For equality and promoting women workers’ rights

From May 17 to 19, the SYNIBABCOM of Mali hosted the second meeting of the UITBB Women's Commission. The delegates from 11 unions, mostly African, have discussed the consequences of the global financial and economic crisis on the condition of women workers, particularly in Africa. On the three-day meeting, the second day was devoted to a training seminar on ILO Conventions and Recommendations on rights of women, a seminar lead by the regional representative of the ILO, Mrs. Fatime Ndiaye, with some twenty additional women delegates from Mali attending. During the third day, participants visited building sites in the framework of international cooperation to familiarize themselves with solutions to gender issues. The members of the UITBB Women Commission from Australia, Cameroon, Colombia, Denmark and Senegal presented a national report and Marina Stavrinou informed about the achievements of the commission so far. All reports are available in the Documents section. The meeting produced a resolution on poverty eradication and conclusions of the meeting are as follow: Conclusions The informal workforce is a key factor in the exploitation of women, in inhibiting compliance with ILO conventions and in limiting the capacity to organize women in trade unions Despite possessing skills, knowledge and education, women still face discrimination in accessing work and in receiving equitable remuneration for work of equal value During the global economic crisis, the participation of women in the workforce has decreased and the gap between male and female wages has increased Despite some gains in women's participation in policy and decision making, such as the right to hold political office, women are still significantly underrepresented in positions of power The level of child labour globally is unacceptable and legislation in relation to compulsory schooling is not universal     The meeting determined the following strategies to progress its work and to encourage activism amongst women workers: Strategies 1.    To raise awareness of women's issues amongst UITBB affiliates by: Encouraging affiliates to send at least 1 woman delegate to Congress in Bahia in December 2010 Encourage women delegates to participate in all levels of discussion Require women delegates to assist in the presentation of a special session on women's affairs at Congress 2.    In addition to continuing the work of the women's committee as outlined in the work plans emanating from the Canberra meeting and in recognition of the particular concerns of women attending the Bamako meeting, the meeting determined that the Women's Committee should focus more of its energies on raising awareness of the significant effects of the informal sector on inequities in women's working conditions and on the use of child labour 3.    To inform the development of strategies to combat the growth of the informal workforce, the committee seeks detailed information including statistics from the ILO 4.    To raise awareness in general, the Women's Committee urges the UITBB to develop a campaign and to take special actions to eliminate the exploitation of girls and children in the building sector. The committee seeks detailed information including statistics from the ILO