Social justice essential for Decent Work for women
Women and men from trade unions show how they have made a difference to promote social justice and gender equality at work, all the way from equal wages to new trade unions.
LAHORE (ILO News): To mark social justice day members of trade unions from all around Pakistan gathered in Lahore on Saturday to share their work on promoting social justice for working women.
The participants had all received training on leadership and paralegal skills under the programme Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment implemented by the ILO and PWF with funding from the Canadian government.
Addressing the session, General Secretary PWF, Zahoor Awan mentioned some legal provisions that PWF had effectively lobbied for to give greater voice, visibility and power to women in trade unions, such as the introduction in the Industrial Relations Act in the centre and in Sindh ensuring that women will be represented in trade unions’ decision making bodies in the same proportion at least, that they are employed in the organization.
“A common problem in promoting women’s leadership in trade unions is the fact that there are very few women in trade unions”, said Asad and Rafia from Karachi and Hyderabad as they explained that trade union activities are often held outside working hours or outside the workplace making it difficult for women to participate. By addressing these simple problems Asad succeeded in increasing women’s membership in his organisation’s trade union to the extent that in the subsequent elections four office bearer positions, including that of the President, were won by women.
Ms Asma working in Hattar Industrial Estate, Haripur talked of the pervasisve problem of workplace harassment and the lack of information awareness about the workplace harassment law amongst employers and workers. She explained how she had used her skills and knowledge from the paralegal programme to train more than 450 women and men from schools, hospitals and communities in Haripur, including doctors, teachers, students, homebased workers, factory workers and domestic workers. As a result of her training the district hospital and the post-graduate college for boys had established committees to deal with incidents of harassment, and her efforts had won her praise from the district government. Her colleagues Aroosha and Aroma had also helped address workplace harassment through training and establishing mechanisms in the banking and brick kiln sectors.
Brick kiln workers were identified as one of the most vulnerable categories of workers. Saad from Lahore explained how many brick kiln workers were taking loans from their employers to meet medical expenses to treat illnesses arising from poor sanitary working and living conditions. These loans would put them in an endless cycle of debt and work bondage. To help them break this cycle, Saad had worked with brick kiln workers, particularly women, to teach them basic health and hygiene practices which have helped reduce the incidence of illness. He also helped them get identity cards, a prerequisite to accessing social security schemes.
Domestic workers and homebased workers are also amongst the most vulnerable of workers, and Asad from Karachi explained how he had spearheaded efforts to organize agriculture and fishery sector workers in Sindh to form the first ever trade union for the sector. Participants from Punjab had achieved the same success for domestic workers in Punjab.
Other participants from Punjab Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority, Lahore Development Corporation and Sialkot industries described their strategies and successes in increasing registration of trade union workers with social security schemes and ensuring equal pay for women and men for work of equal value.
Thanking the participants, Mr Francesco d’Ovidio, Country Director ILO Pakistan said he was impressed by the efforts of the women and men and pleased to see such significant results. “Many people believe that in a neo-liberal, global economy, market forces should decide wages, working conditions and working hours. However, your work shows the importance of individual action, the human touch. It is only through trained, hard working, socially aware women and men like you that we can ensure that social justice is at the heart of the world of work.”
Ms Frida Khan
National Project Coordinator
Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE)
ILO Country Office for Pakistan
email
Tel. +92 51 2276456-8
The participants had all received training on leadership and paralegal skills under the programme Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment implemented by the ILO and PWF with funding from the Canadian government.
Addressing the session, General Secretary PWF, Zahoor Awan mentioned some legal provisions that PWF had effectively lobbied for to give greater voice, visibility and power to women in trade unions, such as the introduction in the Industrial Relations Act in the centre and in Sindh ensuring that women will be represented in trade unions’ decision making bodies in the same proportion at least, that they are employed in the organization.
“A common problem in promoting women’s leadership in trade unions is the fact that there are very few women in trade unions”, said Asad and Rafia from Karachi and Hyderabad as they explained that trade union activities are often held outside working hours or outside the workplace making it difficult for women to participate. By addressing these simple problems Asad succeeded in increasing women’s membership in his organisation’s trade union to the extent that in the subsequent elections four office bearer positions, including that of the President, were won by women.
Ms Asma working in Hattar Industrial Estate, Haripur talked of the pervasisve problem of workplace harassment and the lack of information awareness about the workplace harassment law amongst employers and workers. She explained how she had used her skills and knowledge from the paralegal programme to train more than 450 women and men from schools, hospitals and communities in Haripur, including doctors, teachers, students, homebased workers, factory workers and domestic workers. As a result of her training the district hospital and the post-graduate college for boys had established committees to deal with incidents of harassment, and her efforts had won her praise from the district government. Her colleagues Aroosha and Aroma had also helped address workplace harassment through training and establishing mechanisms in the banking and brick kiln sectors.
Brick kiln workers were identified as one of the most vulnerable categories of workers. Saad from Lahore explained how many brick kiln workers were taking loans from their employers to meet medical expenses to treat illnesses arising from poor sanitary working and living conditions. These loans would put them in an endless cycle of debt and work bondage. To help them break this cycle, Saad had worked with brick kiln workers, particularly women, to teach them basic health and hygiene practices which have helped reduce the incidence of illness. He also helped them get identity cards, a prerequisite to accessing social security schemes.
Domestic workers and homebased workers are also amongst the most vulnerable of workers, and Asad from Karachi explained how he had spearheaded efforts to organize agriculture and fishery sector workers in Sindh to form the first ever trade union for the sector. Participants from Punjab had achieved the same success for domestic workers in Punjab.
Other participants from Punjab Technical Education and Vocational Training Authority, Lahore Development Corporation and Sialkot industries described their strategies and successes in increasing registration of trade union workers with social security schemes and ensuring equal pay for women and men for work of equal value.
Thanking the participants, Mr Francesco d’Ovidio, Country Director ILO Pakistan said he was impressed by the efforts of the women and men and pleased to see such significant results. “Many people believe that in a neo-liberal, global economy, market forces should decide wages, working conditions and working hours. However, your work shows the importance of individual action, the human touch. It is only through trained, hard working, socially aware women and men like you that we can ensure that social justice is at the heart of the world of work.”
For further information please contact:
Ms Frida KhanNational Project Coordinator
Promoting Gender Equality for Decent Employment (GE4DE)
ILO Country Office for Pakistan
Tel. +92 51 2276456-8