Promoting Gender Equality - A Resource Kit for Trade Unions. International Labour Office. August 2001

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This resource kit is intended to provide background information, practical guidelines and checklists, case studies and examples of "good" and "bad" practice and reference materials:

* to assist and enhance the efforts of trade unions to promote gender equality and protect vulnerable women workers; and
* to improve the understanding and appreciation of the role of trade unions.

The main target audience is trade unionists, especially officials, both women and men. But it hoped that the information will also be of interest and use to all trade union members and to individual workers who are currently not organized. The resource kit is also more broadly addressed to those concerned with the elimination of discrimination or interested in the role of unions and the potential for collaboration or joint action with unions - including non-governmental organizations and other civil groups (importantly, women's organizations and women activists), government agencies, employers and employers' organizations, research and academic institutions and the media.

The resource kit is comprised of a number of booklets. There is also an accompanying report (5) that provides the empirical perspective based on a survey and case studies of the actual experiences of trade unions and some "lessons learnt". The survey and this resource kit represent the results of the collaboration between the Gender Promotion Programme (GENPROM) and the Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV) of the International Labour Office, the Women's Committee of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the International Trade Secretariats (ITSs), in particular the International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) and Public Services International (PSI). At a validation workshop, trade unionists discussed the relevance, user-friendliness, presentation style and appropriateness of the different booklets and made suggestions for revisions. The resource kit now incorporates the suggested revisions.

Booklets 1 to 6 cover different areas of trade union activities and interactions for the promotion of gender equality and the protection of vulnerable workers. There are, necessarily, some areas of overlap or repetition in the different booklets. Where issues are dealt with in more than one section or booklet, cross-references are provided.

Booklet 1 Promoting gender equality within unions

Deals with what trade unions can do within their own internal structures and policies to recruit more women members, enhance women's participation in all union structures and activities, and promote equality and solidarity among union members.

Booklet 2 Promoting gender equality through collective bargaining

Explains the importance of promoting gender equality through the collective bargaining process. Focuses on the process of gender equality bargaining (preparing for negotiations, at the bargaining table, and follow-up).

Booklet 3 The issues and guidelines for gender equality bargaining

Focuses on negotiating to avoid sex discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity and treatment for men and women workers, and provides bargaining guidelines for a number of key gender equality issues.

Booklet 4 Organizing the unorganized: informal economy and other unprotected workers

Highlights the diversity of informal and atypical workers and the difficulties and challenges of organizing and protecting such workers - who are mainly women, outside the scope of legal and social protection and vulnerable to poor working conditions and abuses of workers' rights. They include workers in the informal economy, part-time workers, home workers, domestic workers, workers in export-processing zones and migrant workers.

Booklet 5 Organizing in diversity

Illustrates how trade unions can "share the table and create space" for diverse groups including youth, older workers, workers with disabilities, lesbian and gay workers, ethnic minorities and indigenous people.

Booklet 6 Alliances and solidarity to promote women workers' rights

Explains why community unionism and solidarity within the labour movement are crucial in today's global context and shows how trade unions are forging alliances and working with non-governmental and other civil organizations at the local, national, international and global levels on a broad social agenda. The range of alliances is large and the bases for such alliances very wide and varied, but the booklet attempts to highlight only those with particular relevance to women workers' rights and gender equality.

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