ETF Women's Conference - Zagreb, 2001

The ETF founding Women’s Conference (Zagreb, 2001) brought together transport workers from across Europe. Erika Young, elected chair of the ETF Women’s Committee, looks back in time as, once again back in Zagreb at the invitation of the Trade Union of Railway Workers of Croatia, she prepares to chair the 6^th Women’s Committee meeting of April 2004:

“… When in 2001 the European Transport Workers’ Federation (ETF) decided to create the ETF Women’s Committee, the main concern was with the complete lack of visibility for women working in the industry. The Committee was set up with 12 elected representatives from 11 countries. The ETF Constitution provided opportunities for the balanced representation of women in the ETF main leading bodies – the Management and Executive Committees. Each of the 8 ETF sections were required to nominate a woman section representative to work with the 12 elected sisters in the Committee.

I look back in time and I see that between Zagreb 2001 and Zagreb 2004, 18 women transport workers had been pioneering gender equality in the 4^th most segregated industry – as transport stands nowadays - in Europe. By Zagreb 2004 we had already built an active network of women trade unionists, we had pushed for a resolution on the balanced participation of women in ETF activities, we had been around Europe visiting women transport workers at their workplace every 8^th of March for the last two years and talked with trade union leaders about improving the visibility of sisters transport workers at work and in trade union life, we had made knowledge flow from the ETF towards the affiliates and we stirred feed-back from ETF transport unions to Brussels. In few words: we had succeeded to mobilise!”