Participants in the Nairobi, Kenya workshop on 25-27 September engaged in group discussions of topics including the need for training for women to enter skilled jobs; decent working conditions, including shift work, which take into account women’s role in the home and community; and vehicle ergonomics and equipment that suit women.
They heard from speakers including Alfred Omenya from EcoBuild Africa on ‘Climate change: the science and politics’, and Kevin Kinusu, Hivos Foundation, on ‘Building alliances beyond the workplace’. The ITF representatives explained the federation’s initiatives to promote women’s issues in urban transport, including its ‘Our public transport’ campaign and annual action week in October.
Maryam Jummai Bello, from the National Union of Road Transport Workers, Nigeria, and sub-regional co-ordinator on the ITF women’s committee, said: “Union action on climate change is urgent and absolutely has to involve women at every level. There are no jobs on a dead planet. If governments expand and improve urban transport, they will cut emissions and create millions of new jobs. We want urban transport to meet the needs of workers and working class communities, men and women. Transport is not gender neutral.”
The women will now work with their unions to implement the short and medium term objectives shaped in the work planning session. These include educating others about the effects of and opportunities for women resulting from climate change; working with men and women colleagues to overcome barriers to women’s activism, including their access to leadership positions; and making connections with climate change activists from other ITF African affiliated unions.
