NEW YORK (ILO News) - The International Labour Office (ILO) is organizing a series of high-level panel discussions on decent work for women, women's empowerment and micro-finance and galvanizing action for older women, during the Special Session of the UN General Assembly on Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century to be held in New York on 5-9 June 2000.
Among the preparations for Women 2000, the ILO's Bureau for Gender Equality has also issued a special report entitled Decent Work for Women , which is a global proposal to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action.
The panel discussions planned by the ILO include:
Decent Work for Women
Thursday, 8 June 2000, from 11:15-12:45 pm
at Conference Room 3, UN Building, New York
The primary goal of the ILO today is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity and human dignity. For the ILO the promotion of decent work is the synthesis of four strategic objectives: achieving fundamental principles and rights at work; creating greater employment and income opportunities for women and men; extending social protection; and promoting social dialogue. The Decent Work agenda puts gender equality and development issues at the heart of the ILO agenda. The panel discussion will address gender equality as a matter of human rights, social justice, economic efficiency and sustainable development in four specific contexts: women workers' rights; poverty, employment and social protection; management development and entrepreneurship for women; gender in crisis response and reconstruction in conflict affected countries.
Panelists include:
Ms. Maria Elena Valenzuela (Chile); Centro de
Estudios de la Mujer, Santiago;
Ms. Aanchal Kapur (India); KRITI, New Delhi;
Ms. Munira Fakhro (Bahrein); Associate
Professor, University of Bahrain;
Ms. Ying Chen (China); Deputy Director-General
of Confederation of China Entreprises (CEC);
Ms. Njeri Karuru (Kenya); Associate Director,
Centre for Conflict Research, Nairobi.
Women's Empowerment and Micro-Finance
Tuesday, 6 June 2000, from 3:00-5:00 pm
at UNDP Hank Shannon Conference Room, 21
st floor, New York
The workshop is a joint initiative of the ILO (Social Finance Unit and Bureau for Gender Equality) and UNIFEM. The main objective of the workshop is to identify the constraints limiting the full empowerment potential of micro-finance and to arrive at suggestions for governments, associations and other civil society groups on how to remove these constraints.
Panelists include:
Ms. Seida Saric (Sarajevo); Director of Women
for Women in Bosnia;
Ms. Connie Evans (Chicago, USA); President of
the Women's Self-Employment Project;
Chief Bisi Onguleye (Nigeria); COWAN;
Ms. Soukeyna Ba (Senegal); Microfin-Afric.
Galvanizing Action: Older Women Workers
Thursday, 8 June 2000, from 3:00-4:45 pm
at Dag Hammarskjold Auditorium, UN Building, New York
The ILO Decent Work agenda is based on the premise that men and women must have equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities for work which guarantees an adequate standard of living for themselves and their families; ensures basic security in old age; respects fundamental human rights; and allows for creativity and fulfilment. The Gender Promotion Programme has prepared a background paper on Realizing Decent Work for Older Women Workers. The paper is intended to identify issues and galvanize international and national action in this area.
Panelists include:
Ms. Inger Segelstrom (Sweden); Senior Member of
Parliament;
Ms. Baleka Mbete (South Africa); Deputy Speaker
of the National Assembly;
Ms. Meena Acharya (Nepal); Institute for
Integrated Development Studies;
Ms. Nancy Riche (Canada); Canadian Labor
Congress and Vice-President of the ICFTU;
Ms. Donna Smith (ILO); Gender Promotion
Programme.
ILO's work on gender
The promotion of gender equality has a long-standing tradition in the ILO. There is a wide recognition of the global role the ILO has played in setting standards designed to create conditions of equality for women and men workers. The ILO was among the first of the United Nations agencies to initiate serious research on women workers, their manifold roles and their contribution to the economy. Technical cooperation activities contributed to the identification and implementation of policies and strategies to overcome discrimination and enhance women's capabilities and entitlements.
Within the framework of the new ILO gender policy, systematic efforts are being made and specific steps taken to mainstream gender into all ILO means of action: standard-setting and monitoring, technical cooperation and advisory services, capacity-building, meetings and other promotional activities, research and dissemination of information. A gender perspective is increasingly integrated in procedures for programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, including the setting up of gender indicators and targets, and accountability mechanisms.
ILO assessment of progress since Beijing
Progress towards the achievement of gender equality in the world of work has been uneven and patchy. Globalization, economic restructuring and the flexibilization of production processes are resulting in changes in employment patterns. Employment has become more uncertain and unstable for all workers and an increasing number of women need and wish to generate an independent income. A higher proportion of the workforce than before is confronted with the competing demands of work and family responsibilities.
In some circumstances, globalization has decreased gender inequalities, particularly in countries where it led to an unprecedented employment of female labour, but in other cases it has intensified them. Progress has also been far from sustained as setbacks have been registered in countries which experienced a financial crisis, economic restructuring, or have been affected by armed conflict.
Women have continued to participate in the labour market in growing numbers and their contribution to the economy is more visible. Opportunities for better jobs and new income generating activities have opened up. Better educated women are reaching positions of responsibility in higher numbers and more women are creating their own enterprises. But as a group, women continue to be concentrated in low-paid and low-skilled jobs, and their likelihood of engaging in part-time or casual employment leaves them more susceptible to poverty than their male counterparts. For the vast majority of women the increase in the number of jobs has not been matched by a parallel improvement in the quality of their employment.
Gender remains an ubiquitous source of labour market inequalities and inadequately utilized human resources. The majority of women continue to have an inferior position in the labour market in terms of wages, conditions of work and access to decision-making. Gender biases embedded in social perceptions and social norms persist and affect economic outcomes for women in every sphere, be it property rights, employment or household allocation.
The ILO's response: The Decent Work Agenda
The ILO approaches gender equality as a matter of human rights, social justice, economic efficiency and sustainable development. Its primary goal is to promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. The Decent Work concept is based on the expressed wish of men and women for work that will allow them and their families to have access to a decent standard of living. Decent work means setting a threshold for work and employment which embodies universal rights, and which, for a given society, is consistent with its values and goals. The Decent Work agenda puts gender equality and development issues at the heart of the ILO agenda.
In the work of ILO the promotion of decent work is viewed as the synthesis of four strategic objectives: achieving fundamental principles and rights at work; creation of greater employment and income opportunities for women and men; extending social protection; and promoting social dialogue among governments, employers, workers, NGOs and other actors of civil society. A strong partnership among UN and other international agencies will add value to development programmes and their sustainability at the national level.
ILO Delegation to the UN-Special Session
The ILO delegation is led by Ms. Jane Zhang, Director of the Bureau for Gender Equality, who has been appointed Special Representative of the Director-General to Beijing+5.
Contact persons
Mr. Gareth Howell and Ms. Janine Rodgers
c/o ILO Liaison Office with the United Nations
220 East 42
nd Street, Suite 3101, New York, N.Y. 10017-5806
Tel: (212) 697-0150
Fax: (212) 697-5218