concept Microinsurance refers to the different insurance systems that can reach the excluded. Microinsurance schemes combine the concepts of insurance and participation. They are independent, non-profit organizations based on solidarity and democratic management. Their aim is to improve access, mainly through their members’ contributions, to quality health care for members. In West and Central Africa, these MIS are still new, young and few in number. Depending on the needs which have been identified, they provide primary health care, hospital treatment, drug delivery or other vital services. Recent studies have confirmed their potential to enhance access to health care, which has attracted growing interest from the general public, governments and their partners.

The role of ILO-STEP The genesis of the cartoon and the Amazones’ evident joy over its arrival began more than a year ago. During the start-up of their MIS, the Amazones contacted the ILO for support. The cartoon is a response to their expressed need for a product that would inform and sensitize members – especially illiterate women – on the advantages and challenges of their microinsurance scheme. The Amazones understand the logic of the cartoon rather well. For them, it is not a gadget, but is an essential form of communicating a message. Soon, 36

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their message is picked up and passed on. Some days after the dissemination of the cartoons, the Amazone “griot” (a Sahelian traditional singer) presented a newly created song on the advantages of the microinsurance scheme, which she now performs during sensitization campaigns. The ILO-STEP programme does not assist by handing over large sums of money, but gives technical assistance. Through pro-active research and capitalizing on best practice experiences, the ILO has developed several training tools for promoting and managing microinsurance schemes. The key “promoter” of the Amazones has also been able to benefit from a Training for Trainers and Promoters course at the ILO International Training Centre in Turin. During this training – with technical support from STEP programme – the “promoter”, together with 23 other participants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Guinea, Haiti, Mali and Senegal learned how to set up and promote microinsurance schemes. Now, one week later, the promoter, the Amazones and the STEP associate expert are gathered to prepare and launch the planned follow-up training. Since May 1999, more than 80 Amazones have already contributed to the common fund. They want to launch the services of the microinsurance scheme at the beginning of March 2000. To prepare this important step forward, they needed external technical support.

Scenes from the field Another MIS in the Kaffrine area is called Bokk Faj, which will receive similar follow-up training of a local promoter in a week’s time. “Bokk Faj” means “strong together” in Wolof, the main language in Senegal. Launched in May 1999, Bokk Faj has grown from 5 to 22 villages. By December 1999, another 14 wanted to join. The main task is to fight poverty. Since the majority of their members are peasants, they are developing their own health insurance scheme through the production and joint sale of peanuts and sorghum. The collective fields, shared by the villagers, will serve to finance the working costs of their microinsurance scheme. Since the harvest has begun and all families will soon receive their main yearly income, sensitization campaigns are now being intensified. Because it is difficult to save money, the beneficiaries of Bokk Faj will be insured against illness for the next year by contributing to the microinsurance scheme. * * * Thirty kilometres outside Dakar, the suburb of Malika is bounded by the capital’s main rubbish dumps. Malika is home to 50 women’s groups fighting malnutrition, dehydration, AIDS and malaria. In addition, they run literacy and 37

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family planning campaigns. They get their resources from sewing clothes, extracting salt and smoking fish. By contributing 10 FCFA monthly per family member, the women have through their own means managed to build a delivery room for the local clinic. ILO-STEP is supporting the creation of a microinsurance scheme for these 3,000 women working in the informal sector. * * * Thiès, with 200,000 inhabitants, is the city in Senegal with the most vibrant NGO environment. Owing to the encouraging response to the MIS in the area, they have managed to reduce prices at the local hospital by 50 per cent. Every family of the And Fagaru microinsurance scheme of Thiès pays a membership fee, and gets a membership book with a picture of every member of their family. This gives them the right to free assistance when giving birth, free hospital checkups and a ten-day hospital stay.

90 per cent of the population To strengthen the collaboration between the different MIS in Senegal and the region, the STEP office in Dakar has launched “Concertation”, a network of French-speaking West African development actors dealing with the promotion and the strengthening of the innovative movement of MIS (see www.concertation.org). STEP was launched in 1998 to extend social protection in the informal sector, where up to 90 per cent of the people in many parts of Africa work. The programme addresses the global problems of large-scale poverty and social exclusion, and aims to promote social development. In West Africa, STEP supports selected grass-roots organizations to set up and manage their own micro health insurance schemes, which can give them power vis-à-vis local health authorities. Through the involvement of local communities, affordable health care is made accessible.

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ILO EXAMINES PROGRESS, LOOKS AHEAD TO BEIJING+5*

In preparation for ILO participation in the United Nations Conference, “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century”, a special Symposium on Decent Work for Women during the Governing Body meeting highlighted the challenge of eliminating gender-based discrimination in the workplace. Representatives of governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations as well as NGOs participated in the Symposium. Among topics discussed were rightsbased and development-based approaches; progress and gaps in decent work for men and women; promoting women workers’ rights; a gender perspective on poverty, employment and social protection; management development and entrepreneurship for women; and gender in crisis response and reconstruction. Key speakers identified existing obstacles to gender equality, and proposed initiatives and actions for the future.

Juan Somavia “We take another step towards globalizing social progress when we champion gender equality as a matter of rights and social justice, as well as efficiency and good business sense,” the Director-General said. “In putting forward our decent work agenda, we have put gender equality and development issues at the heart of the ILO agenda.” He noted that to chart future actions, it would be necessary to make breakthroughs in several areas. Poverty and rising inequality need to be attacked. Males still have a disproportionate share of wealth and * Originally published in World of Work, No.34, April/May 2000.

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females a disproportionate share of poverty. Also, women’s increasing participation in the labour force is perhaps the most important factor in determining the social policy agenda in the new century. It will be a challenge to come up with new systems that can offer protection to women and men in precarious activities. “Our decent work strategy is a way out of poverty for women because it is based on principles of equality and equity at work and at home,” Mr. Somavia stressed.

Angela King* “It is clear that there is still much too much gender inequality in women’s access to economic opportunities and to actual economic empowerment,” Ms King noted in her statement at the Symposium. “In most parts of the world, women still have no control of, or participation in, decision-making concerning capital, credit, property, technology, education and information. Yet they are working in growing numbers, and feminization of labour is a recognized process.” She said statistics had confirmed the fact that women bear the brunt of the burden of poverty. In rural areas, where most of the world’s poor live, women are responsible for 70-80 per cent of the on-farm labour in some countries. Women all over the world are working long and hard for survival wages. “The challenge for us,” she noted, “is how to help them make these extraordinary efforts remunerative. This means that, using the ILO’s definition, we have to provide women with productive work in which their rights are protected.”

Bina Agarwal** “Command over property implies not only rights in law, but also effective rights in practice,” said Ms Agarwal, who has had a long-standing formal association with the ILO, publishing her earliest piece on women and technological change in 1981. She focused on two aspects of gender inequality which centrally affect millions of women as workers, but which she said had failed to receive the attention they deserve: the gender gap in command over property and productive assets, and gender-biased social perceptions and social norms. According to Ms Agarwal, inequality in command over property is the single most important form of persistent economic inequality between women and men. This impinges centrally on their status both as workers, and as social and political actors. Although difficult to quantify, she said, social perceptions * Special Advisor to the United Nations on Gender Issues and the Advancement of Women. ** Professor of Economics, Institute of Economic Growth, University of Delhi, India. Contributor and independent advisor to the International Labour Review.

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and social norms enter almost every sphere of activity. They can affect economic outcomes for women in virtually every area, be it property rights, employment, or household allocations. In the labour market, gender, like race, often defines perceptions about abilities, and can lead to discriminatory hiring and pay practices. Women’s contributions are often undervalued because many do home-based unpaid work which is less visible in physical and monetary terms than wage work outside the home. Men are seen as the primary breadwinners, and women at best as helpers.

Bina Agarwal talks to World of Work World of Work: How do you define decent work in the context of gender equality and the ILO’s role? Bina Agarwal: It seems to me that decent work at one level is very simple; that it needs to involve and provide secure and viable livelihoods for men and women. But it should also promote a sense of dignity and self worth. So I see decent work as having certain characteristics, but also as a process of moving towards greater equality and empowerment, and a greater voice in the community and in the country. It should be an enabling process. To achieve decent work, I believe a very essential component that has been missed out is equality of property rights, equality of property ownership and control. And what this means for many women in Asia, Africa and Latin America is ownership of land in particular, and productive assets. WoW: What other elements are necessary for achieving decent work for women? Bina Agarwal: Sharing housework, child care and elder care. We know that women have been carrying the double burden, so no matter how much we talk about lack of discrimination in the workplace, we must recognize that if there is an unequal share in housework, child care and elder care, whatever the laws might be in the workplace, women begin with an initial disadvantage. And over time I think that this is the responsibility of governments, of employers and of communities, and not just an issue of individual families. We need to devise ways in which communities can provide for child care and elder care and that the burden just does not fall solely on the families. There is a lot to be built in the future. Traditionally we (in India and other developing countries) have had a notion of community; people live together, and if there is a crisis in villages and even small towns, women provide a network through which families can survive and cope. But a lot of those networks are breaking down with the notion of nuclear families and migration, and inevitably that is the direction in which 41

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communities and families will go. So we need to rethink different ways of reconstituting the community support structures on a more formalized basis. Those two elements are essential in my view to bring about gender equality, but they are often left out of agendas. WoW: What can the ILO do in this context? Bina Agarwal: If one would really broaden the notion of one’s understanding of what is necessary to promote decent work, then the ILO and other international bodies should work together. There are many international bodies which have been very concerned about issues of land rights. The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) for example, in agrarian reforms. The mandate should not be what one particular international organization can do, but to what extent it can work in tandem with other institutions to promote a larger vision of decent work and gender equality. Let us unpackage the informal sector and recognize that very large numbers of women are still dependent on agriculture. It’s not just microenterprises or urban enterprises that we are talking about. We should go much further. I also feel that a lot of issues get submerged when a phrase keeps getting repeated like “women’s access to productive resources”, and becomes one sentence amongst 50 other sentences, whereas in fact it is absolutely key. And what resources are we talking about? We are not just talking about a bit of credit. Often it has remained only at that. We must talk about the central distribution of property and resources. It could be land, it could be shares in companies, and financial assets on a much larger scale as well. Our focus should be concentrated on this issue. WoW: What is your position on maternity leave? Bina Agarwal: The organizations talk of equality in terms of parental leave, paternity and maternity leave. But it should not stop at that. Because these issues are only valid or become relevant when you are working in a context where leave is an issue. Here you are working in a completely informal context where you don’t even have a formal employer because you are working on the family farm. But you are very much workers. You have a claim to the resource on which you are working which is the land or the asset. That is very important.

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WORK FROM WASTE: SWEEPING CHANGE AMONG WOMEN WORKERS? IN DAR, IT’S MORE THAN JUST SIMPLE RUBBISH* Elaine Eliah**

“We had nothing. We used to cook some bites (food snacks) but you can’t make money out of that.” That, explained Mwanaidi Msosa, was why she and 20 of her neighbours in Dar es Salaam took up trash collecting. Women workers are cleaning up their city, and breaking new ground in small-scale private sector employment. Like many of the world’s urban centres, the Tanzanian capital has been a magnet for rural residents seeking better opportunities. This migration has spawned problems, ranging from unplanned housing to critically low water supplies. It has also generated unemployment, pushing many unskilled young men into occupations traditionally held by women. It was such competition in food processing that led Mwanaidi Msosa and her sister members of the Kisutu Women Development Trust (KIWODET) to seek financial returns in some other form of work. Trash collecting? Not exactly what many consider women’s work. “If men can do it, why not us?” she says. “Why not we women?” In fact, in 1995, the City’s workers collected only about 5 per cent of Dar es Salaams’s solid waste. That started changing in 1998 when groups like KIWODET’s twenty unstoppable home-based workers picked up their brooms and took to the streets. In a short while, they built a reputation for getting an unpleasant job done – and getting it done well. When their resource pool grew, they purchased trashsized plastic bags and presented them to Kisutu neighbours – along with the option of having filled bags removed and dumped for 200 shillings each. Six months later, when the Dar es Salaam City Commission (DCC) privatized urban trash collection and street cleaning, KIWODET was ready. * Originally published in World of Work, No.34 (April/May 2000). ** Freelance journalist, Uganda.

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It tendered with other contractors and organizations to operate in their neighbourhood, known locally as a mtaa. Successful bidders received permits to collect not only trash in designated areas, but also receive direct fee payments based on DCC-set rates. Private companies tendered and generally won contracts to clean the inner city and other key areas they had previously received city funds to clean. But Kisutu mtaa had never had regular trash removal service. Residents used to bury or burn their garbage. Not only did the city’s new law against burning catch them by surprise, the idea of paying money for trash removal sparked even greater protest. “People’s thinking about paying for trash pickup had to be changed,” says Alodia Ishengoma, coordinator of the ILO Solid Waste Management Project (SWMP). She helped Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), many of them informal neighbourhood groups, to make their bids. Once licensed, these groups received group management and simple business management training from collaborating institutions. Alodia then suggested ways for awareness raising campaigns in the designated neighbourhoods. Many of the bid winners were assisted to purchase wheelbarrows, two-wheeled carts and protective gear. Today, private enterprises and CBOs are collecting about 35 per cent of Dar es Salaam’s solid waste. And it shows. The city is cleaner, while an estimated 1,000 new jobs have been created. More than half of these are for women, and many unemployed youth – over 16 years old – now earn a small income.

Recycling opportunities But for larger companies and CBOs alike, direct fee collection remains a problem. Moreover, CBOs don’t have the trucks to transfer the heaps of waste to the dump site, or valuable recyclables to buyers. Though DCC said it would try to make municipal trucks available for smaller groups, the help has declined and CBOs are forced to hire vehicles when needed. It clearly dents their profits. Recycling has, therefore, become an attractive side-business. “There are five main recyclables,” explained Godfrey Mwendwa who works on the recycling side of the SWMP project. “Paper, plastic, metal, glass, and organic materials.” But lack of water makes it difficult to wash plastics well enough for buyers to accept them, and frustrates composting of the many waste vegetables and fruits – a profitable small business venue during wetter seasons.

Better services and more jobs To encourage networking and information exchange among the new businesses, the SWMP project also helped establish the Tanzania Environment and Waste Management Association (TEWA). With 50 members among the 44

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70 licensed contractors in Dar es Salaam, TEWA intends to become a voice for their interests and help them to get technical and financial assistance. After a brief one-year history, Dar es Salaam has demonstrated that the small-scale private sector can provide waste collection services far more efficiently than the cash-strapped city itself could. And they now also reach the poor. Following the success with solid waste collection, other community services such as water distribution, parking fee collection, and market maintenance may well be services better offered by small enterprises – provided that local governments let them do it, for a fee. The very formation of such businesses will expand the private sector and create more sustainable employment. Though KIWODET eagerly contracted for another three years, it is hard to ignore the recyclable heaps piling higher around Ms Msosa’s home. The women hope that not only recycling opportunities, but also local water supplies will improve. CBOs wonder whether DCC or others might assist them with vehicles or by leasing trucks from larger companies to collect in smaller neighbourhoods. Organizations also hope the city of Dar es Salaam will work harder to educate people to pay for their trash collection. “It is for them, too, to make them free from the health hazards,” explained Ms Msosa. Her group continues to work hard. “When they see that you are taking the waste they get shy for not paying.”

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NEW MATERNITY CONVENTION ADOPTED *

The 88th International Labour Conference (ILC) has adopted a new Convention on maternity protection. It is a step toward what Director-General Juan Somavia calls “reconciling family life and working life”, and making decent work a reality. The new international Convention and Recommendation on maternity protection received a strong endorsement from delegates, extending coverage to millions of women who are current unprotected during the period of maternity. “A key element of making decent work a reality must involve improving working conditions and opportunities for women,” Mr Somavia said. Apparently, many delegates agreed. They adopted the new international Convention on maternity protection by a vote of 304 for, 22 against, 116 abstentions. The Recommendation was also adopted by a vote of 315 for, 16 against, with 108 abstentions. The revision takes into account developments in the world of work since 1952, when the previous Maternity Protection Convention (No. 103) was adopted. However, that Convention has not been ratified by a large number of countries. The new Convention strengthens protection over previous ILO instruments in many areas and broadens the scope of coverage. Under ILO procedures, the adoption of an international Convention requires two hearings in the Conference. The first hearing for the proposed revision was in 1999.

* Originally published in World of Work, No.35 (July 2000).

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The Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183): What it is, what it does The new Convention applies to all women, “including those in atypical forms of dependent work” – including the informal sector – whereas the previous Convention (No. 103) covered a much narrower category of women workers. It also contains a provision for protection of the health of the mother and child as opposed to the previous Convention which contains no such provision. The new standard says: “Each member shall, after consulting the representative organizations of employers and workers, adopt appropriate measures to ensure that pregnant or breast-feeding women are not obliged to perform work which has been determined by the competent authority to be prejudicial to the health of the mother or the child, or where an assessment has established a significant risk to the mother’s health or that of her child.” The length of maternity leave will be extended from 12 to 14 weeks, including “a period of six weeks compulsory leave after childbirth, unless otherwise agreed at the national level by the government and the representative organizations of employers and workers.” It also says that “leave shall be provided before or after the maternity leave period in the case of illness, complications or risk of complications arising out of pregnancy or childbirth”, with the nature and duration of such leave being specified in accordance with national law and practice. On maternity benefits, the new instrument says that “cash benefits shall be provided, in accordance with national laws and regulations or in any other manner consistent with national practice, to women who are absent from work on leave”. The cash benefits should be provided “at a level which ensures that the woman can maintain herself and her child in proper conditions of health and with a suitable standard of living”. In order to protect the situation of women in the labour market, benefits in respect of the leave shall “be provided through compulsory social insurance funds or public funds, or in a manner to be determined by national law and practice. An employer shall not be individually liable for the direct cost of any such monetary benefit to a woman employed by him or her without that employer’s specific agreement”, except in cases where national law or practice provides for other provisions. On employment protection, “It shall be unlawful for an employer to terminate the employment of a woman during her pregnancy or absence on leave or during a period following her return to work to be prescribed by national laws or regulations, except on grounds unrelated to the pregnancy or birth of the child and its consequences for nursing.” 47

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On breastfeeding, the new Convention says that “A woman shall be provided with the right to one or more daily breaks or a daily reduction of hours of work to breast-feed her child.” The length and duration of the breaks are to be implemented in accordance with national practice, and “these breaks or the reduction of daily hours of work shall be counted as working time and remunerated accordingly”.

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FIVE YEARS AFTER BEIJING: PROGRESS TOWARDS GENDER EQUALITY, BUT “PATCHY AND UNEVEN”* Janine Rodgers**

Eight thousand participants (77 per cent women) from 178 UN member States, three non-member States, specialized agencies and programmes, and over 2000 NGOs gathered in New York from 5th to 9th June 2000 for the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on “Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century”. They reviewed progress made and the new challenges to be faced since the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. A 44-page document reconfirmed in full all the commitments of the Beijing Platform for Action. Some critical areas for action have been further strengthened and new initiatives included in particular, to combat trafficking, violence against women, to ensure women’s full enjoyment of their rights to health and related services, to empower women economically and politically, and to encourage their full participation in conflict prevention and resolution. Decisions aimed at ensuring that women reap the benefits rather than bear the burdens of globalization. “Beijing+5” has shown that some progress towards gender equality has been made, albeit patchy and uneven. The discussion of gender issues has deepened, and gender has become part of the political agenda of almost all countries. However, the biggest challenge remains how to go beyond the rhetoric and make commitments for action operational. It is also very clear that there exist some divergent views on issues such as reproductive health and sexual rights. As the Director-General of the ILO said in his message to the President of the General Assembly, “We take a decisive * Originally published in World of Work, No.35 (July 2000). ** ILO Bureau for Gender Equality.

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step towards globalizing social progress each time we champion gender equality as a matter of human rights, social justice, economic efficiency and sustainable development.” Gender equality cannot be reached through sectoral solutions, and holistic and harmonized approaches at the national, regional and international levels are needed, as well as strong partnerships between men and women. Concerted efforts must be made to ensure an enabling environment for men and women to have access to decent work which will bring them security and assure a decent standard of living for themselves and their families. The ILO attached great importance to “Beijing+5” and actively participated in it. The Bureau for Gender Equality prepared and published a special report entitled Decent work for women, which is a global proposal to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, and the ILO organized three special events: A workshop on “Decent Work for Women”, one on “Galvanizing Action: Older Women Workers”, and a third one on “Women’s Empowerment and Microfinance”. At a workshop organized by the Inter-Agency Committee on Women and Gender Equality the ILO was cited as the agency which had made more systematic efforts in gender mainstreaming, as well as a good example in gender-sensitive budgeting. An ILO official was a panellist in a workshop on “Organizing for Equality, Jobs and Justice in the Global Economy” organized by the ICFTU and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. An ILO stand displayed and distributed ILO publications. Many participants visited the stand, exchanged views and asked for more technical information. There were also computer demonstrations of ILO electronic resources on gender issues. Beijing+5 provided an excellent opportunity for the ILO to establish or strengthen contacts with governmental and non-governmental participants from all regions, and with representatives of the UN agencies. This will help the ILO to develop “Beijing+5” follow-up strategies at different levels.

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WOMEN WORK TO CLOSE THE “OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY GENDER GAP”* Ellen Rosskam**

Thanks to a small but powerful initiative of the ILO, women around the world are learning the potential of their shared experience when it comes to occupational safety. An occupational safety, health and environment (OSHE) training programme in Bombay, India is helping women find ways to expand personal possibilities and develop creative health promotion strategies for trade unions and communities. Kalpana had never taught or organized workers before the first workshop. In the first workshop, 16 Indian women learned participatory/empowerment training techniques and studied technical OSHE material. At the end of the first workshop, Kalpana had developed enough self-confidence to go out and begin organizing numerous occupational safety and health training workshops for her local union. A second workshop, ten months later, reinforced the women’s mastery of the technical OSHE material. After the second workshop, Kalpana was elected to the Women’s Steering Committee of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF). Today, Kalpana organizes and teaches trade union workshops on OSH, has gone on to attend a three-week international OSH trade union training course in Israel, and has addressed 3,000 delegates from 120 countries at the ITF World Centenary Congress in London. Among the 84 speakers present, she was one of only four women asked to speak. She has also organized contract workers for wage revision, participated in the ILO’s XIVth World Congress on OSH in Spain and speaks publicly in her community about HIV/AIDS.

* Originally published in World of Work, No. 36 (September/October 2000). ** ILO SafeWork Programme.

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The occupational safety gender gap Women represent some 40 per cent of the global workforce, yet their jobs and the health and safety risks particular to them remain virtually unstudied. What’s more, corporate and government policymakers have yet to give these issues adequate consideration. Occupational safety, health and environment is often seen as a man’s domain, where women are out of their league. This perspective not only limits the empowerment of women but also the drive for, and the nature of, effective solutions to workplace problems. The equation is simple: globally, if more people are trained and made aware of the importance of OSHE, the numbers and the staggering social costs of workplace fatalities, accidents and environmental catastrophes can be significantly reduced. Women are conspicuously absent as decision-makers, both in corporate boardrooms as well as in trade union offices. Women workers face many hardships: they find it difficult to advance in the rank and file of a trade union, they lack support from the male leadership for organizing and conducting OSHE training courses, and have difficulty ensuring that other women participate in such training courses. Demonstrating particular competencies or advancing in union ranks often provokes jealousy from colleagues. Women may even find obstacles built up before them just because they are women. As a result, women workers often feel intimidated when addressing technical health and safety subjects, especially in front of a group of male workers. The lack of participation by women in solutions affecting their own health is exacerbated by the fact that women are often reluctant to get involved in officially designated Occupational Health and Safety Committees. They feel they lack the critical technical skills and expertise, a belief that only increases the cycle of low self-esteem and feelings of incompetence. The ILO recognizes that in order for real change to take place, safety and health professionals need to demystify technical areas, empower workers, focus on the risks particular to jobs performed by women on the job, and encourage unions to activate Women’s Committees as well as involve women in Health and Safety Committees. This reflects the recognition that the health and safety risks to women in jobs performed by women are different from those experienced by men. For example, because tools and personal protective equipment (PPE) are designed for men, women often face a situation where their size renders the equipment and PPE ineffective, thereby increasing their risk of injury or illness. In addition, failure to study exposure effects particular to women creates an occupational safety gender gap that leaves women unnecessarily vulnerable to such exposure. 52

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Women work to close the “occupational safety gender gap”

From New Delhi to Manila: Globalizing women’s OSHE In an attempt to reduce the barriers to women’s participation in health and safety in their workplaces, the ILO sponsored a series of workshops with the help of a grant from the Norwegian Government. The success of the first workshop in New Delhi, India, in 1993, led to others in India and the Philippines, and inspired other union safety programmes aimed at supporting and utilizing women in the workplace. To date, this ILO effort has provided training for some 60 women union members throughout the Philippines and India in conducting health and safety workshops for their respective unions. The impact of these women has been tremendous; they have gone on to train several hundred other workers in health and safety issues. They have won the support of their mostly male union and company management and as a result have continued to organize their own training workshops. And, if that is not enough, some of them have gone on to do further community health work, which again impacts many more thousands of people. These “train-the-trainer” workshops helped the women understand the importance of their role in their unions and their potential to become agents of change. By working together and creating a supportive group environment in the classroom, the workshops empowered the women to carry out newly adopted roles with their newly developed skills in the field. “I don’t want my daughter to grow up feeling inadequate and uneducated like I have. I want her to feel in control of her life. This is why I want to gain these new skills and pursue this direction.” This powerful statement reveals the motivation behind one Filipina trade unionist’s desire to become an OSHE instructor for her trade union. The workshops required the participants to leave their homes and jobs to travel to the city where the workshop was held for at least one week at a time. Building a strong sense of solidarity among each group of women trainees took time, the outcome of days and nights spent together. Many women had never spoken or instructed in public, some had never travelled alone or so far before. Despite the cultural and personal stress that this presented, no one left the programme. All barriers were overcome. Seeing and hearing each other tackle technical issues was extremely effective for the women participants. It built the self-confidence needed to face male or mixed groups of workers. The classroom was designed to be a “safe zone” with the participants as owners. They were encouraged to utilize the training space as they saw fit. For example, trainees decorated the walls of their classrooms with “risk maps”,visually depicting the location of different hazards at their workplaces. 53

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Using participatory techniques and the principles of Paulo Freire’s “education for critical consciousness”, trainees underwent the process of relating what was being discussed and practised in the classroom and in the workplace to their own life experiences. In contrast to lecture-based learning, this consciousness-building process allowed the trainees to translate how workplace and environmental hazards could affect them and their families, and to build up the confidence allowing them to think creatively about ways of addressing problems. Equally important, the process created a greater understanding of group dynamics and provided the facilitation skills needed to work effectively with their fellow workers, which they could then use to reach the goals of heightened awareness of workplace safety, health and environmental issues. In the classroom, women workers benefited from practising their role as OSHE trainers in front of a highly supportive group. This was a key element in building self-confidence and creating successful outcomes.

From being a “zero” to Bombay’s “Best Citizen” Since her beginnings as a self-described “zero”, Kalpana, the Bombay port computer worker, has not stopped moving and shaking the Transport and Dock Workers’ Union and the City of Bombay. She has borne a heavy burden as a woman activist in her union. She undertook an individual initiative to organize non-union ports. Doing what others in her union had not tried to do, she was labelled, scandalized, and her reputation tarnished. But she is a crusader and keeps going. On 1 February 2000 the Municipal Corporation awarded her “Best Citizen of Bombay”! For this honour, she was awarded a Certificate by the Mayor of Bombay, at the Mayor’s Bungalow in Bombay. Kalpana and her sisters have demonstrated their self-transformation into motivators and transmitters of OSHE information and have created a multiplier effect. Experiences of training women workers in the Philippines have yielded similar results. One group of women can end up training literally thousands of workers. In the industrialized countries the results are the same. LaVerne, an American working for a gas company, was required to answer customer billing complaints at an average of one phone call every one minute and 69/100 of a second, while remaining friendly at all times. She was sent by her union to an OSH train-thetrainer workshop. Having her self-confidence built up by the training, the practice and the supportive environment, LaVerne went on to become the National Director of Training for her union’s OSH department. Today, moving more mountains, LaVerne is the Director of an Occupational Health Centre, responsible for an entire city (and she is still friendly!). 54

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Women work to close the “occupational safety gender gap”

Against barriers, endless possibilities The successes of these women have provided the inspiration to move into other arenas with women workers. In Brazil, for example, women widowed by occupational accidents will be given the opportunity to become transmitters and motivators of safety culture on construction sites, with remuneration from the Civil Construction union. This programme will also mitigate the poverty which usually engulfs workplace widows, who may become marginalized by their plight, sinking into drug abuse and prostitution, sometimes dragging their children along with them. Instead, the women in this programme will be encouraged to participate in on-the-jobsite literacy training through occupational safety and health, and become involved in training seminars where they can discuss prevention, rehabilitation, return to work policies and access to treatment services. This is but one example of an innovative way to provide women living on the edge with a new future, one in which they move from the isolation brought on by yet another example of the occupational gender safety gap, into a new sense of solidarity with others facing a similar plight. In the Philippines, women trainees illustrated this sense of solidarity with poignant drawings showing them and sister trade unionists on other continents connected by an imaginary umbilical cord. Many of the ILO workshop graduates have continued to keep in touch with their classmates. In our global village, the experiences and successes of one group of women workers can directly impact the lives of another. There does indeed appear to be an invisible umbilical cord between these groups of women, nourishing their efforts and giving life in faraway places to others whom they will probably never meet. The barriers are many, but the possibilities seem endless.

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THE SELF-EMPLOYED WOMEN’S ASSOCIATION (SEWA): GIVING UNPROTECTED WOMEN WORKERS IN INDIA A COLLECTIVE VOICE TO ORGANIZE AND BARGAIN*

SEWA, started in 1972 by Ela Bhatt in Ahmedabad, India, is a trade union with 220,000 members, and has promoted 85 cooperatives, including the Mahila SEWA Bank. World of Work talked to Ms Renana Jhabvala, the National Coordinator for SEWA, during the Social Summit in Geneva. World of Work: What is the goal of SEWA and how has it worked to help alleviate poverty among informal women workers in India? Renana Jhabvala: SEWA is both an organization and a movement. It is a confluence of three movements: the labour movement, the cooperative movement and the women’s movement. But it is also a movement of selfemployed women, with women as the leaders. Through their own movement women become strong and visible. Their tremendous economic and social contribution becomes recognized. SEWA is an organization of poor, self-employed or informal women workers who earn a living through their own labour or small businesses. They are the unprotected workers of our country, constituting 92 per cent of the labour force, and are in the unorganized sector. Of the female labour force in India, more than 94 per cent are in the unorganized sector. However, their work is not counted; women workers remain uncounted, undercounted and invisible. SEWA’s main goals are to organize women workers for full employment and self-reliance. Full employment means work security, income security, food security and social security (at least health care, child care and shelter).

* Originally published in World of Work, No.36 (September/October 2000).

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The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA):

Self-reliance means women should be autonomous, individually and collectively, both economically and in their decision-making ability. At SEWA we organize workers to achieve their goals of full employment and self-reliance through the strategy of struggle and development. The struggle is against the constraints and limitations imposed by society and the economy, while development activities strengthen women’s bargaining power and offer them new alternatives. To bring women workers into the mainstream, SEWA has launched several state, national and international level campaigns. These campaigns are mainly targeted to voice women workers’ rights and demands and to influence the policies in their favour. WoW: Much has been said about the impact of globalization on the informal economy. How has this impact affected women workers in India, and what sort of lessons can be drawn as a result? Renana Jhabvala: In practice we have found that liberalization has had a mixed impact on the women workers. On the one hand, liberalization has led to closure of many industries as well as to informalization, and a tremendous increase in contract and casual work. This has impoverished many families, which were earlier in the formal sector, and has increased the workload of the women in these families. It has also increased competition in the informal economy. Furthermore, the opening of markets to foreign products is affecting the local rural economy. On the other hand, the opening of markets, the loosening of bureaucratic controls, new technologies and the tremendous growth of communications, especially telephones and television, has increased both opportunities and expectations for the informal economy workers. WoW: How does SEWA balance the impact of globalization with the needs of its members and constituents? Renana Jhabvala: SEWA is actively involved in advocacy for the protection of women workers in the informal economy. It is now being recognized that these workers also need some minimum standards as well as social protection. However, they do not have a clear employer–employee relationship and so the kinds of minimum standards and social protection that need to be prescribed for them has to be very different from what we are used to in the labour laws, which are mainly for the formal sector, for the model of “industrial man”. SEWA is active in trying to promote standards such as the ILO Home Work Convention, 1996 (No. 177) and the International Declaration for Street 57

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Vendors. Also as part of WIEGO (Women in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing) we are active in promoting an International Platform for Workers in the Informal Economy, as we believe that in the process of globalization it is important for workers to make their voice heard at international as well as national levels. On the development side, we feel that better and more employment should be part of the process of globalization. In cases where workers have been able to link with the newly expanding markets their income has gone up considerably. SEWA has been successful in linking up its artisan members’ production with the national and international markets. To make our members competent in the global village, we have been making them aware of latest technologies, their uses and implications. WoW: What has been the impact of the ILO’s Home Work Convention, 1996 (No. 177) and how are its terms being implemented if at all in national law and practice in India now? Renana Jhabvala: One of SEWA’s oldest campaigns has been for the rights of millions of home-based workers for both piece-rate and own-account workers. The Government of India has decided to launch a National Policy on Homebased Workers. The National Policy was discussed in a national tripartite meeting and is in the process of being formulated. It is along the lines of the Convention. However, the Government of India has adopted a broader definition of home-based workers. At the international level, HomeNet is promoting organizations of homebased workers internationally, as well as national policies. HomeNet, along with the international trade unions – IUF, ITGLWF and ICEM – are having a campaign for ratification of the Convention. WoW: In WIEGO you have launched a new international organization for women in the informal economy. What are the goals of this organization, and will it be able to help women outside India to improve their incomes and fight poverty? Renana Jhabvala: WIEGO is a network of grassroots organizations, researchers and policymakers. Its main goal is to formulate and promote policies that will directly benefit women in informal employment. Its objectives are: •

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to improve the economic and social prospects of women in informal employment;

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The Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA):

“I feel strong today . . .” Chanchalben is from the village of Kosam in the Kheda district. She was married at the age of 7, widowed at 18. She had two small children at the time. “I didn’t know how I would ever raise my two children, how I would survive . . . I began working in the home of a landlord of my village. I did all the housework and helped in the construction work of his home. I earned Rs. 4 per day and a meal for this labour. I would pour water over the cement construction till my body ached. My stomach would hurt too. But then I thought of my children and kept going. “I did many different types of work. I worked in the tobacco fields, in the tobacco processing plants. I would lock up my children in the house and go to work. I was always worried about the children. “In spite of working so hard, I could barely earn enough to survive. We were paid so little and there was nothing we could do because if we protested we would get no work at all. “One day, SEWA organizers came to my village. They organized a meeting and spoke of joining the union. After the meeting, they invited one of us to visit SEWA’s office at Anand. I met many women like myself at the office and learned about savings groups. I decided to form one such group in my own village. “Then I said to my sisters in the village and also to the SEWA organizers that we really needed a crèche in the village. We work with tobacco and it is so harmful for our children. So we approached the village Panchayat and the state government, and obtained a crèche for our children. “Perhaps the most difficult struggle was to get minimum wages. I was afraid that if we asked for better wages we would get no work at all and then we would starve. But then I picked up courage and together our union insisted on getting the minimum wage. I lost my fear. “As I participated in more meetings at SEWA I became more involved, learned new things. I felt stronger and shared what I learned with other women. After joining the union, I felt secure. We saved, we joined the insurance scheme. I feel strong today . . .”

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•

to draw attention to the centrality of women’s informal employment in national and global economics;

•

to integrate women’s informal work into mainstream theories, policies, and markets. WIEGO is concentrating on five areas. They are:

•

global markets;

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social protection for informal workers;

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urban policies and how they effect street vendors;

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organization and representation of women in the informal economy – promoting membership-based organizations of informal workers and building systems of voice regulation to ensure their representation; and

•

statistics to ensure visibility and understanding of informal workers.

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2001 “Women are still concentrated in the most precarious forms of work throughout the world and breaking through the ‘glass ceiling’ still appears elusive for all but a select few,” concluded a new ILO report published in May 2001. The report, Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management, used recent data disaggregated by sex to examine the progress of women into management jobs and the obstacles they face. The ILO itself, through its policy on Gender Equality and Mainstreaming, has set an Office-wide target of 50 per cent of professional posts to be filled by women by 2010, with particular care to be given to gender balance in senior posts. Complementary to this, the organization’s staffing policy calls for at least 33 per cent women in higher grades. Another significant ILO study this year delineated trends in labour market stability in industrialized countries throughout the 1990s. The study clearly showed that in almost all European countries, average tenure for women employees was shorter than for men – leading to a marked gender gap in job stability.

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FORCED LABOUR, HUMAN TRAFFICKING, SLAVERY HAUNT US STILL*

Forced labour, slavery and criminal trafficking in human beings – especially women and children – are on the rise worldwide and taking new and insidious forms. A new study by the ILO says slavery, oppression and exploitation of human beings have by no means been relegated to history. Forced labour – a relic of a bygone era? No, sadly not. Although universally condemned, forced labour is revealing ugly new faces alongside the old. Traditional types of forced labour such as chattel slavery and bonded labour are still with us in some areas, and past practices of this type haunt us to this day. In new economic contexts, disturbing forms such as forced labour in connection with the trafficking of human beings are now emerging almost everywhere. So begins a new ILO report entitled Stopping forced labour. The 128-page study, compiled as part of the follow-up to the ILO’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work was published worldwide in May and discussed by the ILO’s 175 member States at the 89th session of the International Labour Conference. “The growth of forced labour worldwide is deeply disturbing,” said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia in announcing the publication of the report in May. “The emerging picture is one where slavery, exploitation and oppression of society’s most vulnerable members – especially women and children – have by no means been consigned to the past. Abusive control of one human being over another is the antithesis of decent work.”

* Originally published in World of Work, No.39 (June 2001).

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Echoes of the past During the past 100 years or so, the coercive practices of forced labour first came to be associated with the colonial regimes of the early twentieth century and remnants of serfdom. Then came the concentration camps, labour camps and other forms of compulsory labour that blighted the mid-century period, and which haunt us to this day in the form of continuing claims for compensation involving countries and enterprises. With the contemporary consolidation of democratic regimes, together with more open economies and renewed commitments to fighting poverty and transnational crime, there is fresh hope that forced labour can in fact be relegated to the past. Although they might vary outwardly, different types of forced labour share two common features: the exercise of coercion and the denial of freedom. It was in recognition of this affront to the human spirit that the ILO Declaration included the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour. “In light of these findings the entire world needs to re-examine its conscience and instigate action to abolish forced labour and the often terrible living and working conditions that go with it,” Mr Somavia said.

The scope of the problem What are the main patterns of forced labour today? According to the report, such ancient, barbaric practices as slavery and feudal bondage are not declining under the impact of national and international legislation and government action, but are still disturbingly alive (see box). Forced labour today

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•

Slavery and abduction

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Compulsory participation in public works projects

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Forced labour in agriculture and remote rural areas

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Domestic workers in forced labour situations

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Bonded labour

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Forced labour imposed by the military

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Forced labour in the trafficking of persons

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Some aspects of prison labour and rehabilitation through work

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In addition, the phenomenon of trafficking for forced or compulsory labour is growing so fast that most countries in the world today fit into one of three categories – “sending countries, transit countries and receiving countries”. “Main destinations may be the urban centres of the richer countries – Amsterdam, Brussels, London, New York, Rome, Sydney, Tokyo – and the capitals of developing and transition countries,” the report says. But the movement of trafficked persons is highly complex and varied. Countries as diverse as Albania, Hungary, Nigeria and Thailand can act as points of origin, destination and transit at the same time. The report notes that outright slavery, though increasingly rare in the modern world, is still found in a handful of countries, and the wholesale abduction of individuals and communities in such conflict-torn societies as Liberia, Mauritania, Sierra Leone and Sudan is not uncommon. The forced recruitment of children for armed conflict, deemed one of the worst forms of child labour, is also on the rise. The report also highlights debt bondage and slavery-like practices that are widespread on the agricultural plantations of such West African countries as Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali and Togo as well as on sugar cane plantations of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Slavery-like conditions and debt bondage await many workers who fall prey to coercive recruitment practices in rural areas, especially for work on agricultural plantations or in domestic work. Indigenous peoples as diverse as Pygmies and Bantus in Africa, and the Aymara and Exnet in Latin America, are especially vulnerable to such forms of forced labour, the report notes. It reminds us of the extreme case of forced labour in Myanmar, which has spurred an exceptional reaction by the international community. But it also details successful efforts to combat bonded labour in India, Nepal and Pakistan. Poverty, unemployment, civil disorder, political repression and gender and racial discrimination make for an all-too-propitious environment for traffickers’ exploitation of vulnerable persons, the report warns. Europe in particular “has seen an explosion of trafficking since the breakup of the former Soviet Union”, and large-scale sweatshop activities involving clandestine migrants have been found in Europe and North America. Forced labour is increasingly difficult to detect, organized as it often is around international criminal gangs who find the trafficking of humans to be less dangerous than the trafficking of drugs. Much forced labour involves underground or illegal activities and is otherwise hidden from public view. The growth of unregulated industrial work, agriculture and the urban informal sector are contributing factors to the economic and social forces fuelling much migration and exploitation. 65

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Why no precise figures? How many people are affected by forced labour today? Where are they? Who are the main victims? While these issues crop up in the report, it is not possible at this stage to give an accurate estimate of the numbers affected on a global scale. Forced labour is increasingly exacted in the illicit, underground economy. These are areas which tend to escape national statistics. And the statistics available are not sufficiently refined to get a proper handle on forced labour. Contemporary forms of forced labour thus require more investigating and attention to prepare the ground for more accurate, gender-sensitive indicators and appraisals, as a basis for policy determination and action in the future.

In border regions of south-east Asia, “coercion, deception and the selling of minors result from direct recruitment from the village,” the report finds, with the sex sector fuelling much of the activity. In the Balkans and Eastern Europe – especially countries such as Moldova, Romania and Ukraine – trafficking in women is on the rise, with Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Kosovo region emerging as significant destination points on the way to Europe. In Israel “there has been an influx of women brought in by many criminal networks”. The United States is thought to be the destination for 50,000 trafficked women and children each year, with the sex sector as well as domestic and cleaning work (in offices, hotels, and so on) stimulating much of the demand. Main entry points are New York State and California. While there is universal consensus on the definition of forced labour (essentially work performed under compulsion and subject to a penalty), some of the forms it takes are still sources of policy debate. Among the most contentious issues are those involving the compulsory participation of citizens in public works in the context of economic development, a practice which prevails in a number of Asian countries (including Viet Nam) and African countries (Central African Republic, Sierra Leone and the United Republic of Tanzania). The use of prison labour is another area of contention in countries where rehabilitation through labour is part of punishment, as in China, or where the hiring out of prison labour to private entities is permitted, as in the United States. According to the ILO report, “with prisoners already deprived of their liberty, there is an evident risk that private hiring of prison labour can involve exploitation, thus negating any pretence of the exercise of free will”. 66

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The ILO response What can the ILO, working with its constituents and partner institutions, do to prevent and eliminate it? In spite of different aspects and the scale of the forced labour problem, the report highlights some successes of the international assistance to governments in identifying the nature and dimensions of the problem within and across their national borders. The complex mixture of social and economic conditions which permit forced labour to breed presents a daunting task for any one country to tackle alone. The complexity of the phenomenon requires a combination of antipoverty and labour market regulatory measures. Long-standing problems of forced labour might be linked with agrarian institutions requiring reform as regards sustainable agriculture, productivity and human rights concerns. Trafficking in persons, while displaying forced labour dimensions, also needs to be addressed from other perspectives. While the ILO is pioneering projects which involve microfinance, rehabilitation and re-skilling of workers out of forced labour situations, and expanding its knowledge base on labour trafficking and means of prevention for those at risk, there is a global challenge at hand for the ILO and its partners. In addressing this challenge, following the discussion of this report by the Conference, the ILO is committed to working closely with governments, employers and workers in specific countries and with the international development community. The report highlights the ILO International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) which has been working with governments, trade unions, employers’ organizations and NGOs to address the problems of child labour and trafficking of children. Programmes which involve women, through education, training, credit and other empowerment tools, have been crucial to an effective strategy in combating the trafficking of children. The report examines the important role played by law-enforcement agencies and United Nations bodies which have joined forces to coordinate efforts and tackle the problem on multiple fronts (such as the Global Programme against Trafficking in Human Beings). Additionally, workers’ and employers’ organizations, as well as individual corporations, have also taken some concrete steps such as by ascribing to the Global Compact, the United Nations system business partnership agreement, which includes freedom from forced labour as one of its principles. “It will not be an easy task to improve the socioeconomic conditions that permit forced labour to breed, or to detect and punish the culprits who perpetrate it,” the report says, adding that governments and the ILO’s social partners in all countries must “deepen understanding and redouble efforts to eliminate this terrible blight on human freedom in all its forms”. 67

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BEYOND THE “GLASS CEILING”: WOMEN IN THE WORLD OF WORK PROGRESS, BUT SLOWLY*

Since its genesis in the 1970s, the term “glass ceiling” has come to symbolize the invisible barriers blocking women from rising to the top of the corporate heap. Whether at work or in politics, this artificial barrier – a transparent but stifling cap fashioned from attitudinal and organizational prejudices – remains in effect despite decades of social development and advancements in gender equality. While women are gradually increasing their share of managerial work and positions, one thing remains clear: the rate of change has been slow and the pace of progress uneven. A new ILO study, published in May, provides an overview of the factors affecting women’s participation in management and decision-making. Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management, by Linda Wirth of the ILO Bureau for Gender Equality, uses the most recent available data disaggregated by sex to examine the progress of women into management jobs and the obstacles they face to break through the “glass ceiling” to reach top positions. “Women are still concentrated in the most precarious forms of work throughout the world and breaking through the ‘glass ceiling’ still appears elusive for all but a select few,” says the report. “Women hold a mere 1 to 3 per cent of top executive jobs in the largest corporations around the world.” Topics covered include: •

Current gender inequalities confronting women in the labour market and in political and social life

•

Progress made by women in professional and managerial jobs, with recent statistics on women at the top in the public service, in finance and banking, and in politics

* Originally published in World of Work, No. 39 (June 2001).

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Beyond the “glass ceiling”: Women in the world of work progress, but slowly

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Male and female participation in education and training, and strategies to help women qualify for careers in management

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Obstacles in the workplace which hinder women’s career development, how and why men’s and women’s career paths differ, and strategies to overcome barriers to women at higher organizational levels

•

Policies, programmes and initiatives taken at the national level to promote women in management

•

International action, in particular on the part of the ILO, which has been taken to promote equal employment opportunities

The findings of Breaking through the glass ceiling provided the basis for an International Women’s Day roundtable discussion held at ILO headquarters and around the world on 8 March. “We cannot afford to lose out on women’s talent,” said Mr Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO, in an address to a panel of international dignitaries on the occasion. “Improving gender equality in the workplace is not only the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do.” Other panellists who addressed the audience included Ms Gro Harlem Brundtland, Director-General of the World Health Organization; Ms Mary Robinson, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Ms Germaine Greer, author and academic; Mr Walter Fust, Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; Ms Mamounata Cissé, Assistant Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions; Ms Angeline Low, Director of a private investment company, and Ms Christine Ockrent, a well-known journalist and broadcaster.

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NEW ILO STUDY: LABOUR MARKETS LESS VOLATILE THAN GENERALLY ASSUMED* Peter Auer and Sandrine Cazes**

Is a fair degree of stability in the labour markets the prescription for sustained development? The situation in the industrialized countries today might suggest that. Those countries’ labour markets are changing, from a high degree of flexibility, or movement, to stability and longer-term employment – a sharp contrast with less developed labour markets. This article discusses whether development and a longerterm employment relationship go hand in hand. According to many observers, job stability has reportedly gone, never to return. Workers are told to prepare for a flexible labour market and frequent job changing. The labour market of the future is portrayed as offering mainly shortterm and unstable jobs, of both high and low quality in terms of wages, skills and working conditions. A recent ILO study (Auer and Cazes, 2000) is in stark contrast to this image, as it holds that job stability is surprisingly resistant to change: over the last decade, average employment tenure has either increased or remained stable in major industrialized countries. In 1998, on average, over 60 per cent of all employed persons in Europe remained in their jobs for more than 5 years. About 40 per cent held their jobs for more than 10 years. These percentages are about the same as those for the early 1990s, with one notable difference. The proportion of those with longer tenure (+10 and +20) has increased. It is true, however, that this proportion is much lower in the United States (with about 25 per cent of employed persons holding jobs for more than 10 years). But although average tenure is much lower in the United States than in Europe, it also proved to be relatively stable over time. * Originally published in World of Work, No.40 (August 2001). ** ILO Employment and Strategy Department.

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New ILO study: Labour markets less volatile than generally assumed

Gender gap in job stability There has been little change for men and an increase for women, resulting in a general stability or slight increase of average tenure in almost all countries under review, except for Finland, Greece and Ireland. In Germany average tenure decreased, probably because of mass lay-offs following reunification, but it has since increased. Indeed, the patterns tend to differ between men and women. In almost all European countries, average tenure for women employees is shorter than for men (except in Portugal, and also the Scandinavian countries, where it is about the same) but generally, female employment tenure has been increasing. This reflects the changing career patterns of women, notably women’s increased participation rates and their increased access to more qualified jobs, which generates longer careers and a trend towards stabilization of jobs, even if they are sometimes part time. The empirical analysis of the secular evolution of employment tenure has very often focused on male tenure, as it is likely to be less influenced by such changes. However, average tenure for men has remained broadly stable in most European countries. In some countries (e.g. France) it has even increased. In Ireland, the fall in average job tenure for both sexes, but especially for men, is considerable: tenure has been decreasing since 1993. As this fall is in parallel with strong job creation, the fall is most probably due to the fact that if many newcomers with by definition low tenure join the labour market, average tenure is supposed to fall.

Young people markedly disadvantaged Average tenure in any given economy is highly dependent on the demographic structure of the working population: young people have markedly lower tenure. Controlling for the age composition has revealed some changes in tenure for young workers, meaning that those who already had the most flexible employment relationships seem to have seen a further decrease in employment tenure. The decrease in youth employment tenure points not so much to generally destabilized labour markets, but rather to segmented labour markets in which long-term and short-term jobs are concentrated among different groups. In order to assess the labour market vulnerability of young workers, one has to further analyse whether the transition phase to regular employment is only prolonged or whether young workers are trapped in temporary jobs with little chance of access to regular jobs. 71

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Labour market stability and labour market institutions The data indicate that labour markets of most industrialized countries are showing an unexpectedly large core of stable jobs, with different forms of flexible employment organized around this core. In these countries, labour market stability seems to be supported by labour market institutions. Thus, workers’ and employers’ organizations and their ongoing dialogue, employment security regulation, social protection and the fundamental rights of workers all play a role in stabilizing the employment relationship. There is therefore also a positive relationship between decent work – which includes all of the above – and employment stability.

Job stability is not equivalent to job security There was a much-publicized increase in the perception of job insecurity up to the mid-1990s because of recurrent mass lay-offs, which were widely reported in the media and which also affected those hitherto protected – the more qualified white-collar workers. Other factors contributed to the heightened perception of job insecurity: the increasing flexibility for young workers and the rise in temporary jobs – which often are now the main entry-point into more stable employment. However, some of these more stable jobs (i.e. those with a tenure of at least 5 years) might also translate to undesired and effectively rather unstable jobs (e.g. long-term involuntary part-time jobs and recurrent temporary jobs). Nevertheless, claims that the longer-term employment relationship belongs to the past are contradicted by the apparent stability of labour markets in the industrialized world. Stability is not equivalent to rigidity either. Stable employment relations in today’s globally competitive business environment call for frequent changes in work organization, in working time schedules, in job assignments: thus there is some trade-off between internal and external flexibility. And even relatively stable labour markets show a degree of numerical flexibility because of attrition, lay-offs, retirements, and temporary contracts. Efficient firms – and an efficient public sector – operate in fact with all kinds of flexibility: external, numerical flexibility and internal, functional flexibility through changes in work organization. But in most among the efficient firms flexibility is marginal and core stability remains the dominant pattern.

Social protection and stable employment These findings have at least two consequences for employment and social policy in industrialized countries and should also inform policymakers in the 72

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transition and developing countries. All attempts to radically change social protection in ways that suggest that the link between employment and social protection has to be loosened, because the long-term employment relationship is vanishing, are premature. Longer-term employment remains the basis for most people’s income in the industrialized countries. It remains an important tax base for social protection and the basis for eligibility for most social protection schemes, notably unemployment insurance. Also, many of the other basic social protection rights, such as sickness insurance and retirement benefits, are usually based on stable employment.

Developed countries This does not imply that the present systems in the industrialized countries should not be reformed. There should be improvements, for example: •

Ensure the transition of those in unstable jobs into stable jobs.

•

Protect those in unstable jobs better.

•

Give access to active labour market policies for first-time entrants into the labour market.

•

Shift part of taxes on labour to general taxes (still paid on labour – and capital – income but not directly impacting on non-wage labour costs).

•

Create several pillars in the retirement system and increase portability.

But if employment is to be at the centre of decent work to the same extent as it is at the core of the EU’s and the OECD’s Employment Strategies, promotion of employment should stand in the forefront. This might also mean that rights to social protection that are unconditional on former or present work should be used cautiously and in any case not be generalized. Instead, all policy alternatives that favour employment creation (with such employment giving access to social rights) should be used. Such welfare-towork policies must be based on decent employment policies and should not lead to restrictive policies of workfare, that push people off welfare into undesired jobs.

Transition and developing countries The second implication refers specifically to transition countries and developing countries. Leaving aside the special case of the United States – but to a smaller degree even there – labour markets in most highly developed countries are 73

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characterized by a large share of stable jobs and a smaller share of flexible jobs. That said, why then should the low road of maximal labour market flexibility be the only road out of underdevelopment, unemployment and poverty? The high road to development is far more likely to be a specific combination of stable jobs and flexible jobs. This calls up the next question: what are the appropriate institutions and regulations for stabilizing employment? All developed countries have, to different degrees, such stabilizing labour market institutions: employment protection rules such as dismissal protection prescribing lay-off procedures (e.g. seniority rules), unemployment protection systems and labour exchanges, education and training, social dialogue, and so on.

Combining flexibility and stability Various combinations of flexibility and stability are possible. No thorough analysis has yet been made to arrive at the most suitable combination, one reason being that countries (but also sectors and firms) differ. There is no onesize-fits-all solution. However, good practice examples of how to provide flexibility and stability exist. Their combination depends largely on the interrelationship between employment and social protection: if there is easy access to income protection and employability measures such as training, then there is less need for employment protection at the enterprise level. In its absence, security is better provided by firms, which then need more employment stability and internal flexibility to cope with changes. However, the principle which should guide both further research and policy advice is clear: there is much more employment stability than generally assumed in the industrialized countries and there are good reasons from both the supply and the demand side of the labour market why this is so. Workers’ commitment to employers and employers’ commitment to workers underpin high levels of development and are apparently still needed in a time of continuous change.

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2002 This year saw the culmination of the first organization-wide round of participatory gender audits in ILO. The participatory gender audit methodology was developed and adapted by the ILO as a self-assessment tool to monitor progress and recommend improvements in the organization’s implementation of gender mainstreaming. The audit was designed to cover a wide range of issues, including information and knowledge management, staffing and human resources, perceptions of achievement on gender equality, gender expertise, and capacity building. During the audit, a review was made of key ILO reports, major publications, and programming, budget and evaluation processes. The results were fed into a final report which summarizes conclusions and recommendations. Gender auditing continues in the ILO and has in recent years been extended beyond ILO itself to also cover national and international constituents and, upon request, several UN agencies at the country level.

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WOMEN’S DAY 2002: WOMEN AND CONFLICT*

Throughout history, women have suffered inordinately from war and violence. Since the end of the Cold War, the shape of conflict has shifted to “civil” or internal struggles which are often complex and seem never-ending. Two new ILO reports examine the changed nature of conflict and its impact on women; both conclude that women continue to pay a heavy price in today’s trouble spots. For women, war and conflict carry a special terror. Destruction, upheaval, injury and death are not all they must fear. Rape, torture, physical and sexual abuse, sexual or economic slavery and forced liaisons or marriages are often their fate. Loss of family, husbands, partners, professions and incomes is their curse. During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, an estimated 250,000 to 500,000 women and girls – some as young as five – were subjected to torture, physical abuse and rape, says a report by Women for Women International. “In addition to the emotional and physical trauma caused by the rapes, many women gave birth to the children of their rapists (an estimated 5,000 pregnancies were attributed to sexual assaults),” the report says. “Many women also suffer from gynaecological problems and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as AIDS.” In some cases, the impact of war and conflict on women and girls is more subtle – yet equally damaging. Fear and uncertainty, brought on by the sound of distant gunfire drawing nearer is referred to in the diaries of Zlata Filipovic, published in 1994.

* Originally published in World of Work, No.42 (March 2002).

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Entry for Sunday 5 April 1992, in Sarajevo: “I’m trying to do my homework (reading), but I simply can’t. Something is going on in town. You can hear gunfire from the hills . . . You can simply feel that something is coming, something very bad.” Caught up in the power-play of nations and factions, women often feel powerless as their worlds begin to crumble. Yet a consistent theme in women’s writing or speaking about conflict and war is the fight against being passive victims. Defying events or new masters, women struggle to survive. Says one woman, Rosalie, a Burundian refugee in Tanzania: “War has changed our life, not our spirit.”

Bloody wars, new wars The brutality of war and how people cope emerges as a predominant theme in a new ILO report on gender and armed conflict (Date-Bah et al., 2001). Prepared for the InFocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction, and covering armed conflicts in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East, the report highlights some of the complex survival strategies adopted by women in the face of terrible upheaval. The report paints a grim picture of the “statistics of war”. Mozambique’s 22-year war cost one million lives and left the country destitute. Guatemala’s 35-year conflict saw over 400 villages completely destroyed, and a third of the population thrown into extreme poverty. The Bosnian war created two million displaced persons, and divided the country along ethnic lines. The Lebanese conflict saw family and social networks disrupted and one-third of the population surviving below the absolute poverty line. According to the ILO report, the nebulous nature of such conflicts has extended the reach of violence. Unlike earlier wars involving set-piece battles between armies, many modern conflicts engulf not only entire countries or communities, but have reached a new level of brutality against noncombatants. Increasingly, modern conflict involves violence directed specifically against women. An estimated 20,000 to 50,000 women are believed to have been raped in Bosnia alone, with the attacks sometimes used to terrorize communities and assault ethnic identity. Sexual slavery is said to have been common in Mozambique, with women also subjected to beatings and torture. Furthermore, changes in the technology of warfare have further exposed non-combatants and civilian populations to danger through the use of such weapons as anti-personnel land mines, poison gas, scatter bombs, chemical defoliants and light ammunition. In today’s wars, the front line is rarely a line at all. 78

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Society in flux One of the most significant effects of war and conflict is the decline in the male population as a result of death, flight and labour migration. As a result, more and more households are headed by women, often in extremely difficult circumstances. The report found that female-headed households constituted a large proportion of those living in extreme poverty, generally as a result of the loss of financial support and male labour. In addition, social norms may provide further obstacles for women left running family groups. In Mozambique, for instance, access to land is negotiated through men, either through husbands or, in matrilineal communities, through maternal uncles. In Bosnia, it was noted that rebuilding houses is difficult for women because the practice of house construction is seen as a social ritual, one undertaken through reciprocal arrangement between the men in a village. As well as the rise in the number of female-headed households, the conflicts were found to have greatly increased household sizes, which expanded to absorb additional family members who had been displaced, or to take in abandoned or orphaned children. In Lebanon, for example, displaced households were larger than those of non-displaced. The war in Mozambique produced an estimated 200,000 orphans, many of whom were taken in by substitute families. For women looking after a large family group, marriage was sometimes seen as a means to economic and physical security. Yet the fall in the number of adult males made this increasingly difficult. For those with many dependants, finding a suitor becomes more difficult. In addition, in Guatemala, Mozambique and Lebanon, unmarried women were found to suffer from significant social stigma.

The uses of adversity In order to survive and provide for their dependants, many women undertake new activities, or learn new trades which are often considered “men’s work”. Yet, according to the report, the movement of women into occupations traditionally viewed as male is not necessarily sustained in the long term. Eritrean women who fought in the war against Ethiopia observed that, while they were treated equally with men during the war, once the conflict ended they had to return to traditional roles and a patriarchal society (The Guardian, 6 May 1996, p.8). The report notes that while fluidity in gender roles and responsibility was accepted during the Bosnian war, afterwards there was an emphasis on returning to the pre-war gender roles, with a particular stress on women’s obligations in the home (Walsh, 2001). The report calls for better consideration of how the “advantages of adversity” can be retained in the subsequent peace. 79

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It also cautions against the practice of targeting aid to quite generally defined “vulnerable” or “war-affected” groups, such as “women” or “femaleheaded households”. According to the study, the experience in Mozambique suggests that such broad categories hide huge variations and are not always reliable indicators of poverty or vulnerability. In Guatemala, the targeting of assistance exclusively to returnees is said to have often exacerbated tensions with other impoverished rural populations. According to the report, just as there is not one unitary “women’s experience” during conflict, so too, reconstruction strategies need to be responsive to the particulars of different groups, and need to also involve women from a range of backgrounds.

Afghan realities In Afghanistan, a new ILO study (Barakat and Wardell, 2001) describes the impact on Afghan women of the various regimes which ruled the country before and since the invasion and occupation by the former Soviet Union, which began in 1979: “It is clear that the abuse of women’s human rights in Afghanistan is part of a much larger landscape that has been shaped by 23 years of conflict.” One of the key conclusions is that contrary to stereotypes, Afghan women were not “passive or powerless ‘victims’ ”, and that they perceive themselves as “wielding considerable power”, particularly within the family and in brokering peace or mobilization/demobilization. “Inadequate recognition of these roles by the assistance community has led to missed opportunities for furthering peace and recovery,” the report says. “Women see themselves first and foremost within the framework of the family and this is reflected in their preferring coping mechanisms in times of hardship. Consequently, there is a need for agencies to focus on the family as the building block for a peaceful and prosperous Afghan society, whilst ensuring a safety net exists for the most vulnerable.” The report notes that as a result of “widowhood and displacement, more households are now headed by women, whilst the absence of men for long periods to fight led to women taking on new areas of responsibility. In addition, exposure to refugee camp healthcare facilities and to education and vocational skills training (for some) has changed attitudes and aspirations.”

One tragedy, two voices As heavy artillery ravaged Sarajevo, Zlata’s mother began to slip into a state of gloom and despair. Yet Zlata herself tried to hold on to aspects of “normality”, playing the piano – attempting Bach and Chopin – even while the sound of 80

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machine guns could be heard from the hills. Many of her friends and their families had earlier decided to flee. In Afghanistan, young Latifa, 16, saw others depart as well; both her brothers left Afghanistan, as did her friend Anita, who went away in search of her father. Latifa herself is currently living in exile in Paris. Yet she does not dream of staying in the relative luxury of France. Instead, like many women who have left their homes in the face of armed conflict, she wants to go back. She will return when “I can be a free woman in a free country . . . and take up my duties as a citizen, a woman – and I hope, one day, as a mother.”

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FIRST ILO GENDER AUDIT KEEPS EQUALITY ON THE AGENDA*

The ILO has launched a series of groundbreaking “gender audits” involving staff from offices in Bangkok, Budapest, Kathmandu, Dar es Salaam and its Geneva office. More audits are planned for the months ahead with a subsequent report going to the November 2002 Governing Body. In an effort to promote gender equality and gender mainstreaming strategies, the ILO has launched a new initiative designed to bring into sharp focus its gender-oriented work, and to increase gender awareness among all those involved in planning or delivering ILO projects. Starting last October, and expected to last until April 2002, the “gender audits” are part of the Action Plan on Gender submitted to the Governing Body in March 2000. One of the key objectives is to ensure that gender considerations are present in all ILO activities and at all levels. According to the ILO Bureau for Gender Equality (ILO, 2000a), this is not merely about adding a “woman’s component” to existing policies, but bringing the experiences of both women and men to bear on all planned action, legislation, policies and programmes. The audits are also designed to ensure that the consequences for both sexes are fully assessed before any action is taken or project launched. The word “audit” may be somewhat misleading in that it normally implies an accounting exercise. The ILO gender audit, however, uses active participation and a learning process in order to promote good practice, identify future challenges and ensure the ILO gender mainstreaming strategy is effectively implemented.

* Originally published in World of Work, No.42 (March 2002).

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Who participates, and how? Participation is voluntary, with each audit covering what is known as a “work unit”. At headquarters this could be an InFocus programme, a department or bureau, or a cross-sectoral programme; in the regions, a multi-disciplinary advisory team (MDT) or an area office. The sessions are held as close as possible to the participants’ workplace, and are planned with the help of external consultants from the Gender and Development Training Centre, based in Haarlem, in the Netherlands. The Centre has more than a decade of experience in such training. The audit is unprecedented within the UN system, because it relies on a participatory method using workshops and interviews to actively involve those taking part, and to provide them with feedback on the exercise. This is in contrast to the more traditional model, where an expert reviews a workplace and submits conclusions to the management. There is an element of objective review in the ILO process; each participating work unit’s products (such as project-related documents, databases and publications), advocacy and advisory services, and technical cooperation, are examined. However, even this is infused with the participatory ethic; the conclusions are shared with all those taking part, and the emphasis is on the work unit collectively taking forward the issues raised. The audit covers a wide range of issues: information and knowledge management, staffing and human resources, perceptions of achievement on gender equality, gender expertise, and capacity building. In addition, at headquarters a global review is being made of key ILO policy documents, major publications, and programming, budget and evaluation processes. The results will be fed into a final report which will also summarize the conclusions of the work unit audits and include recommendations for the future. The report will be submitted to the ILO Senior Management Team in May 2002, and subsequently to the Governing Body in November 2002. With the first set of audits already having taken place, Jane Zhang, Director of the Bureau for Gender Equality, has stated that “the process so far has been a significant learning experience on where the Office stands on gender mainstreaming, as well as where we need to go to really transform policy on paper into practical application”. Once complete, information about the process and the outcome will be shared with constituents, the donor community, the rest of the United Nations system and other interested organizations.

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IN INDIA, BEEDI ROLLERS SEEK NEW WAYS OF EARNING A LIVING* Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman**

Rolling beedis, an indigenous, hand-made cigarette, has provided employment for millions of Indians – most of them women – over the centuries. Now, the antitobacco movement is cutting demand – and in the process threatening their economic health. In two beedi-rolling villages in Mangalore, South India, the ILO is offering these impoverished women new and better ways of earning a living. As the group of indigenous women rapidly and expertly roll the brown, tube-like indigenous cigarettes called “beedis”, their spokeswoman worries about the worldwide anti-tobacco movement and how it’s threatening their jobs. “I’ve been rolling beedis for years, but now I have little work,” says Jalaja during the meeting of a beedi workers’ self-help group held recently in this south Indian village. “The government has banned tobacco smoking in public places and many people in other countries aren’t buying beedis anymore. I may soon have to find another way of earning a living.” The women have gathered here to discuss the challenges posed by an increasingly anti-tobacco climate, and the prospects aren’t good. While declines in smoking are seen as a way to improve public health, the women rolling the little brown tendu leaves into slim cigarettes and tying them with filaments of bright red cotton thread, worry that an industry that once sustained them may soon go up in smoke. Indeed, the fate of the beedi industry is no small thing. Once a livelihood for some 4.5 million rollers – 90 per cent of them women – the little cigarette’s decline is posing big problems for them. Most are illiterate, in poor health and socially marginalized. They have no assets of any kind. And they worry that the * Originally published in World of Work, No. 45 (December 2002). ** ILO Department of Communication and Public Information.

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loss of even the dollar-a-day income they now earn may mean economic hardship, or worse, like their underage children taking jobs to make ends meet. “These women were working five to six days a week, but over the last two to three years their work has been reduced by half,” says Arun Kumar, the National Coordinator of a new ILO project established here to help beedi rollers find other jobs. In fact, unions of beedi workers are eager to learn other ways of earning a living. And their employers also feel the future of the beedi industry is grim. In response, the ILO Area Office for India, together with the Organization’s Gender Promotion Programme and the Government of the Netherlands, has launched a new programme to promote decent work for women workers in the beedi industry. “Given the global and national trends in the tobacco industry and the working conditions of the very large numbers of women and their families dependent on the industry, the aim of the programme is twofold,” says Lin Lean Lim, ILO expert on gender and employment issues. “For the home-based women beedi rollers, the objective is to improve conditions of work and extend basic labour standards, and health and social protection to these women and their families. For those who are losing work and incomes in the beedi industry, the aim is to help them find alternative means of livelihood, including ensuring that poverty is not pushing their children into hazardous labour.”

Beedi hazards, ILO solutions Still, loss of income isn’t the only problem faced by beedi rollers. Although most of the women don’t smoke, working conditions threaten both their physical and economic well-being. Few of the illiterate women are aware of their legal rights as workers, for example, and unscrupulous contractors sometimes deny them access to identity cards needed to obtain benefits offered by a Beedi Workers Welfare Fund. As home-based workers, they are often short-changed by the arbitrary rejection of finished beedis on the grounds of poor quality – sometimes due to contractors providing them with low-grade raw materials to begin with. Their health is also threatened: inhaling tobacco dust can cause as many problems as smoking the stuff. And differences in minimum wage across different states have resulted in a shift of the industry to low-wage areas. So, it’s an uphill battle for the mostly women workers who are either jobless or see a significant reduction in earnings. With no alternative employment or income opportunities and no access to credit for self-employment ventures, many communities fear their livelihood is at stake. 85

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The ILO programme works in cooperation with trade unions, employers’ organizations, the Labour Ministry, local authorities and community organizations, as well as with the women directly. One of the first activities of the programme was to organize self-help groups, allowing the women to meet to discuss problems and collectively seek solutions. “We are organizing workshops in which they can assess their opportunities and resources at a local level, and explore possibilities of what they can do,” says Mr. Kumar, the project coordinator. “Working from home isolates women from the rest of the working world. Through group meetings and activities, they are able to receive basic education, become aware of their legal rights and find out how to effectively claim these rights. They are also taught alternative skills, including entrepreneurship development, health, and family and child welfare.” To give the women ideas for self-employment, the ILO project supports so-called “exposure visits” to income-generating activities in other areas. Beedi group spokeswoman Jalaja overcame her shyness to become one of those who took part in a recent visit. “Before, I was afraid of talking to people from outside, but now I feel more confident,” she says. “Moreover, I had no savings earlier, but with the selfhelp group and our micro-credit arrangement, I have started to save. I have been able to take a loan from the group to repair my house and buy medicines for my sick son.” Thanks to an exposure visit, Jalaja is now thinking of starting her own laundry business in an area where there is no facility for washing clothes. Aside from that, she may also find a patch of land using micro-credit facilitated by the ILO project and grow vegetables to sell in a nearby market. The programme works with established local organizations to provide training and other support services to the women. To enhance the capacity of these organizations, the ILO is encouraging networking, helping them strengthen their institutional structures, and improve their training and awarenessraising materials. “Providing technical assistance to local grassroots organizations means that the ILO builds capacity and leaves behind sustainable activities, even after the programme comes to an end,” says the representative of Adarsha (Agency for Development Awakening and Rural Self-Help Associations), one of the local NGO partners involved in the programme. With the cooperation of a local NGO, Deeds (Development Education Service), semi-literate women in Ulal Village have been trained in alternative trades, such as paper recycling and making paper products, farming of herbal and medicinal plants, bee-keeping, food processing, vegetable selling and the preparation of food snacks. 86

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“There is more money in the new work than in beedi making,” says Zojeth, one of two sisters who used to roll beedis but benefited from an ILO technical assistance project that taught them a new skill. “Now I can do both things.” Sustainable and socially empowering interventions need to focus not only on livelihoods but also on improving literacy and health levels, rights awareness, family and child welfare, group dynamics and capacity building. A related aim of the ILO is to assist the social partners to better prepare the labour force to face the growing crisis in the beedi sector. “Before this programme started, I had no exposure to another life, even though I am educated,” Zojeth adds. “Now I know how to live. I don’t stay home and cook as before. Life now is good. I want to take life in my own hands, and the ILO has shown me the way and given me the means.”

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WOMEN IN THE INFORMAL ECONOMY: URGENT NEED FOR MATERNITY PROTECTION* Anne Sieger**

For millions of women in the developing world, maternity health care is almost unavailable. For millions more, other maternity benefits are even harder to get. Through an ILO research initiative, innovative ways of providing maternity protection to poor women in the informal economy are being promoted. For the women workers of Buhweju, a mountainous tea-growing area of southwest Uganda, the lack of adequate maternity care can be a matter of life and death. There are many stories about the tenuous nature of maternity here. One concerns a woman and her child who may owe their lives to a solar-powered radio transmitter. Buhweju is a small village. Taxis don’t come around here often and the closest hospital is in Busheny, 52 kilometres away down a bumpy road. Feeling that her baby was about to be born and worried that there might be complications, the woman rushed to the nearby satellite clinic. The clinic had been established by a local community health insurance scheme to which she belonged. The nurse on duty realized the woman needed hospital treatment, and used the solar-powered transmitter to contact a private taxi service. The taxi arrived quickly and the woman was taken to a hospital, where she received help in time. In this Ugandan case, a solar-powered radio transmitter has made all the difference. And it is these kinds of innovative examples which the ILO is using to promote ways to improve pregnant women’s safety worldwide.

* Originally published in World of Work, No.45, December 2002. ** Freelance journalist, Germany.

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Women in the informal economy: Urgent need for maternity protection

In many developing countries, women face a high risk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. Poor hygiene and the lack of access to quality medical care are often to blame. More and more developing countries have recognized the urgent need for maternity protection. In the Philippines, the Government is providing free prenatal checkups at public hospitals. For deliveries with complications, Bangladesh offers free treatment. Government hospitals in India provide vaccinations for newborns. And the United Republic of Tanzania has developed a “Safe Motherhood” programme. Still, for many women, especially in rural areas, such vital public services are almost unavailable, either due to financial reasons such as transportation costs, or cultural traditions such as giving birth at home. For millions more, other maternity benefits are exclusively for wage earners. Maternity protection has been a priority in the ILO since its founding in 1919, when the first Maternity Protection Convention was adopted. Its latest Maternity Protection Convention, adopted in 2000, reached a new level of quality. For the first time, the Convention also applies to women in “atypical” forms of employment, found mostly in the informal economy. This refers to women who often have no legal employer, regular income or little if any access to statutory healthcare services. They may be street vendors, homeworkers or part-time labourers in the garment or agriculture sector. A vast majority suffer from social exclusion and poverty. To extend maternity protection to women in the informal economy, the ILO Global Programme STEP* – Strategies and Tools against Social Exclusion and Poverty – and the Conditions of Work Branch (CONDIT) have started an initial research effort. The current focus is on community-based health financing schemes which provide limited, demand-driven benefit packages of health services at affordable prices. Next to delivery with complications, normal delivery, pre- and postnatal care, many schemes also engage in preventive and maternity care training, recruit local traditional birth attendants, and organize awareness-raising activities including HIV/AIDS. Including maternity protection in the benefit package meets an urgent need among poor women. One lesson learned so far is that schemes are most successful when they reflect specific maternity needs articulated by their members. Installing the radio transmitter is the solution which the scheme in Buhweju uses to cope with the transportation problem. In other communities, women may choose to receive benefits not in cash but in food, clothes or

* STEP is part of the Social Security and Development Branch in the social protection sector.

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medicine, thus avoiding the risk of a family member spending the money. Some schemes also cover the healthcare needs of the woman’s husband. Still, to the ILO, the sheer existence of maternity protection within health micro-insurance schemes is not an end in itself. Rather, to effectively promote maternity protection, the ILO wants to encourage links between schemes at the community level and national policies and programmes, especially with social security institutions. With all the cultural and regional differences characterizing the schemes, there is no “one size fits all” solution. A set of provisional guidelines is currently being developed by the ILO, based on the information gathered in nine countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America. These guidelines can be used by the ILO’s tripartite partners as well as by social organizations and other parties active in the health sector. They are just a first step in the promotion of maternity protection for women workers in the informal economy. Further research and analysis of existing and developing schemes is necessary. It can then be discussed whether a solar-powered radio transmitter could also make a difference in Asia or Latin America. To some families in Uganda it already has.

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Every year, in commemoration of International Women’s Day, the ILO hosts a roundtable discussion highlighting professions in which women have made an impact. Often, these are traditionally male-dominated professions in which women have struggled to be recognized. Amongst the professions highlighted so far have been war reporters and correspondents (2003), judiciaries (2004), film-makers (2005), and athletes (2006). This focus was particularly appropriate in 2003, as ILO published the most comprehensive report to date of discrimination at work, Time for equality at work. The report says that while significant progress in combatting inequalities at the workplace leaves room for hope, new and more subtle forms of discrimination give cause for growing concern. The report lays the blame for continuing discrimination on prejudices, stereotypes, and biased institutions which have resisted decades of legal efforts and policy measures undertaken by governments, workers and employers against unequal treatment at work. One profession, in particular, where progress against discrimination has been slow is the seafaring trade. Another comprehensive ILO report from 2003, Women seafarers: Global employment policies and practices, indicates that women at sea face discrimination, sexual harassment and parental disapproval – as well as often being relegated to low-paying jobs with limited opportunities for promotion.

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BATTLEFIELDS, HOT SPOTS AND DANGER ZONES: WOMEN BREAK THE GLASS CEILING TO BREAK THE NEWS*

Women in the world’s newsrooms are no longer a rarity. Except on the war front. Though women today make up 40 per cent of the world’s media, they face special and unique challenges when they head from the front pages to the front line. This year’s International Women’s Day event at the ILO focused on how women who cover dangerous stories often find social issues there too. Kate Adie, award-winning reporter and writer, has seen more wars than most generals as BBC Chief News Correspondent. “War is not a boy’s game,” she says. “Half of the people involved are women.” Ms Adie was part of a panel discussion on “Dangerous Assignments: Women covering conflict”, held at the ILO in March to focus on the obstacles and dangers they face in the exercise of their profession, and the special vision which they bring to it. For women, covering dangerous stories is more than just a job – it is part of the “gender evolution” in journalism. During the Bosnian war, Ms Adie says, many women journalists literally fought to get there because it was the assignment to have. Never mind gender balance, she says. If you’re a woman who wants to cover war, “You have to run while men can walk . . .” Panel members agreed, however, that women bring more to danger zones than a keen desire to prove themselves. They have a different way of perceiving war, and while maintaining a sharp professional eye also see how societies cope with conflict and reconstruction. There is also a need to look for the wider story of women’s struggles during times of peace. Christine Anyanwu, a Nigerian journalist who served three years of a life sentence in prison in 1995 for reporting on an alleged coup

* Originally published in World of Work, No.46 (March 2003).

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against then-Nigerian President Sani Abacha, and who has won a number of press freedom prizes, says after a career of tough assignments that she will now establish her own radio station to broadcast the voices of women more strongly in Nigeria. Nadia Mehdid, Algeria, is Foreign Editor at Asharq Al Awsat and the only female journalist in its London headquarters. She says women reporters often cover conflicts that go beyond the shooting. These range from conflicts in the perception of women’s role in society, to wars of information, extremists and other forms of overt and more subtle violence aimed against women in many societies. “We often face derogatory and narrow forms of vision, that are based on realities limited to one culture or the other,” she says. Perceptions aside, a dangerous job is a dangerous job, said Rym Brahimi of CNN, who appeared by satellite link with Baghdad where she is on assignment, “I didn’t cover Afghanistan. But you just go on. I’m here to do a job. This is very important.” “Since the days of Eleanor Roosevelt’s ‘women only’ press conferences designed to force editors to hire female journalists, women have gone from the fashion page to the front page and the front line,” said ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. “They have broken through the glass ceiling in order to break the news and they bring a unique perspective to the conflicts and wars that increasingly characterize our times.”

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WORKPLACE DISCRIMINATION: A PICTURE OF HOPE AND CONCERN*

A new ILO report on discrimination at work – the most comprehensive to date – says workplace discrimination remains a persistent global problem, with new, more subtle forms emerging. While significant progress in combating inequalities at the workplace is cause for hope, the report says new forms of discrimination are cause for growing concern. The ILO’s newest global report on discrimination – prepared under the Followup to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work – is aptly entitled Time for equality at work. And it shows decisively that unless action is taken, that time is still a long way off. “This may be the most challenging task of contemporary society, and it is essential for social peace and democracy,” the report says. According to ILO Director-General Juan Somavia: “Every day, around the world, discrimination at work is an unfortunate reality for hundreds of millions of people.” The ILO report lays the blame for continuing discrimination on prejudices, stereotypes and biased institutions that have resisted decades of legal efforts and policy measures undertaken by governments, workers and employers against unequal treatment at work (see box). The report shows that many who suffer from discrimination – especially on the basis of their sex or colour – face a persistent “equality gap” that divides them from dominant groups who enjoy a better life, or even from their own peers who have benefited from anti-discrimination laws and policies. But Mr Somavia said the news is not all bad. “We have made progress,” he said. “Today, formal condemnation of discrimination is virtually universal and action to stop discrimination at work has been taken in many places. Still, * Originally published in World of Work, No.47 (June 2003).

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What is discrimination at work? Discrimination is defined under the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No.111) as any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin (among other characteristics), “which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity and treatment in employment or occupation”. Discrimination can perpetuate poverty, stifle development, productivity and competitiveness, and ignite political instability, says the report. Convention No. 111 and its accompanying Recommendation (No.111) have been ratified as of May 2003 by 158 of the ILO’s 175 member States. The Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100) has been ratified by 160 member States.

discrimination remains a constantly evolving ‘moving target’ and we have a long way to go on the road to equality.”

Key findings •

Discrimination is still a common problem in the workplace. While some of the more blatant forms of discrimination may have faded, many remain, and others have taken on new or less visible forms, the report says. Global migration combined with the redefinition of national boundaries and growing economic problems and inequalities have worsened xenophobia and racial and religious discrimination. More recently, new forms of discrimination based on disability, HIV/AIDS, age or sexual orientation are cause for growing concern.

•

Progress in fighting discrimination at work has been uneven and patchy, even for long-recognized forms such as discrimination against women. Discrimination at work will not vanish by itself; neither will the market, on its own, take care of it.

•

Inequalities within discriminated groups are widening. Affirmative action policies, for example, helped create a new middle class of formerlydiscriminated persons in some countries. A few rise to the top of the social ladder, while most remain among the low paid and socially excluded.

•

Discrimination often traps people in low-paid, “informal” economy jobs. The discriminated are often stuck in the worst jobs, and denied benefits,

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social protection, training, capital, land or credit. Women are more likely than men to be engaged in these more invisible and undercounted activities. •

The failure to eradicate discrimination helps perpetuate poverty. Discrimination creates a web of poverty, forced and child labour and social exclusion, the report says, adding that “eliminating discrimination is indispensable to any viable strategy for poverty reduction and sustainable economic development”.

•

Everyone gains from eliminating discrimination at work – individuals, enterprises and society at large. Fairness and justice at the workplace boost the self-esteem and morale of workers. A more motivated and productive workforce enhances the productivity and competitiveness of business.

Types of discrimination: A “moving target” Sex discrimination is by far the most prevalent. And women are by far the largest discriminated group. Although more and more women are working, in addition to the “glass ceiling”, the “pay gap” between women and men is still significant in most countries. Women are also more likely to be stuck in lowerpaid and least secure jobs. They faced higher unemployment rates. Discrimination can occur at every stage of employment, from recruitment to education and remuneration, occupational segregation, and at time of lay-offs. In common with all forms of discrimination, racial discrimination persists and affects migrants, ethnic minorities, indigenous and tribal peoples and others vulnerable groups. Rising levels of global migration have significantly altered patterns of racial discrimination against migrant workers, second and third generation migrants and citizens of foreign origin. It is the perception of these workers as foreigners – even when they are not – that may lead to discrimination against them. Discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS is a growing concern, especially among women. This can take many forms, including preemployment testing leading to a refusal to hire, testing of long-term foreign visitors before entering a country, and in some countries, mandatory tests for migrant workers. Other forms of discrimination include dismissal without medical evidence, notice or a hearing, demotion, denial of health insurance benefits, salary reductions and harassment. The number of people with disabilities, currently put at some 7–10 per cent of the world’s population, is likely to grow as the population ages. The majority live in developing countries, and disability rates appear higher in rural areas than in urban areas. 97

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The most common form of discrimination is the denial of opportunities, both in the labour market, and in education and training. Unemployment rates for people with disabilities reach 80 per cent or more in many developing countries. People with disabilities are often trapped in low-paid, unskilled and menial jobs, with little or no social protection. Over the past decade, discrimination based on religion appears to have increased. The current global political climate has helped fuel sentiments of mutual fear and discrimination between religious groups, threatening to destabilize societies and generate violence. Religious discrimination can include offensive behaviour at work by coworkers or managers towards members of religious minorities; lack of respect and ignorance of religious customs; the obligation to work on religious days or holidays; bias in recruitment or promotion; denial of a business licence; and lack of respect for dress customs. Concerns over discrimination based on age are also growing. By 2050, 33 per cent of people in developed countries and 19 per cent in developing countries will be 60 or older, most of them women. Discrimination can be overt, such as age limits for hiring, or take more subtle forms, such as allegations that people lack career potential, or have too much experience. Other forms of discrimination include limited access to training and conditions that virtually compel early retirement. Age discrimination is not limited to workers nearing retirement. Many people suffer from “multiple discrimination”. Indigenous and tribal people, for example, are among the poorest of the poor, and women within these groups are even more severely affected. The intensity or severity of the disadvantages they may confront depend on how many personal characteristics may generate discrimination, and how these interrelate. For example, one person can have several characteristics that give rise to discrimination. People who suffer several forms of discrimination tend to be overrepresented among the poor, particularly the chronic poor, and in the informal economy.

The ILO response The ILO report says the workplace – whether a factory, office, plantation, farm or household – is a strategic entry point for fighting discrimination. “When the workplace brings together people with different characteristics and treats them fairly, it helps to combat stereotypes in society as a whole,” the report says. “It forces a situation where prejudices can be defused and rendered obsolete. A socially inclusive world of work helps to prevent and to redress social fragmentation, racial and ethnic conflict and gender inequalities.” 98

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So far, the report says, outlawing discrimination at work has failed to eliminate the practice. Still, the report concludes that laws banning discrimination are an indispensable, but insufficient, step. Effective enforcement institutions, positive action, unbiased education, training and employment services, and data to monitor progress, are also necessary. This mix of policies and instruments is essential whatever the form of discrimination. The report was prepared as a follow-up to the adoption of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work by the International Labour Conference in 1998. The Declaration reaffirmed the constitutional principle of the elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation, thereby confirming the universal resolve to suppress discrimination in the world of work through the promotion of equal treatment and opportunity. The Declaration emphasizes that all ILO member States have an obligation to respect the fundamental principles involved, whether or not they have ratified the relevant Conventions.

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NARROWING THE GENDER UNEMPLOYMENT GAP IN JORDAN*

Unemployment in Jordan is declining. Now, with a rapidly growing IT sector and greater national focus on gender equality, initiatives are being launched to help women have greater opportunities in the country. Jordan has made progress over the past decade in the fight against unemployment. Compared to average joblessness of 18.9 per cent in the Middle East and North Africa, the ILO (2003a) says average unemployment in Jordan in 2000 to 2003 was 14.6 per cent, down from 16.9 per cent in 1993 to 1995. But as is the case in many other countries, unemployment rates in Jordan remain considerably higher for females than for males, leading to a “gender unemployment gap”. Whilst work remains to be done, the good news is that this gap has narrowed since the early 1990s. Jordan’s rapidly growing information technology (IT) sector is an area of promise. On a policy level, there has been a noticeable increase in government support for the sector, and through foreign investment, international organizations and private firms are showing considerable interest. At the same time, there is greater emphasis placed on gender issues in the country, with the IT sector a key area of attention. The ILO report Time for equality at work (2003b)calls jobs in this sector a chance for “equal treatment and equal opportunity for women”. This may well prove to be the case for Jordan. Women comprise an estimated 30 per cent of the total workforce in Jordan’s IT sector, despite accounting for only 16 per cent of total employment in the country. A study conducted in 2002 by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) indicates that 13 per cent of women employed in the IT

* Originally published in World of Work, No. 48 (September 2003).

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private sector are managers. Earlier figures from Jordan’s official National Information Centre indicate that women make up 22 per cent of programmers. A recent study by the ILO and the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), entitled Globalization and the gender division of labour in Jordan and Lebanon, compared the two female-dominated sectors of IT and textile manufacturing. It found that in the IT sector in Jordan, the wage gap between women and men is narrower compared to the textile sector. Likewise, women’s advancement to higher positions is more common in the IT sector. Sex segregation in occupations was also less prominent in the IT sector. New UNIFEM ventures seek to promote gender equality in the IT sector, and empower women through building their capabilities and professional skills. To that end, UNIFEM held a workshop in October 2002 on women in IT, focusing on women’s current and future contributions to the IT sector in Jordan. Women participants in the gathering included chief executive officers, chief technical officers, and executive managers of leading IT companies in Jordan. UNIFEM has also created a database that will evaluate the IT sector in Jordan from a gender perspective. The database will be used as a tool to monitor and assess policies and practices identified as a hindrance to the employment of women. This activity is the first of its kind in the region, and offers a model for mainstreaming and empowering women in IT.

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WOMEN SEAFARERS: FIGHTING AGAINST THE TIDE?*

As on land, so by sea: women are joining the ranks of seafarers. Once only figureheads on the world’s ocean-going ships, the entrance of women into the seafaring trade is a small but growing phenomenon. Yet as women work their way onto the world’s great ships, salt and the sea are only part of the challenges they face. As a new landmark ILO study points out, discrimination, sexual harassment and deep scepticism over their strengths and capabilities can be equally challenging. “My dad was in the Royal Navy. I was brought up in a coastal area, so the sea was sort of part of my life . . .” “My father’s at sea, my uncle’s at sea, my grandfathers were at sea . . .” “I’m not interested in office jobs. I’m not interested in administrative work and all that . . .” The musings of young adventurers, gazing out at the endless horizon and dreaming of boats taking them far away? Yes, but with a slight twist. The statements are from women who have followed their male forebears to the seafaring trade, in effect crossing a “gender gap” that was once wider than any ocean. These and more comments highlight a new ILO study, Women seafarers: Global employment policies and practices, the first to focus on contemporary women seafarers at a global level. The book covers every aspect of a woman seafarer’s life – from employment rights to maternity rights. It finds that despite making inroads on the sea lanes, women seafarers face not only the general challenges of weather, hard * Originally published in World of Work, No.49 (December 2003).

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work and rough seas, but also inordinate amounts of discrimination, sexual harassment and parental disapproval as well as often being relegated low-paying jobs with limited opportunities for promotion. “In the past 50 years women have come to be employed in steadily increasing numbers aboard the world’s merchant ships and cruise liners,” says Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, Director of the ILO Sectoral Activities Department. “If this study helps improve the conditions of work of even a few women, it will be a success. We, of course, hope it will lead to greater participation – and better quality jobs – for women at sea and in the maritime industry as a whole.” According to some of the women interviewed for the study, those days of balmy working conditions may be some time off. Women seafarers reported comments like their place being “in the kitchen” rather than on deck, that women weren’t suited for the sea because they “all argue with each other” (as if men don’t!), being told “blonde jokes” or given the worst, dirtiest jobs. “The lads I was sailing with spent about four months doing those awful jobs, and then they were up on the bridge in a clean environment,” said one woman who spoke about being tested to see if she had the “right stuff ” for the job. “They will push a woman a lot, lot harder.” Some women reported taking drastic measures to avoid being harassed, including altering or “de-feminizing” their appearance (one woman engineer actually shaved her head!). Another cited how she had to punch a chief officer to get him out of her room. So why pursue a potentially hostile and turbulent life at sea? Women have long worked on passenger and cruise ships, and since 1945 have appeared more and more on freighters and other commercial ships. For some, potential earnings, for others, tradition inspires work at sea. In the interview below, Ms Doumbia-Henry explains who the women seafarers are, how many are working and where, and what the prospects are for improving their lives.

How many women are employed aboard ships? Women represent only 1–2 per cent of the world’s 1.25 million seafarers. However, in the cruise line sector, they represent 17–18 per cent of the workforce. Ninety-four per cent of women are employed on passenger ships (with 68 per cent on ferries and 26 per cent on cruise ships) and 6 per cent are employed on cargo vessels (i.e., container ships, oil tankers, etc.). As for jobs, there are women shipmasters and chief engineers, as well as other officers. However, generally, women are working as hotel staff on passenger ships. Of this latter group, 51.2 per cent of women at sea come from OECD countries, 23.6 per cent from Eastern Europe, 9.8 per cent from Latin America and Africa, 103

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13.7 per cent from the Far East, and 1.7 per cent from south Asia and the Middle East.

Are they accepted on board? First, as concerns getting the training to go to sea, there does not appear to be a great problem overall. In fact, many maritime training institutions are actively encouraging women to enrol. Once on board vessels, women often experience problems in being initially accepted, sometimes having to “prove themselves”. However, over time they are usually able to integrate themselves into crews, and become accepted and appreciated by their colleagues. As concerns promotion on cargo vessels, the survey indicates that women feel they have the same promotion possibilities as men, though this varies among companies; in some companies they feel there is a reluctance to promote them to senior positions, in others there may be special efforts to promote women. As concerns those working in the hotel sector on passenger vessels, the situation is less clear. It appears promotion may often be more related to ethnicity than gender.

How can companies improve conditions for women seafarers? Sexual harassment is a reality for many women at sea. This can range from persistent verbal harassment and inappropriate comments, to physical assault. However, cruise-sector companies which have established high-profile sexual harassment policies seem to have been able to reduce the number of incidents of harassment, and to encourage women to seek company support in such situations. There seems to be less attention to these matters in the cargo sector. As concerns other issues, such as maternity benefits and availability of certain products required by women, it seems we have a way to go.

What are some of the advantages of having women aboard ships? A great advantage is that it creates a more normal social environment. This is particularly important because the nature of seafaring life has changed in recent years. There is less time to go ashore and there are fewer people on board. Having women as part of the crew can reduce the sense of isolation felt by many seafarers. Furthermore, recent labour surveys of the shipping sector have indicated an existing – and growing – shortfall of certain categories of seafarers, 104

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particularly officers. Women are an underutilized source of maritime talent which we need to draw upon to make up this shortfall.

What can be done to improve conditions for women at sea and attract them to the seafaring profession? First, the maritime community has a number of parts: companies, trade unions, seafarers’ welfare organizations, and others. They each may have a role. Companies, for example, could try to place new recruits aboard vessels with women officers. Sexual harassment policies are, of course, important. Trade unions should take up these matters and other issues, such as maternity benefits, when negotiating collective agreements. We also can’t forget that improving conditions of women at sea is also related to improving conditions of work for all seafarers – male or female. Therefore, any efforts to improve conditions of work at sea will also benefit women. In this regard, the ILO is in the process of consolidating its many maritime labour Conventions into a single, consolidated standard.* The aim is to adopt a standard which is widely – if not universally – accepted, and which will improve conditions for all seafarers. At the national level, and at the company level, there should be increased emphasis on improving shipboard conditions. By conditions, we mean pay, accommodation, safety, longer leave periods and so on.

What stimulated the ILO to commission this study? The ILO is very serious about gender issues, and takes them into account in all areas of our work. Thus, when we commissioned the Seafarers International Research Centre (SIRC) to undertake a study on conditions of work of seafarers as the main discussion document for a meeting in 1991 of the ILO Joint Maritime Commission (JMC) – a bipartite body consisting of representatives of the world’s shipowner and seafarer representatives – we asked that the study include a gender perspective. The JMC discussed the report and went a step further by adopting a Resolution calling for a specific study on women seafarers.

What is the ILO doing to follow up on this study? First, we are seeking to have it widely distributed in the international maritime community. Using the study as a resource document in all our maritime activities, we will use it to promote gender-sensitive policies in * The new Maritime Labour Convention was adopted in 2006.

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the maritime industry, and also work with the International Maritime Organization.

What about the old saying that women are bad luck at sea? An interesting myth, sort of like the myth that you will fall off the edge of the earth if you sail too far from port. But this is the twenty-first century, we know the earth is round and that superstitions have nothing to do with it. The ILO pursues a modern social agenda, with a strong gender component. Our work on behalf of women seafarers is a classic example of “mainstreaming” gender into all elements of a trade. In this case, mainstreaming extends also to all seven seas.

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2004 New statistics from the ILO showed that women were still struggling to break through the glass ceiling. “A handful of women are making headlines here and there as they break through, but statistically they represent a mere few per cent of top management jobs,” said Linda Wirth, author of the publication Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management (revised in 2004) and Director of the ILO’s Bureau for Gender Equality (2003–2005). The update revealed that the overall employment situation for women had not evolved significantly since 2001. Women’s share of professional jobs increased by just 0.7 per cent. With women’s share of managerial positions ranging between 20 and 40 per cent moreover, the data revealed that women are markedly underrepresented in management compared to their overall share of employment. Complementing the above update, the ILO report Global employment trends for women 2004 painted a grim picture of women in the world of work. Despite entering the job market in record numbers, women still face higher unemployment rates and lower wages, and represent the bulk of the world’s 550 million working poor. The report examined the situation of 1.1 billion women who made up 40 per cent of the world’s 2.8 billion workers in 2003, and found that though more are working, this explosive growth has not been accompanied by true socioeconomic empowerment, nor has it led to equal pay for work of equal value. “In short, true equality in the world of work is still out of reach,” the report states. An encouraging event this year was the adoption of the Resolution Concerning the Promotion of Gender Equality, Pay Equity and Maternity Protection which was introduced at the 92nd Session of the International Labour Conference in June. The resolution reinforces the ILO’s mandate to promote equality between women and men, and reconfirms the integral nature of gender equality in the Decent Work Agenda. 107

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INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY 2004: UPDATED ILO REPORT SHOWS “GLASS CEILING” TOUGH TO BREAK*

Is the glass ceiling breakable? In the two decades since the phrase came into common usage, the invisible barriers to the top of the managerial tree seem to be tougher than expected. A recent update of a classic ILO study on the issue shows, in fact, that women’s share of top positions remains low and the rate of progress discouraging. For women striving to move into managerial and upper-level jobs, the recent update of the ILO 2001 study Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management may seem disheartening. What the update shows is that the number of women in top management jobs has only increased by between 1 and 5 per cent over the past five years in some 33 countries surveyed. “A handful of women are making headlines here and there as they break through, but statistically they represent a mere few per cent of top management jobs,” said Linda Wirth, Director of the ILO Bureau for Gender Equality. The overall employment situation for women hasn’t evolved significantly since 2001, the update says. Women’s share of professional jobs increased by just 0.7 per cent between 1996 and 1999, and 2000 and 2002. And with women’s share of managerial positions ranging between 20 and 40 per cent, the data show that women are markedly under-represented in management compared to their overall share of employment. In politics, the proportion of women representatives in national parliaments remains low, increasing from 13 per cent to 15.2 per cent between 1999 and 2003. However, the update did find recent increases in the number of women in traditionally male-dominated cabinet posts, such as foreign affairs, finance and defence. Deeply entrenched rules and practices also keep female representation in politics low, the update says. * Originally published in World of Work, No. 50 (March 2004).

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In fact, across all professions women face barriers to progress. The daily challenge of balancing family responsibilities with work leads some employers to consider women less able, and women still have to work harder to prove themselves, or adapt to “male” working styles. What’s more, women face isolation, limited access to mentoring and female role models, sexual harassment, and are often excluded from informal networks vital to career development. Yet the news isn’t all bad. Some employers are beginning to shift attitudes, according to the update. Businesses now understand that family-friendly policies, improved access to training, and stronger mentoring systems encourage female staff retention and can improve productivity. And governments and unions are advocating the reform of employment and welfare legislation to ensure that mothers can maintain seniority, benefits, and earning potential. Pressures to choose between family and career can lead some women to avoid the top jobs. Says the ILO’s Wirth, “Family responsibilities play a major role in whether or not women accept promotion. The way work is organized is not always compatible with raising children. Some women also seek to avoid the impact of long working hours, stress and the prevalence of aggressiveness and authoritativeness that can be found in the top ranks.” The update also highlights cases where young men are seeking to balance work and family life. The update calls for strategies that debunk the myths surrounding women’s capabilities and promote family-friendly policies which afford both men and women parental leave, ensuring that women who do have children and pursue a career are not penalized financially. The ILO is working to expand income opportunities for women entrepreneurs by improving their business skills and access to resources, through its Women’s Entrepreneurship and Gender Equality (WEDGE) work. More information about this and other initiatives to empower women and promote gender equality is available at www.ilo.org/gender.

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NEW STUDY ON WOMEN AT WORK: EQUALITY REMAINS ELUSIVE*

A new study issued for International Women’s Day 2004 paints a grim picture of women in the world of work. Despite entering the job market in record numbers, women still face higher unemployment rates and lower wages, and represent the bulk of the world’s 550 million working poor. The report, entitled Global employment trends for women 2004, says the solution is to put jobs at the centre of social and economic policies. A first look at working women gave pause for thought. The report examined the 1.1 billion women who made up 40 per cent of the world’s 2.8 billion workers in 2003, and found that though more are working, this explosive growth hasn’t been accompanied by true socioeconomic empowerment, nor has it led to equal pay for work of equal value, nor balanced benefits which would make women equal to men across nearly all occupations. “In short, true equality in the world of work is still out of reach,” the report states. Since 1993, the gap between the number of men and women at work has been decreasing. But the world picture varies widely. In the transition economies and East Asia, the number of women working per 100 men is 91 and 83, respectively. Yet in the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, only 40 women per 100 men are economically active, the report says. The worldwide unemployment rate for women is only slightly higher than that for men – 6.4 per cent compared to 6.1 per cent. But this still leaves a total of 77.8 million women unemployed. And for countries in the Middle East and North Africa, female unemployment reaches 16.5 per cent – 6 percentage points higher than that of men. For young women aged 15 to 24 years, the problem is particularly acute – 35.8 million are unemployed worldwide. * Originally published in World of Work, No.51 (June 2004).

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Many women in the developing world, however, simply cannot afford not to work, and take whatever opportunities are available. Stuck in the informal sector with little, if any, social protection, the challenge for them is gaining decent and productive employment, the report says. What’s more, of the 550 million “working poor” in the world – living on less than US$1 per day – 60 per cent are women. On top of this, women typically earn less than men. In the six occupations studied, women still earn less than what their male co-workers earn, even in “typically female” occupations such as nursing and teaching. The situation may appear bleak, but solutions can be found. “To create enough decent jobs for women, policymakers must place employment at the centre of social and economic polices,” says ILO Director-General Juan Somavia. “We must recognize that women face more substantial challenges in the workplace than men. Raising incomes and opportunities for women lifts whole families out of poverty and drives economic and social progress.”

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2005 Ten years after the Fourth World Conference of Women in Beijing, government delegates gathered in New York during the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women to recommit themselves to the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. At the end of the two-week Commission, a Resolution was adopted on Women’s Economic Advancement, urging member States to eliminate discrimination against women in labour markets, employment practices, and the workplace; to provide equal access for women in occupational categories and sectors where they are underrepresented; and to provide equal opportunities with respect to employment conditions, career development opportunities, and equal pay for work of equal value. In many ways, this Resolution reflects the core objectives of the ILO and provides a sound platform from which to continue working with governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations to promote the Decent Work Agenda for all women and men. World of Work magazine reported how decent work is promoted at the local level, amongst others by describing how the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania works in partnership with the ILO to promote gender equality and decent work through education and training for women and children in poor communities.

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UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA: A LIFE-CYCLE APPROACH TO GENDER EQUALITY AND DECENT WORK*

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania, in partnership with the ILO, is seeking to alleviate poverty through education and training for poor women and children, as well as promoting gender equality. This article explains how ILO projects have contributed to change the lives of poor women and their families in the country. Salma Harub Abdala survived with her six children for years on less than one US dollar per day. Her husband abandoned her in the early 1980s, and with only one income, Salma could not afford to pay for adequate housing or for her children’s education. The situation became even worse when her husband returned home, invalid and paralysed, because his relatives refused to care for him. So Salma had to do it until his death in 1992. Things changed when Salma started receiving loans from the ILO project Promoting Gender Equality and Decent Work Throughout All Stages of Life in Tanzania. “With increased sales and profit, I am able to pay education requirements for my younger children, I have improved the housing condition, and we are able to eat quality meals,” she says, adding that “two of my daughters have directly benefited from the project”. Salma’s elder daughter joined a Women’s Group in Tanga that gives loans to its members, while the project allowed her younger daughter, aged 16, to attend a training course. Facilitating the transition from school to productive employment through education, training, and provision of alternatives to youth facing an uncertain future, the project has allowed increasing numbers of young people to break the cycle of poverty. They are not the only ones. Hundreds of disadvantaged women in Tanzania are echoing such success stories as they benefit from the loans, * Originally published in World of Work, No. 53 (April 2005).

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microfinance and education, and the literacy, entrepreneurial, and leadership training offered by the project. Women who did not previously have access to loans have effectively learned to borrow, profit from, and repay loans. Asha Rajabu, a member of the Women’s Group in Dar es Salaam, recalls: “I never wanted to take a loan. I was scared of not being able to repay it. My friends encouraged me to take a small loan as a trial.” The loan eventually led to a profitable business and the ability to put her three children through school, without the support of a husband. “The project has been a great relief to me,” Asha continues. “I urge all poor women to join the project. At the beginning you feel scared because you have never borrowed a loan or gone to a bank, but once you get started, you feel like you had lost a great deal of time, which could have changed your life.” Asha’s and Salma’s stories illustrate the particular difficulties that women face in the world of work. The ILO project recognizes that women workers contribute immensely to their families and societies. However, gender discrimination in access to resources, as well as to educational and economic opportunities, continues to undermine women’s efforts to participate effectively in socioeconomic development. Women, and especially single mothers, are expected to fulfil multiple roles as workers and caregivers, making it impossible to hold a full-time job in the formal economy. For these women and those who have not had the opportunity to complete the training needed to find decent work, the informal economy is often the only option. Workers in the informal economy, however, do not have social protection or benefits, are poorly paid, and are more likely to have hazardous jobs, such as in the sex industry. Whether in the informal economy or in the formal economy where they do most of the part-time or casual work, poor women hold jobs that are precarious at best. Their concentration in low-paying and insecure jobs, and continued sexual harassment, leaves women powerless and helpless. But the project addresses not only the elimination of discrimination of women in employment and occupation. Its schooling and training activities for girls and young women also cover another major concern of the ILO, the elimination of the worst forms of child labour (see box). Tanzania is among the first three countries which committed themselves to the Time Bound Programme for elimination of the worst forms of child labour.

Working out of poverty The report of the Director-General to the International Labour Conference in 2003, Working out of poverty, noted that “identifying the key stages of life when 116

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United Republic of Tanzania: A life-cycle approach to gender equality and decent work

The ILO and gender equality Gender equality is central to the core mandate of the ILO, which is to promote decent work both as a human right and as a positive productive factor. The ILO approach to mainstreaming gender equality involves rights-based strategies for the economic empowerment of women and men as a fundamental step to protecting and promoting rights of all workers. The project Promoting Gender Equality and Decent Work throughout All Stages of Life is part of the ILO/Netherlands Partnership Programme (ILO/NPP) 2004–2006. This programme actively supports the ILO efforts to promote gender equality through several projects. Amongst these are efforts to prevent exploitative child domestic work and bonded labour; promote youth employment and increase the employability of marginalized groups; and promote social security and poverty reduction for unprotected informal economy workers.

people are vulnerable to falling into poverty is the starting point for understanding the dynamics of life and work of poor communities . . . if girls, compared to boys, face negative cultural attitudes and practices and discriminations from birth, they will grow up to be women with greater constraints and few choices and opportunities. In turn, they will be less able to influence positively the lives of their daughters and sons, so that poverty is likely to be passed on from one generation to the next.” The ILO project in Tanzania has taken into account the feminization of poverty as well as its transmission from one generation to the next. It will work not only to improve the lives of the women directly impacted by the project, but also to enable continuous changes in the lives of women and their children in years to come. The project thus represents an important step in Tanzania’s overall poverty reduction strategy. According to the project philosophy, there can be decent work and poverty reduction only if girls and boys have equal opportunities for education and are not forced into hazardous forms of work by poverty. Girls and women may choose, have a voice, combine work and family and make smooth transitions from one stage of life to another. The project promotes knowledge that will help women to ensure that discrimination encountered at one stage in life is not perpetuated at later stages and gains made at one stage are not lost as a person ages. The major intervention strategies include access to formal and non-formal education, employment creation, and promotion of gender equality. 117

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Through this life-cycle approach, the ILO hopes to create a sustainable programme which will contribute to the UN Millennium Development Goals of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, achieving universal primary education, and promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women; and which will continue after the project ends. Substantial gains have already been made in all areas. “Initially, we were afraid of borrowing. We did not know that as poor women, we could borrow and repay loans . . . It is only after training that we developed the confidence to borrow, and without it, we would not have been able to invest the loans productively . . . There has been tremendous improvement in our lives,” says a member of the Tanga Women’s Group.

Promoting leadership The recognition of women workers’ immense contribution to their families and societies will further the impact of the project. It will also enable women to better advocate for themselves, leading to the empowerment of future generations. The formation of women’s groups is perhaps the most clearly effective change thus brought about. Another member of the Women’s Group in Tanga reports: “At the beginning, women were reluctant to join the group. Now many of our friends want to join the groups after seeing the benefits. Women have been motivated, and are gradually forming groups. The demand to participate in the project is very high in our area.” Women and youth are receiving training which will allow them to make their voices heard throughout the community. Salma attests, “Now I know what to do when I attend and chair meetings. In the past, I honestly did not know how to run meetings and reach effective and democratic decisions. Through the confidence I gained in the project, I contested and won a seat in the Regional Executive Committee . . . I am also the chairperson of the Project Monitoring Committee in Tanga Municipality.” Future plans to further facilitate the empowerment of poor women and children and broaden the impact of the project include continuing assistance, training, and capacity building for women and youth to formalize their groups/associations to savings and credit cooperative societies (SACCOS). A high-level national workshop is intended to scale up the project to nationallevel policies and programmes. Further elements would be a needs assessment for youth participating in the project and expanding family-friendly programmes such as professionally staffed day-care centres.

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GIRL COMBATANTS: WOMEN WARRIORS FIGHT THEIR WAY BACK INTO LIBERIAN SOCIETY* Irma Specht**

For thousands of women during Liberia’s savage civil war, taking up arms was a case of kill or be killed. Now that the war is over, fear and uncertainty still stalk some of the women fighters. Their experiences have helped the ILO develop gender-sensitive policies and programmes that may help reintegrate them into society. “The men are not treating the women right in war!” So says Ellen, a 24-year-old Liberian woman who led more than 1,000 female fighters in her country’s savage, seven-year civil war. Her sentiments go a long way to explain why Liberian girls and women on both sides of the conflict decided to go into battle. “When I meet girls from the other groups, I put down my gun and walk to them and explain to them my reason of taking up arms,” Ellen says in broken but spirited English. “Why we women should stand and fight against one another? We put hands together to fight men.” Ellen and her army were part of an insurgent group called Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). They fought against the forces of warlord Charles Taylor. Although women make up between 10 and 30 per cent of armed forces worldwide, little is known about their motives for enlisting. But a recent ILO research project in Liberia, the first of a series of ILO studies in different waraffected countries, is discovering why females choose to become combatants. In Liberia, the research involved first-hand interviews with “girls” up to age 35 who had been actively engaged in fighting. * Originally published in World of Work, No. 54 (August 2005). ** Director of Transition International, Netherlands.

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For many, the number one reason they fought was to protect themselves and other women from rape and murder. Human rights groups such as Amnesty International believe that rape is widely used as a weapon of war, to dehumanize women and the communities they belong to. The ILO wants to raise national and international public awareness of the extreme use of sexual violence in warfare and its consequences. Ellen enlisted at the age of 16 after being raped by the same men who had killed her mother and father right before her eyes; another Liberian woman joined up after learning that a woman who had recently given birth had been raped so brutally that she bled to death. For many of these females, becoming a soldier was a matter of kill or be killed. Another reason Liberian females chose to go into battle was to prove their equality with males – a similar trend is being observed among the increasing number of girl-combatants in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Catherine, a DRC female soldier, grew up with three brothers in “a warrior’s family”, listening to her father tell tales of war. “I wanted to help the rebellion,” Catherine says. “I thought that if my brothers could do it, well so could I. I wanted to do like my brothers. When you are little, you want to do as if you were tall. When you are a girl, do as if you were a boy.” Although the war in Liberia has ended, the exploitation and abuse of girls and women have not. Female ex-combatants face many obstacles in their efforts to return to normal life, an indication that many men do not treat women fairly in times of peace either. While the reintegration of ex-soldiers into society is critical to peace building and reconstruction, previously existing programmes tended to reintegrate girls back into the harmful situations they came from, thereby ignoring the underlying issues that drove them to fight in the first place. Gender-based discrimination and violence remain very much a part of everyday Liberian life. Making matters worse is the fact that, after years of war, most girls and women have little to go back to – often their parents have been killed and their houses destroyed and the economic and social fabric of their country has been left in shreds. Despite these conditions, many are determined to improve their lives. “We first were fighting men with our guns, now we have given up our guns, but we still have to fight men,” says Ellen, “this time with our pens. That’s what I try to tell my girls now.” Ex-General Ellen is still responsible for the welfare of many of her girls. In May 2004, 40 of her former fighters were living in her two-room apartment in Monrovia. Hundreds more were silently hiding in surrounding villages, reluctant to turn in their weapons. They have much to fear. Some – who see 120

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Girl combatants: Women warriors fight their way back into Liberian society

themselves as still under Ellen’s command – will not register for disarmament and demobilization unless she orders them to do so. Recently, others have agreed to disarm, but their future remains clouded in questions. Will they receive the assistance needed to return to society as functioning civilians, mothers and wives? Will they be accepted and treated with respect? Will they be able to navigate through training courses and education to jobs that allow them to earn a decent living? And how will those who are too scared to come out and register as ex-combatants be treated? So far, reintegration assistance has been seriously delayed, and the absorption capacity of the war-torn labour market is not promising. The result of all this uncertainty is that girls and women refuse to show up at disarmament, demobilization and recruitment (DDR) cantonment sites. Afraid to confront men at these places, they dread dealing with disturbing memories of life in army camps, memories they would rather forget. Many hesitate to register as ex-combatants because that would entail having their pictures taken for identification cards. Their fear of being labelled female fighters and the social exclusion that could bring is most likely grounded in reality. Communities, schools, employers and even families often reject women after they have broken traditional female roles, because they are wary of future problems. As a result, many girls and women will not receive any DDR financial assistance. Yet these women are not remaining silent. The fact that they have the courage to speak out and tell their stories will empower them. Their experiences can help agencies such as the ILO to develop gender-sensitive policies and programmes that have a good chance of meeting their reintegration needs. Within the framework of the ILO Infocus Programme on Crisis Response and Reconstruction (IFP/CRISIS), and with funding from UNICEF Liberia and UNDP, the individual stories of the Liberian female soldiers are being researched and documented. Once published, this document will be used for more effective programme assistance. It will also complement the recent ILO-funded book Young soldiers: Why they fight by Rachel Brett and Irma Specht (ILO, 2004), which identifies underlying issues that drive young people to join armed forces and recommends possible solutions. Male or female, one thing an ex-combatant needs is a decent job. The ILO, with its International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) and in collaboration with UNICEF, has recently finished an assessment of the Liberian labour market and training needs as a basis for programmes to reintegrate female and male soldiers. With accelerated learning programmes, vocational training, small and medium-enterprise development projects, apprenticeships and business start-ups, it is hoped that these young ex-soldiers will receive a second chance to build a better future. Beside its technical inputs in these fields, the ILO adds other essential elements to reintegration 121

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programmes such as social justice, social inclusion, protection, sustainability and a strong gender focus. Only by understanding people’s motives, needs and concerns can agencies effectively develop plans to overcome such challenges. The new youth seeking to return to “normal” after years of war are frustrated, illiterate, orphaned, and abused. During the past years of conflict, children – many of them young girls – made up 37 per cent of some factional fighting forces. Now, many of the 15,000 children who were associated with the fighting have transitioned into adulthood and are unemployed youth. The labour market they face is in a catastrophic state. Only 55 per cent of the men and about 41 per cent of the women are currently economically active. An estimated 80 per cent are unemployed, and more unemployment or underemployment is hidden. A majority, about 77 per cent, are currently working in the informal sector. Many cannot find formal employment due to a lack of education or training, and because of the low absorption capacity of the local economy. A formula for a continuing cycle of despair? The ILO and UNICEF are working to make it otherwise. In addition, the ILO contribution is part of the activities of its Global Programme on Child Soldiers, financed by the US Department of Labour (USDOL). The main findings of the labour market and training needs analysis are based on a review of secondary sources as well as a broad range of first-hand research with the government, UN agencies, international and local NGOs, private sector actors, and skills training providers. The agricultural sector promises to provide employment opportunities, and the construction sector may help in both the counties as well as more urbanized areas. However, opportunities are scarce and the demobilized have a hard time surviving the competition. Many of Ellen’s “girls” have babies now. However, that doesn’t stop them from wanting education and training that leads to gainful employment. In fact, these women are even more determined to secure safe and decent work because they now have to provide for themselves, each other, and their children. What does the future hold? While some current programmes seem relatively effective, youth remain the biggest concern. This generation has no reference to what “normal” life and work look like. They are frustrated about their leaders, have no security, or may be addicted to alcohol and/or drugs. Most of the girls have been raped. What they need as soon as possible is assistance in ending substance abuse and restarting education. This will take many years, because they still need to work while studying. The only way to peace, however, is to mobilize Liberia’s youth, combatant and civilian, to contribute to rebuild their country.

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MODERN DADDY: NORWAY’S PROGRESSIVE POLICY ON PATERNITY LEAVE*

After a baby is born, Mom is entitled to maternity leave, but what about Dad? Shouldn’t he have some time off to adjust, too? Norway tops the European league table of family-friendly nations as far as new dads are concerned, and the government is now proposing to extend the “daddy quota” from four to five weeks, for exclusive use by the father. Ever-growing numbers of families in Western societies seek to balance paid work and family commitments. Consequently, the need for innovative social policy measures and radical transformation of the links between the welfare state, the labour market, and families has intensified. Scandinavian countries, some of which instituted paid maternity leave in the nineteenth century, have moved on to pioneer a range of innovative ideas – including guaranteed rights to child care, shared access to parental leave, “daddy leave”, and cash payments for home-based care. Most countries in the European Union (EU) offer paid paternity leave, from two days in Spain to two weeks in France, while Norway – which is outside the EU – tops the list as the most family-friendly country with a full four weeks.

Encouraging fathers A newly published ILO study, Gender equality and decent work: Good practices at the workplace, shows that Norway grants the longest-paid paternity leave after the birth of a child, in addition to the mother’s 11 months.

* Originally published in World of Work, No. 54 (August 2005).

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Norway introduced the four-week paternity quota in 1993. The provision sets aside four weeks of the parental period for the father with the purpose of encouraging more fathers to take an active role in the care of their children during their first year. These four weeks cannot be transferred to the mother and are lost if the father does not use them. Rights and entitlements with regards to parental leave and pay compensation are established by law in Norway. In developing the legal framework on parental leave, equality of opportunities has been a guiding principle, with a view to both promoting women’s labour market participation and encouraging men to spend more time at home taking care of their children. Isak Berntsen, a 31-year-old officer in the Royal Norwegian Navy, is looking forward to spending more time at home with his daughter Erle thanks to his paternity quota. “I am happy to step up my involvement as a father in my daughter’s early life. In my family we arranged it so that my wife stayed home the first 12 months with 80 per cent income loss compensation. The ‘father’s quota’ may be used at any time during the shared period of leave, but is lost if not used by the father, so I have to use it now or I will lose it. I’m lucky to have this opportunity to participate more in family life while receiving full pay at the same time. As a member of the Standing NATO Response Force, I see that most of my colleagues from other countries do not have the same rights,” says Mr. Berntsen. The introduction of the paternity quota led to an extension of parental leave, and it did not come at the expense of women’s opportunities in relation to leave. Fathers are granted this quota regardless of whether the mother remains at home after delivery or not, which means that both parents can stay at home during the father’s period of leave. However, the father is not allowed to take the leave during the first six weeks after the baby is born.

Bringing fathers into the picture Drawing on the practices and experiences of 25 countries, the ILO study shows how governments, employers’ organizations and trade unions around the world bring gender equality into their institutional structures, policies, programmes, and activities. The Norwegian Government has pursued an active policy of promoting gender equality since 1978. The implementation of this policy is the responsibility of the Unit for Gender Equality located in the Ministry of Children and Family Affairs, the Gender Equality Ombud, and the Centre for Gender Equality. The ministry is also responsible for policy on issues such as child care, parental leave, and reconciliation of work and family life. 124

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Modern Daddy: Norway’s progressive policy on paternity leave

The Norwegian Gender Equality Act, 1978 Statutory provisions for parental leave in Norway apply equally to both parents, in compliance with the Gender Equality Act (1978). In addition, each parent is entitled to up to one year of unpaid leave per child, extended to up to two years for a single parent. The statutory parental benefits period is 42 weeks with full income loss compensation, or 52 weeks with 80 per cent income loss compensation. Parents who qualify for the benefits may choose to share the period of paid leave. However, certain weeks must be used according to specific rules: •

3 weeks before delivery are reserved for the mother

•

6 weeks after delivery are reserved for the mother

•

4 weeks are reserved for the father (paternity leave)

This leaves 29 weeks of parental leave which either the mother, the father or both can use. If both the mother and the father qualify for parental or adoption benefit, four weeks of the benefit period are reserved for the father. If the father does not make use of these weeks, they will normally be forfeit. The mother must have worked at least 50 per cent of a full-time post. When parents share the period of leave, the Working Environment Act requires first the mother and then the father to take their respective periods without a break. The paternity quota cannot, however, be taken until at least six weeks after the birth of the child. Adoptive fathers can take their quota at any time during the adoption benefit period. The paternity quota may, upon agreement with the employer, be divided into several periods, but it must be taken within the total parental/adoption benefit period. If his employer consents, the father may, for example, take one day a week for 20 weeks. The mother must then have leave of absence for the remaining four days a week. The father may not take his quota as part of a time account agreement. There is no requirement that the mother must return to work when the father utilizes his paternity quota. For example, if she so wishes, the mother may work part time (time account agreement) during this period. However, she is not entitled to more than 50 per cent of the parental benefit during the period.

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In 1978, Norway adopted a Gender Equality Act (see box) which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex in all areas of society and obliges all public institutions to promote gender equality in all areas of policy, such as labour, education, and health. The Gender Equality Act was reinforced in 2002, and now requires all employers in both the public and private sectors to report annually on women’s representation on the staff and in management positions in their organizations.

Results – more fathers using their quota The scheme has significantly increased the number of fathers taking paternity leave. Very few fathers took advantage of the parental benefit period from 1978, when it was introduced, until 1994. However, the Gender Equality Ombud’s office reported in 1997 that over 70 per cent of fathers with the right to the paid leave took it that year, a very large increase over the 2.4 per cent registered for 1992. Since then, take-up of the paternity quota by fathers has been consistently high, as the table below shows. Fathers exercising their entitlement to paternity quota, 1997 and 2004 1997

2004

Total number of women with parental benefits (ended cases)

48 664

46 690

Estimated number of fathers with right to paternity quota

38 392

37 352

Fathers with right to paternity quota as percentage of births where mother has right to parental benefits

78%

80%

Total number of fathers using paternity quota (ended cases)

29 238

33 164

Fathers with paternity quota as percentage of fathers with right to paternity quota (estimated)

75%

89%

Extended paternity leave The Norwegian government has proposed in its revised national budget that paternity leave should be extended by an additional week. This proposal means that parental or adoption leave will now be extended beyond a total of one year. The proposal will apply to parents of children born or adopted after 1 July 2005. Under the terms of the new proposal, parental and adoption leave will be extended by one week, with the additional week being reserved exclusively for use by fathers. This will raise the father’s quota to a total of five weeks. 126

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Modern Daddy: Norway’s progressive policy on paternity leave

Putting an end to discrimination Previously, paternity and adoption benefits paid to many fathers were reduced in proportion to the mother’s earned rights. Men only received maximum benefits if the child’s mother had worked more than 75 per cent of a full-time post. Men whose spouses/partners had worked between 50 and 75 per cent of a full-time position had their benefits reduced to correspond to the mother’s position. Many men lost so much in financial terms that they had to make do with two weeks’ leave on full pay instead of four weeks on half pay. This discriminatory practice has now been brought to an end, and fathers now receive paternity benefits based on their own earning rights. Many men due to take paternity leave can rejoice that little bit extra, since they will be receiving more benefits while they spend time at home with their child. The reason for this is that a larger number of fathers will receive paternity benefits calculated on the basis of their own employment level. Until now many newly fledged fathers with spouses who were in part-time employment had been discriminated against and penalized financially when they took their paternity leave. Thus, the total amount of parental and adoption leave has been increased from 52 to 53 weeks at 80 per cent of full pay, or from 42 to 43 weeks at 100 per cent of full pay. This extension is conditional on the child’s father taking the extra week of leave. The proposal applies to fathers who are entitled to the paternity quota. If the father has been exempted from the paternity quota, or is not entitled to paternity leave, the extra week will pass to the mother. The same applies if the mother has sole responsibility for the child.

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2006 “Women are taking an increasingly active role in sports the world over, becoming more visible, assertive and active in a way that goes beyond the arena,” World of Work reported in commemoration of International Women’s Day 2006. The ILO’s chosen theme for the day – Women and Sports – reflected the organization’s goal of promoting a universally equal status, and a level playing field, for women and men across all professions. Some positive signs in this respect are coming from Africa where the African Development Bank (AfDB) reports that women entrepreneurs are becoming increasingly economically prominent. Against this background, the ILO and the AfDB have set out to further boost cooperation towards developing integrated solutions to support financing for small and mediumsized enterprises owned by women. In one area however, a new global challenge is emerging. The ILO publication Decent working time: New trends, new issues reports that work–life balance in industrialized countries is becoming a thing of the past as working hours are becoming increasingly unpredictable for workers in all sectors. Moreover, whereas changes in the global economy have brought about a significant growth in part-time work, it is also noticeable that the majority of part-time workers, almost everywhere, are female. Such gender segregation of part-time work could have unfortunate effects. Unless it is well regulated, history has shown that part-time employment quickly becomes associated with “second-best” or marginal employment.

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WOMEN IN SPORTS: HOW LEVEL IS THE PLAYING FIELD?* Katherine Lomasney**

On the courts and in the courtrooms, the subject of a woman’s role in professional sports – and the huge gap between opportunities, funding and media exposure given to males and females in the sporting world – is emblematic of the larger question on gender equality today: is equal really equal? The issue of women and their role in the sporting world includes all the issues currently being debated in the wider world – such as women in decision-making roles, women in management, women in a wide range of professions. This article examines how the role of women in the world of sports illustrates the gender state of play in the wider world, and how women are helping to promote gender equality in a wider professional context through sports. In the world of sports, gender has become one of the main events. Women are taking an increasingly active role in sports the world over, becoming more visible, assertive and active in a way that goes beyond the arena. Winning in sports not only provides a momentary rush of accomplishment – it also involves a race toward combatting social stereotyping and reaching the goal of gender equality. To say the hurdles that once appeared insurmountable to women in sports are not only falling but being overcome is not only an apt analogy but symbolic of the advancement women have made both on and off an increasingly level playing field. Women athletes, trainers, promoters and others who make their living in the sports sector are today going the extra mile to change cultural norms – and finding that sports can provide a springboard for further advancement in societies. Be it for work or pleasure, women athletes and their supporters have literally made enormous strides, aiming their * Originally published in World of Work, No.56 (April 2006). ** Assistant editor, World of Work.

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ambition, vision and enthusiasm at the target of attaining a universal, equal status in the world of work. The visibility of women athletes, trainers and promoters in today’s sports world is a far cry from their status just slightly more than a century ago. When the first Olympic Games of the modern era took place in 1896, the idea of women taking part was thought to be “unfeminine”. Since then, it is easy to see the progress that has since been made in many parts of the world. By 1900, societal views had modernized enough to allow 11 women to stand beside the 1,319 men at the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics, although their participation was restricted to sports regarded as “suitable” for women – tennis and golf. By the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, a new world record was set – just over 40 per cent of participants were female. Leading up to this has been a decreasing trend in the number of countries sending all-male teams – there were 35 all-male national teams at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, 26 at Atlanta in 1996 and 12 at Sydney in 2000 (South China Morning Post, December 2005). During the Fourth Women’s Islamic Games held in Tehran in 2005, 1,300 female athletes represented 43 nations, and the Iranian government provided US$1.4 million to support the Games (Business Recorder, September 2005). Major inroads have also been made in access to participation in and pay equity for other international sporting competitions. The 250-year-old Royal & Ancient Club in Scotland, considered the world’s leading authority on golf, lifted a long-standing ban on women playing in the Open Championship in 2005 (The Guardian, February 2005). In tennis, the French Open recently joined ranks with the Australian and US Opens by offering both men and women competitors equal prize money, leaving Wimbledon as the only major tournament with prize money inequity (Sports Business, September 2005). Also, the 2005 Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon paid winners of men’s and women’s categories equal prize money (The Straits Times, June 2005).

Traditional sports, new hurdles Of course, these hard-won victories are not the norm, and women starting out in the sports world have an uphill battle to wage, due to limited opportunities for competition, support and money. “People tend to believe that women have the same opportunities as men, but the infrastructures available to women are very precarious, and the schedules are not conducive to the practice of sport,” said Alfredina Silva, a former professional football player from Portugal, in an ILO interview aired on International Women’s Day (IWD) this year. Family obligations can also keep women from pursuing sporting activities in some parts of the world. “In Africa, young women and men are not given the 132

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International Women’s Day 2006: Statement by ILO Director-General Juan Somavia There is no doubt that women continue to transform the workplaces of the world – a critical arena for the advancement of women in society. Over the past decade, the number of working women has increased by 200 million. Today, women represent more than 40 per cent of working people worldwide. Women are also continuing to make inroads in the world of professional sports. Despite the advances, glaring inequalities persist in workplaces throughout the world. The pay gap is still a reality. The “jobs gap” between men and women – especially in terms of quality – remains wide. We estimate that women represent 60 per cent of the world’s working poor. The ILO chose the theme of women in sports and the world of work to draw attention to gender inequalities and barriers that exist across all professions, including sports. In professional sports, for instance, women earn far less money than men, with the rationale that women’s sports do not attract the audiences or draw an equal level of media coverage, advertising revenue or endorsements.

same attention,” said Tirunesh Dibaba, a long-distance runner from Ethiopia, in an IWD interview with the ILO. “For women, what makes it difficult to go running is the family. The family does not allow you to run, but they also don’t want you to go to school. A girl works at home, always at home.” Once a woman’s athletic career is underway, the most apparent inequalities between male and female professional athletes can be measured in pay and media coverage. For instance, according to the US National Committee on Pay Equity, the average salary in the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) is only 2 per cent of the all-male National Basketball Association’s (NBA) average (www.pay-equity.org). Media coverage of sports is similarly lopsided: the coverage ratio as of 2004 between male and female professional sports was 9 to 1 in US television and 20 to 1 in US print media (Ms., Summer 2004). So who’s setting the agenda in the media? The editors who assign stories and coverage, or the readership? How can such a huge gap exist today? A survey of sports editors and deputy editors from 285 newspapers in the south-eastern United States in 2003 found that 25 per cent of the editors still believe women are naturally less athletic than men. Nearly half of those surveyed said that 133

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men’s sports suffered as a result of Title IX, the 1972 ruling that bars gender discrimination in any educational programme that accepts federal funding. Nearly 90 per cent were confident that the gender balance in their newspapers’ sports sections reflected reader interests in male over female sports and roughly 45 per cent said they believed women have little or no interest in sports. Only the younger editors were less inclined to view Title IX as a problem for male sports (Associated Press, 2005). Similar views were expressed in a European study in 2005. The study was conducted of the newspaper coverage of women’s sports in Belgium, Denmark, France and Italy during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. It evaluated the number of articles, size, page placement, accompanying photographs and photograph size in all major newspapers in the four European countries. The survey found the rate of newspaper coverage was similar to the rate of female participation in the Games, with only 29.3 per cent of the articles and 38 per cent of photos dedicated to women’s sports. However, no significant gender differences were found with respect to article size, page placement, accompanying photographs or photograph size (Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport, June 2005). “Women’s sport is much less visible than men’s sport,” said Silva. “Women could play a key part in decision-making and ensure that more women participate in sports by improving their conditions.”

Taking the lead One area directly linked with advancing the cause of gender equality in sports is leadership. Worldwide, the number of women in decision-making and leadership positions is still relatively small. Some attribute their lack of presence at the executive level to “glass-ceiling” effects, social and culture barriers, a lack of female candidates and a less than supportive professional environment. Working to kick down these barriers are strong female role models like Pat Summitt, considered one of the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. A former basketball player, she took over coaching the women’s team at the University of Tennessee in the US in 1974 at the age of 22, and last year became the most successful US college basketball coach in history, racking up over 880 wins. She also coached the US women’s basketball team to its first gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles (The Sunday Times, March 2006). Sports journalism is another sector that has a thick glass ceiling. But the women who have broken through have emerged as legends. Melissa Ludtke, a reporter for the US magazine Sports Illustrated, changed history when she filed a lawsuit after being banned from the locker room during the 1977 World Series between the New York Yankees and the Los Angeles Dodgers. The suit resulted 134

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in a ground-breaking federal court ruling in 1978 granting women journalists equal access rights to locker rooms and other sports venues (American Journalism Review, January 2005). Still, change resulting in equality and balance at the executive level is slow in coming. As of 2005 only 12 out of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) 116 members were women. Out of 202 National Olympic Committees (NOC), only nine have women presidents, five of them in Africa. As part of its Women and Sport policy, the IOC established targets in 1997 to increase the number of women in executive roles to 10 per cent by 2001 and 20 per cent by 2005. For comparison, the percentage of women participants at the International Labour Conference, by region, including ministers during the period of 2001 and 2005 was 22 per cent. According to the article “Women, leadership and the Olympic movement” in the ILO publication Beyond the scoreboard (di Cola, 2006), authors Ian Henry and Anita White surveyed each NOC and its current female membershp to evaluate the process of recruitment, career paths, overall impact on the organizations and level of support required to ensure the realization of wider involvement of women in decision-making roles. The results indicated that since introducing the targets, the proportion of women at the NOC executive level has indeed risen. Furthermore, the exercise helped to raise awareness of gender inequalities, bring talented women into the Olympic family and improve Olympic governance by setting an example and providing moral leadership to the world of sports in terms of equity representation.

What sports can do for women Involvement in sports for women and men teaches critical lessons on discipline, goal setting, communication and work ethics that are widely transferable and often translate into successful careers down the line. For instance, Marjo Matikaninen, the World Champion and Olympic Gold Medallist in crosscountry skiing in 1988 from Finland, went on to a Masters degree in Engineering and is today a member of the European Parliament. “What I find interesting here is that those women who have been successful in sports have also applied the goal-oriented learning to their lives studying at university or establishing their own businesses,” said sports psychologist and former Olympic athlete from Finland Laura Jansson, in an ILO interview. “Elite athletes reach their peak between the ages of 20 and 30, depending on the discipline. After that they can be great educators and trainers who have a huge responsibility to the next generation to help them follow their footsteps.” Cecilia Tait has done just that. A former professional volleyball player from Peru, her efforts to promote equal sporting opportunities for women helped her 135

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get elected to the country’s Congress. “We should keep trying to emulate our role models, and to create new role models, to show that through sports you can do it, you can improve quality of life,” she said in an ILO interview for IWD. “Why do you think they have voted for me to be in Congress? Because I am a woman and an athlete, and because if I hadn’t been an athlete you and others wouldn’t have ever known about me. We are public figures, and a country without history and without examples does not move ahead.” The importance of role models for women in sports is undeniable. In fact, one could assert that it is a virtuous circle. The more women take positive, leading roles as athletes, trainers, journalists and decision-makers, the more women will see that gender inequalities can be overcome – not only in sports but in all professions.

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WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN AFRICA*

African women entrepreneurs are playing an ever-increasing role in African economies. The ILO and the African Development Bank (AfDB) have jointly launched a series of reports providing concrete recommendations for action to support growth-oriented women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia, Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda. African women entrepreneurs are becoming more prominent in many African economies despite several specific constraints: limited access to land, credit, education and training. Against this background, the ILO and AfDB intend to boost their cooperation in developing an integrated solution to support financing for growth-oriented micro-, small and medium-sized enterprises owned by women in those countries. A new ILO–AfDB report (2005) examines good practices and challenges in policy and programme support. It adopts an integrated approach to helping women entrepreneurs, including coordination, leadership, financing, training, business support, information sharing, networks and women entrepreneurs’ associations and the legal environment. According to the report, the ongoing sub-regional discussions on women entrepreneurs affect not only Ethiopia, Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania and Uganda, but also the rest of the continent. It recommends linking access to finance with business support services. Based on the findings of the report for Kenya, the AfDB has approved a new project to provide loan guarantees, business training and strengthening of associations of women entrepreneurs. As a further response to the reports in the four countries, the ILO will give greater priority to women’s entrepreneurship in Africa over the next two years. * Originally published in World of Work, No.56 (April 2006).

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Making public services work for poor people: Disabled people in Ethiopia: Abaynesh Gebeyehu Damtew, a 20-year-old disabled woman from the north of Ethiopia, left her home town of Alamata eight years ago to get medical treatment in the capital. She has not seen her family since. “My family did not need me because of my disability. In the place where I was born there was no disabled people’s organization. There was no awareness about disability. You cannot find support and services,” she explains. Having completed her medical treatment, Abaynesh became a member of the National Association of the Physically Handicapped. She wears a short brace, below her right knee, due to her disability caused by polio. Despite her mobility difficulties Abaynesh attends late evening classes at Basilios Primary and Junior High School. “I must learn today in order to change my life tomorrow,” she says. “Rather than sitting idle, working also gives a meaning to my life.” Before the classes, she attends a skills training course to become a tailor four days a week from 8 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. and works as a cleaner at one of the 30 public sanitary service blocs managed by the Yenegew Sew Sanitary Service Cooperative from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Cooperative was formed after the proposal by the Ethiopian Federation of Persons with Disabilities (EFPD) to renovate existing sanitary facilities and create jobs for unemployed people with disabilities had won a World Bank Development Marketplace Competition prize in 2003. The proposal was one of 186 chosen from over 2,700 proposals submitted. When the project was designed, the Addis Ababa City Administration Sanitation, Beautification and Parks Development Agency was planning to build more than 200 new public toilets and to outsource the management of the existing facilities to private and community organizations interested in running them at affordable prices. The City Administration and the ILO were both partners in the EFPD’s submission to renovate and manage 30 facilities. In June 2005 the President of Ethiopia officially opened the first modern public shower and toilet facilities. In a city where 24 per cent of housing units have no bathrooms at all and 45 per cent share pit latrines, the EFPD initiative has made an important contribution to public health and hygiene and has unlocked the economic potential of unemployed people with disabilities. The Yenegew Sew

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Sanitary Service Cooperative now provides jobs to 250 unemployed persons with visual, hearing and mobility impairments as well as ex-leprosy patients and mothers of children with mental retardation. Cooperative leaders received management training, learning how to run sanitary facilities as a public utility service from an ILO-supported urban sanitation project in Dar es Salaam. Cooperative members were trained in customer handling and marketing, maintenance and plumbing. The ILO and Development Cooperation Ireland (DCI), the official international aid programme of the Irish Government, provided training through an existing ILO–DCI project, “Developing Entrepreneurship among Women with Disabilities” in Addis Ababa and in the Amhara and Tigray regions of Ethiopia. Source: World of Work, No.56 (April 2006).

The report also calls for special efforts at the national and regional levels to challenge existing cultural and social practices and to allow women entrepreneurs to participate in private sector development and employment creation activities by reviewing the legal frameworks. The AfDB, which advocates small and medium-sized enterprise development and women’s access to finance, and the ILO, which provides technical expertise through its Women’s Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (WEDGE) technical cooperation project, launched the report during an interactive workshop in Nairobi in November 2005.

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LIGHTING A TORCH FOR EMPOWERMENT: “WE MATTER,” SAY FILIPINO DOMESTIC WORKERS* Ricardo R. Casco**

Domestic workers in the Philippines are being given a voice by SUMAPI, the only worker’s organization in the country for this sector. 2.5 million Filipino households rely on domestic workers to provide relief to families coping with the conflicting interests of career and family responsibilities. Filipina domestic workers are now also employed in households in some 70 countries around the world, and their importance is increasing with the changing patterns of family life and work. Yet the contribution of domestic work has continued to be undervalued, and the struggle to free it from child labour continues. Milaluna Tibubos (Mila) tells her story: “I grew up with 12 siblings in a very remote yet peaceful town in Iloilo. At a very young age, I was confronted with the ugly reality of poverty and how it affected my family. I was well aware that my parents could not support me in achieving my aspiration of finishing school. Like many young girls, I wanted to be educated and earn a college degree. That was all I could think about then, but I was fully aware of my family’s economic condition. Sometimes we could not eat because there was nothing to cook, nor was there any money to buy food in the market. So I turned to my teachers, thinking that they could help me. My teachers in elementary school encouraged me to go to their homes and be their domestic worker. They promised me that later on they would help me obtain my high school and college education.” So began Mila’s long journey on the path to empowerment – but things did not initially turn out the way she expected. * Originally published in World of Work, No.58 (December 2006). **National Project Coordinator, ILO-DOMWORK.

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“I began working when I was 9 years old so that I could support my studies and my family despite the arduous tasks I did. In one of my first jobs, I had to care for two toddlers aged 2 and 5 years old; I was still a child and I did not know how to take care of the children. My employer would hit me if I did something wrong. I was barely receiving any salary, only one peso per day. At times, I would skip classes on the instruction of my teacher-employer to go home and take care of her children.” Today Mila is the elected head of Samahang Ugnayan ng mga Manggagawang Pangtahanan sa Pilipinas (SUMAPI), the lone domestic worker organization in the Philippines. Benefiting from the ILO’s Regional Project on Mobilizing Action for the Protection of Domestic Workers from Forced Labour and Trafficking (ILO-DOMWORK), SUMAPI is preparing itself this year for institutional independence after years of nurture from the Visayan Forum Foundation, Inc. (VFFI), a staunch supporter of domestic workers’ rights and welfare. SUMAPI was organized by VFFI as a non-stock, non-profit, peoples’ organization working for the protection of migrant children and women working in the local market. Starting in Manila in 1995, it later expanded its activities to the provinces of Davao, Bacolod, Batangas, Iloilo and Cebu. It now has an estimated membership of 8,000 domestic workers and is currently composed of 21 core groups providing services in parks, schools, communities, and parishes. Like Mila, SUMAPI’s core leaders today are composed of successfully rehabilitated domestic workers who have availed themselves of VFFI’s Psychosocial Programme and educational assistance under the IPEC Programme. Having “walked the talk” and survived a painful past as child domestic workers, they have earned their credibility in speaking for their rights and interests; they understand how to build an important role for the sector.

Low pay, low status While domestic work has become a highly sought-after service, compensation for it as defined by present legislated standards in the Philippines is not commensurate. In narrating her travails as an impoverished child domestic worker, Mila describes the meagre income she earned out of the sacrifices she went through in her fervent desire to finish college. “I transferred from one employer to another – I had 11 employers all in all in 7 years. I sought work outside my province, far away from my family, in a place hardly familiar to me, and where I had no one to go to in case of problems. I had little or almost no 141

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communication with my family; worse, I worked in a household where I slept at the nipa hut (a native makeshift dwelling) located outside the main house. I would sleep there without pillows, without blankets, and without other essential amenities. I was fed with leftover food; my work entailed the entire household chores. I went through the ordeal of being hit, my hair was pulled by the daughter of my employer and I was even slapped, not only by my employer but also by other members of the family. Out of these 11 employers, only one employer paid me 500 pesos (US$10) a month; others just gave me 25 pesos, 2 pesos or sometimes nothing, especially when they provided me with the opportunity to go to school.” Even household employers of stature in society, such as Mila’s teacheremployers, can be guilty of abuses; a distorted view of domestic service allows these practices to be perpetuated. In many cultures the engagement of domestic services is relegated to the level of “domestic helpers or household servants”. These helpers and servants are not treated as workers deserving labour law coverage and standards of protection. In addition, recruiters of domestic workers for overseas employment tend to usurp the profits of this high-demand market. Because the job content of domestic work is perceived to require very low skill levels, and as more poor countries join the pool of suppliers, local wages and compensation are continuing to deteriorate.

As abroad, so at home The Philippines Department of Labor and Employment has recently announced publicly that it will vigorously promote the skills training and knowledge orientation of its overseas domestic workers, acknowledging the growing number of incidences of trafficking, forced labour and human rights abuses among them. And consistent with the need to implement the provisions of the Philippine Migrant Workers and Overseas Filipinos Act (Republic Act 8042) of 1995, which provides that the possession of skill-based competence is key to protection of vulnerable workers, the ILO has extended support to the Philippines for the development of a skills training, knowledge orientation, testing and certification system for domestic workers.This facility, managed by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), promises to empower the overseas domestic sector with leverage as they seek to preserve their relatively higher compensation and earn a professional stature in the global market. But while such orientation and training serves to protect domestic workers working abroad and make them more competitive, there is much yet to be done in promoting the use of such facilities in the local market. 142

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Local initiatives for skills and social protection Apart from ILO support for the updating of Philippine rules and regulations governing private recruitment and placement agencies operating in the local market, a number of initiatives from NGOs and local government units have captured ILO attention. In December 2004 the Quezon City government introduced a local ordinance calling for the registration and social security coverage of domestic workers and the mobilization of a Kasambahay desk and hotline programme. This initiative led to the development of an expanded local ordinance model. In February 2006, Makati City passed its own local ordinance. “There is no better way to implement service initiatives on the ground than when you have the Barangay (local government unit) and the homeowners’ associations working together,” says Constancia Lichauco, Barangay Captain of Belair, an elite residential village in Makati. Belair is now in its 11th year of implementing its Kabalikat sa Tahahan (partner at home) programme (KST) – a three-month training programme in skills, knowledge and values for domestic workers that takes place every Wednesday afternoon. The Employers Confederation of the Philippines (ECOP) has adopted the KST programme as a basis for its employer-awareness campaign and the formulation of its Code of Ethics in the Employment of Domestic Workers.

There is a desire among local domestic workers to upgrade government regulations and services for them in parallel with the programmes for those abroad. They are pursuing an omnibus law for domestic workers, Batas Kasambahay (Magna Carta for Household Workers, House Bill No. 1606), just as migrant workers have RA 8042. Being mostly unschooled and uninformed, they want to have access to a worker orientation and skills training programme. They want to see recruitment agencies operating in the local market made more responsible and assume specific obligations. When these are provided at home, they argue, the government will strengthen its moral ground in negotiating for better terms and conditions for migrant workers. In the struggle for empowerment, Mila has shepherded SUMAPI this year into an intensive schedule of capacity-building sessions on visioning, strategic and operational planning, principles of human and labour rights, organizing, resource mobilization, financial management, outreach services and entrepreneurship, under the guidance of the Federation of Free Workers and the 143

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ILO. “I am confident that we have bloomed with this mission to prevent present and future generations of domestic workers from experiencing the lost childhood we had to bear,” says Mila. “The things done for us – both big and small – by different social partners mobilized by the ILO in the past few years can spark us and generations to come into a real state of empowerment. We have the numbers, and we matter to families and individuals. Ours is a big voice.”

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AN HONEST DAY’S WORK? CONSIDERING THE NEBULOUS NOTION OF TODAY’S WORK–LIFE BALANCE* Jennifer Monroe**

Atypical and unpredictable work schedules are on the rise worldwide, thanks to an everincreasingly connected, responsive and demanding global economy. Consequently, work–life balance in industrialized countries is becoming a thing of the past. Across the industrialized world, working hours are becoming increasingly unpredictable, creating considerable tensions between workers and employers. Changes in the global economy to a knowledge- and service-based focus, consumer demand for access to goods and services 24 hours a day, seven days a week and other economic and social factors are affecting the standard employment relationship – and causing concern about working time and the work–life balance. To bring to light research on working time, the ILO co-sponsored the Ninth International Symposium on Working Time in Paris in 2004, and subsequent publication Decent working time: New trends, new issues (2006). Editors Jean-Yves Boulin, Michel Lallement, Jon C. Messenger and François Michon have compiled key papers presented at the symposium to help with the development of policies and practices that support decent working time. Focusing on industrialized countries, the research included in the book represents studies of workers and working time in a number of European Union Member States (particularly France, Germany and the Scandinavian countries), Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. According to Messenger, for decent working time to exist the working time arrangements must be healthy and family-friendly, promote gender

* Originally published in World of Work, No. 57 (August 2006). ** Freelance journalist, United States.

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equality, advance productivity and allow employees to have a true choice in the hours they work. While these five dimensions are closely linked, worker control over hours of work (and more importantly the scheduling of those hours) is vital to the creation – or at least the perception – of a decent work–life balance.

Real vs. ideal Within the quest for decent working time there exists what the ILO calls “decent work deficits” – gaps between required working hours and preferred working hours. As Messenger points out, three primary categories of workers have emerged for whom the decent work gap exists: people who are required to work excessively long hours who want to work less, part-time workers who are required to work less than 20 hours a week who want to work more, and people who have odd work schedules but want stable or standard hours. Closing these decent work gaps, while maintaining decent working time, is no simple task. As Boulin, Lallement and Michon point out in the opening chapter, “neither work–life balance policies nor life-course working time policies are automatically rooted in the philosophy of decent working time” and “many options offered to employees lead to gender discrimination and social inequalities”. Thomas Haipeter’s study of the new working time regulation in Germany found that “flexi-time” and “time-banking programmes” are promising, but only when well managed and when there is strong employee participation and autonomy. Part-time work, it would seem, could work well in closing the gaps for both those who would prefer to work more and those who would prefer to work less. Messenger notes that in general, “short working hours … appears to be a widely employed strategy for balance-paid employment with family responsibilities”. In fact, “substantial” hours of between 20 and 34 hours per week are preferred to “marginal” hours of less than 20 hours per week. However, the majority of part-time workers are female, causing gendersegregation of part-time work almost everywhere it exists. To take this point further, Mara Yerkes and Jelle Visser found “danger of marginalization” in the initial growth stages of part-time work in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom because “part-time work developed as a ‘second-best’ option for many women, particularly working mothers,” and “part-time work was preferred to staying out of the labour market, or being unemployed – but not to a full-time job with full rights, earnings and benefits”. While the Netherlands has made some great gains in normalizing part-time work (see box) and Germany is taking a similar approach, part-time work in the UK historically has not been well regulated and has “as a 146

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consequence, become heavily associated with marginal employment, low pay and little skills training”. Eliminating the decent work deficit for workers whose hours are not based on a regular schedule may prove the most difficult. According to researchers Jill Rubery, Kevin Ward and Damian Grimshaw, scheduling of employee time is increasingly being used strategically by employers. In some cases, working time is neither agreed nor specified; in others, agreed-upon time is “becoming fragmented into shorter, discontinuous periods and is being scheduled across the week or the year to match the requirements of the employers”. Organizations are not looking to return to a more regular time-based approach. In fact, “managers stressed that hours schedules needed to fit with the interests of the employer and/or the clients and customers. To achieve this, a major objective was to regard all hours as equivalent, with no additional costs associated with unsocial or extra hours”. Paul Bouffartigue and Jacques Bouteiller’s analysis of “temporal availability” among hospital nurses and bank managerial staff in France, Belgium and Spain provides further examples of the growing diversity of types of employment status and situations, while Isik Zeytinoglu and Gordon Cooke ask the question, “Who is working at weekends?” Their answer for Canada (although this must surely be true for other industrialized countries) is that in any society that some people happily imagine is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, weekend workers are often those with a number of disadvantages: lower education and skill levels, temporary contracts and part-time work. Where workers have a true choice in their work hours (where there are good options available to choose from), there is an increased opportunity for decent working time to exist. Despite the belief to the contrary, Didier Fouage and Christine Baaijens found that among Dutch firms “it is plausible that employers will grant changes in working hours if requested”, and that “although employees are reluctant to request adjustment of working hours, their attempts are reasonably successful”.

What perpetuates overemployment? What keeps workers from requesting shorter hours is simple: fear of refusal and fear of a negative impact on their career. In other cases there is the belief that working more, even unpaid hours, is valued as dedication to the company. Some workers “choose” overemployment to meet preferred earning levels, while others see it as “part of the job”. In Jouko Nätti, Timo Anttila and Mia Väisänen’s study of knowledge workers in Finland, half had trouble defining their total working hours, with managers and professionals struggling the most in this regard. They also discovered an erosion of “agreed upon weekly working time” and a “stretching” of working hours. 147

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Bridging the decent work gap: The Netherlands The Netherlands has made the greatest gains in fostering a healthy work–life balance through the normalization of part-time work. In Mara Yerkes’ and Jelle Visser’s comparison of the development of part-time work in the Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom, they share the secrets behind the Dutch efforts to create decent working time. Although the Netherlands faced the same initial dangers of marginalization found wherever part-time work exists, the acceptance of part-time work today has led to the one-and-a-half earner household becoming the dominant model. According to Yerkes, “involuntary part-time work is low in the Netherlands, with only a minor gap between women’s preferred and actual working time”. What is behind this shift? Both the Dutch Government and social partners supported families in choosing part-time work and shorter working hours as a way to achieve a work–family balance. Policies were put in place to create standards in terms of part-time workers’ rights, earnings and equality. It did not happen quickly – growth of part-time work in the Netherlands lagged behind other European countries until the 1980s when it began to grow along with the number of women entering the workforce to boost household incomes. At first, women chose part-time work due to the lack of daycare options; however, employers embraced its flexibility and cost savings. In the mid-1990s, legislation made it possible for part-time workers to be covered by minimum wage laws, and to earn pensions. Employers still favoured part-time work, and today part-time positions are found in all economic sectors and across all occupations. However, more work needs to be done. Although part-time workers are afforded equal treatment and have a choice of quality jobs, part-time work is dominated by women and they remain responsible for the majority of domestic responsibilities. It does appear that women are, by in large, choosing part-time work. Nearly 60 per cent of all jobs held by women in the Netherlands are part-time, the highest in the EU. According to the researchers, “even among younger generations, mothers who have chosen to work part-time when raising young children do not return to working full-time when their children grow older”.

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An honest day’s work? Considering the nebulous notion of today’s work–life balance

This is similar to Lonnie Golden’s study of overemployed workers in the US. Golden’s work indicates that overwork is higher among “long-work-week workers and selected occupational classifications such as managers, administrators, scientists, engineers and some technicians, and in industries such as healthcare, utilities and transportation”. In both studies, the long hours seem to be accepted as the norm for managers. This did not, however, impact the number of Finnish workers who would prefer a reduction of weekly working hours. Those who work a long week (41 hours or more) were more likely to prefer reduction of hours compared to those working a shorter week (1 to 40 hours). At the other end of the spectrum there are those who desire to increase their hours, but because overwork exists, there are few opportunities to do so. Again, the research suggests the elimination of the stigma often associated with part-time work or shorter hours. It also suggests that the acceptance of parttime work across all levels of work (hence, “normalizing” part-time work) would go a long way in closing this decent work deficit and promoting healthy and family-friendly working time, as well as gender equality. Changes in the global economy have brought about a tremendous growth in part-time work, but often these are not career-building positions. Messenger stresses that working time policies can only promote gender equality when they “enable women to be on an equal footing with men in employment” and “enable both partners to combine paid work, family responsibilities and lifelong learning”.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Auer, P.; Cazes, S. 2000. “The resilience of the long-term employment relationship: Evidence from the industrialized countries”, in International Labour Review (Geneva, ILO), Vol. 139, No. 4. —; —; Spiezia, V. 2001. Stable or unstable jobs? Has job stability decreased in industrialized countries?, Employment Paper No. 26 (Geneva, ILO). Barakat, S; Wardell, G. 2001. Capitalizing on capacities of Afghan women: Women’s role in Afghanistan’s reconstruction and development (Geneva, ILO). Birzeit University. 1997. Palestinian women: A status report, Women’s Studies Program, Boulin, J.-Y.; Lallement, M.; Messenger, J.C.; Michon, F (eds.). 2006. Decent working time: New trends, new issues (Geneva, ILO). Brett, R.; Specht, I. 2004. Young soldiers: Why they fight (Geneva, ILO, with Lynne Rienner Publishers, Colorado). Date-Bah, E ; Walsh, M. 2001. Gender and armed conflicts: Challenges for decent work, gender equity and peace building agendas and programmes (Geneva, ILO). di Cola, G. (ed.). 2006. Beyond the scoreboard: Youth employment opportunities and skills development in the sports sector (Geneva, ILO). International Labour Office (ILO). 1999a. Her way to work: The road to quality jobs for women. Video (Geneva). —. 1999b. Towards gender equality in the world of work in Asia and the Pacific. Technical report for discussion at the Asian Regional Consultation on Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women, Manila, 6–8 October 1999 (Bangkok). —. 2000a. A partnership of equals (Geneva). —. 2000b. ABC of women workers’ rights and gender equality (Geneva). —. 2001. Stopping forced labour. Global Report under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental principles and Rights at Work, International Labour Conference, 89th Session, Report 1 (B) (Geneva). 151

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—. 2003a. Global employment trends (Geneva). —. 2003b. Time for equality at work. Global Report under the Follow-up to the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, International Labour Conference, 91st Session, Report 1 (B) (Geneva). —. 2003c. Women seafarers: Global employment policies and practices (Geneva). —. 2003d. Working out of poverty. Report of the Director-General to the 91st Session of the International Labour Conference (Geneva). —. 2004. Global employment trends for women 2004 (Geneva). Also available online at www.ilo.org/trends. —. 2005a. Employers’ organizations taking the lead on gender equality: Case studies from 10 countries (Geneva). —. 2005b. Gender equality and decent work: Good practices at the workplace (Geneva). —. 2006. Gender equality and decent work: Selected ILO Conventions and Recommendations promoting gender equality (Geneva). —. 2007. A manual for gender audit facilitators: The ILO participatory gender audit methodology (Geneva, ILO). —; African Development Bank (AfDB). 2005. Support for growth-oriented women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania: An overview report (Tunis). —; Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA). 2001. Globalization and the gender division of labour in Jordan and Lebanon (Geneva). United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). 1999. 1999 Human Development Report. (New York). Walsh, M. 2001. Gender concerns in the immediate post-conflict period in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Geneva, ILO). Wirth, L. 2001. Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management (Geneva, ILO). —. 2004. Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management: Update 2004 (Geneva, ILO). Also available online at www.ilo.org/gender. Women for Women International. 2002. www.womenforwomen.org/country/rwanda/ stateofwomen.htm (consulted March 2002).

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Niger, Illela village. Bringing home the water is a traditional role of women and young girls. But things are changing.

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On the front line of caring, compassion and health expertise: a nurse attends to a young patient in the intensive care unit of Le Dantec Hospital, Dakar.

A nurse visits a patient at home in the crowded neighbourhood of Sin El Fil, Beirut.

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Learning a trade: the NGO Najdeh offers training in hairstyling to young Palestinian women in the Ain El Helweh camp.

At the ILO’s Training Centre in Turin. Here, women come from all over the world to learn about labour rights, equality of treatment, economic information on entrepreneurship development and vocational training.

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Women’s work: a peddler sets up shop on a sidewalk in La Paz, Bolivia . . .

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. . . and in Peru, a woman crushes gold-bearing rocks while her child looks on.

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Cooperatives can help. Bambika is responsible for the rural cooperative project uniting women from Kesavarayampatti village, Madras. ILO financial help has allowed the purchase of ten cows.

Young women in Bolivia negotiate a bank loan to create a cooperative.

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The Maternity Protection Convention, 2000 (No. 183) addresses issues of health protection for mother and child . . .

. . . while Norway leads in legislation on paternity leave (see page 123).

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Waste collection in Dar es Salaam: women workers clean up their city and earn an income at the same time.

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Slavery and forced labour – the exploitation and oppression of society’s most vulnerable members – have by no means been consigned to the past. Here, a young girl is the victim of traffickers trying to smuggle her across the border from Burkina Faso to Benin.

Thanks to the efforts of a local NGO in Niger, Altana and her daughter are now free, but they still feel like slaves and live in fear of their former master.

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Breaking through the glass ceiling: a surgeon in the Heart Institute, Saigon, Viet Nam.

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Valentina, chief engineer, Murmachi Hydroelectric plant, Murmansk, Russian Federation.

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For many village women in India, making beedi cigarettes has been the traditional way of earning an income, allowing them to work at home. But the industry is waning and the ILO has set up a pilot project offering other opportunities (see page 84).

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In this small textile weaving workshop in Jordan, mothers can keep their children with them while working.

Narrowing the gender unemployment gap in the Middle East will mean facing the gender segregation barrier. Here, the shipping department of a print shop, Syria.

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But gender segregation is less than it used to be, even in technical trades. Here, mechanics perform maintenance work on an Ethiopian Airlines plane . . .

. . . while 25-year-old Slayo studies carpentry at the Regional Vocational Training and Services Centre in Dar es Salaam. All sections of the centre are open to girls.

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Many children whose parents have died of HIV/AIDS visit this primary school at the Kiota Women’s Health and Development Centre (Kiwohede) in Dar es Salaam. As a partner of the IPEC programme of the ILO, this NGO is actively involved in gender promotion, health and child development.

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Women are employed at all levels in the United Republic of Tanzania. Top: Grace washes windows for the equivalent of US$1 per day; centre: 19-year-old Munguma is an auto mechanic student at the Dar es Salaam Regional Vocational Training and Services Centre; below: testing for AIDS at the Kiwohede laboratory.

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Turkey: a young female police officer on the beat.

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Women guerrilla fighters on patrol, Colombia.

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High achievers in sport: audacity and determination on the fast track.

Another kind of excellence: Maria Vögel’s know-how produces the best organic cheeses in this corner of Austria.

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That glass ceiling again: they’re still breaking through. Here, a young woman CEO in Argentina.

On the other side of the world, Chiata Kignelman has become an entrepreneur after working for Siemens and MicroSoft, and now runs her own computer enterprise in Côte d’Ivoire.

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Léonie Amongoua (left), stylist and couturier, employs 35 people in her fashion workshop and exports her own designs.

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On the way up: women construction workers in the Russian Federation.

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Not all work in the Middle East is gender-segregated – even if he does have the phone. But the United Arab Emirates are attracting international enterprises to the middle of the desert with futuristic architecture, cutting-edge technology, efficient management – and a genderbalanced reception desk.

Modern technologies are helping jobseekers too. Down at the job centre in Murmansk, an applicant undergoes a psychological and neurological test.

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But can you have too much of a good thing? With everything going faster, huge demands are being made on employees’ working time. Is work–life balance under threat for those who have jobs? (see page 145).

Still, this call-centre employee in Bangkok had a smile for the camera.

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Domestic workers: carrying out necessary and important but undervalued work, and often exploited by employers and unprotected by the law. In the United Republic of Tanzania, hundreds of child workers have been withdrawn from domestic service thanks to the common efforts of the Conservation, Hotels, Domestic an Allied Workers Union (CHODAWU) and ILO/IPEC. These children are now going to school and learning a trade.

Domestic workers in the Philippines are being given a voice through SUMAPI (see p. 140).