Concern over impact of financial crisis on women

10 August 2010

“One of our key tasks ahead focuses on fighting the effects of the economic crisis on women across the globe,” Alison McGarry, ITF women’s coordinator, told delegates yesterday.

Speaking at the women transport workers’ conference, she highlighted the importance of Protecting women’s jobs, many of which were precarious; their positions were likely to be among the first to go as cutbacks were implemented.

During the session, McGarry outlined the approach presented in the ITF document “Making a Difference”, which prioritises a number of areas, including the fight against the impact of the crisis on women.

She said that the ITF would continue to ensure that it challenged the negative effects of the global crisis on women by working with global unions and the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to promote alternative economic and political strategies.

McGarry added: “We have to make sure that how women are affected by the crisis is fed back to their unions and that women are properly represented at bodies such as the International Labour Organization and the ITUC.”

Research would also be carried out to show exactly how public sector cuts were disproportionately affecting women.

The implementation of equality programmes in transport unions and organising young and informal women workers and women in “new workplaces”, such as call centres, were also key themes in the document.

The ITF had already made inroads into organising in call centres, for example in Africa, where a project to reach out to young women workers had been established, the conference heard.

Violence against women condemned
Women at the women’s conference spoke out passionately against increasing levels of violence against them.

Rosa María Hernández López, of the Mexican bus, tram and light railway workers’ union ATM, said that violence and the murder of women was a prominent issue in Mexico, and the state was not protecting them. “So much injustice and corruption has led to the killing of women; women are condemned to be outcasts.”

Alison McGarry also emphasised the importance of tackling violence against women and said that the ITF would prioritise engaging unions in the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on 25 November. According to the United Nations, one in three women experience some form of physical violence during their lifetime.

Delegates adopted a motion rejecting all forms of violence against women in Mexico specifically.

In addition, they supported an emergency motion denouncing the death of a South African cadet at sea in suspicious circumstances. It is understood that she died after she alleged that she had been raped by a senior officer.

Capacity building initiative
Delegates heard how the ITF was trialling a new mentoring initiative with the maritime sections. This would link newly elected women leaders with established and experienced leaders. The initiative is designed to be a two-way process, providing both the experienced leader and the novice with useful insights.

Stereotyping women’s jobs
There have been key improvements for women in the workplace, with more workplaces running equality programmes, but there was still more to be done, according to an ITF survey carried out in 2009.

Despite significant improvements, the survey also showed that there was a “maintenance of sexism in the workplace”.

The ITF’s women’s department was challenging this, said Alison McGarry. It had introduced a gender sensitisation chapter in the “Making Unions Stronger” pack, ensuring that the impact of women’s campaigns were monitored in every section and region and that there were section-specific materials. Sections had also begun to develop women’s networks.

Winning for women in India
“I feel proud to say that in each and every part of this country, you can find active women participants,” said Deepti Ben Shukla from the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen.

Shukla explained to delegates at the women’s conference that there were, however, still concerns about the position of women in the workforce; that is why the union put women’s demands to the government’s pay commission. As a result, childcare leave and flexible working hours were won for women railway workers.

Shukla also outlined the union’s education programmes: “We are educating women to know the rules and regulations so that they can protect themselves against violence and sexual harassment in the workplace.”

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