Achieving Equality at the workplace: Can Gender Champions help?

HARARE, (ILO News) Under its component of the Spotlight Initiative the ILO has adopted the Model Workplace Programmes which has seen it engage the private sector to identify gender equality champions in their workplaces. The champions will spearhead the development of work environments that are free from violence and harassment, including sexual harassment. Under this intervention, the programme is targeting to reach at least 8,000 workers collectively, employed in nine private sector companies and three public sector organisations.


A breakfast meeting for Chief Executive Officers was recently held to formalise and institutionalise the initiative; share experiences and exchange lessons learnt and ways forward for Zimbabwe’s private sector gender champions in line with the ILO Violence and Harassment Convention (No 190) and Recommendation (No 206) adopted in June 2019; including tenets of gender-based violence and harassment under the Spotlight Initiative as well as create publicity to the work of the Private Sector Gender Champions.

The Gender Champions approach endorses the view that regards the workplace as a theatre for change, which allows both employers and workers to be engaged as change agents in their respective roles.

In 2017, the ILO conducted a Rapid Situational Analysis on Violence and Harassment in the Workplace in Zimbabwe which revealed the prevalence of many forms of violence in the workplace across various sectors. The highest violations reported were sexual harassment, verbal, emotional, and economic. It was also evident that several cases went unreported because of various vulnerabilities, including fear of job losses and skewed power relations, with women being the most affected.

In addition, the study highlighted poverty as a driver of gender-based discrimination and violence that has led to an increase in the feminization of poverty in both rural and urban areas. This confirms global studies which indicate that women and girls bear the heaviest burden of economic hardship and continue to face discriminatory practices in the workplace


Evidence from studies by the ILO and others show that investments in economic empowerment is a prerequisite for sustainable development, pro-poor growth and the achievement of the SDGs. According to ILO Director, Guy Ryder, humanity has a priority to promote gender equality in all spheres of life.

“Humanity can only be at its best when gender equality becomes a reality for all, everywhere. We must and will make it happen,”

Guy Ryder - ILO Director General

According to a study by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), gender inequality costs sub-Saharan economies $95-billion a year. Accelerating progress toward gender equality underpins building an inclusive future of work.

Against a background of Covid-19, supporting women and girls will not only aid those most affected by this crisis, it will build stability and opportunity for all.


The ILO, together with five other UN agencies (UNWOMEN, UNFPA, UNDP, UNESCO and UNICEF), have in the past four years implementing the Spotlight Initiative (SI). It is a global partnership to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls in support of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. The overall vision of the Spotlight Initiative in Zimbabwe is that women and girls realize their full potential in a violence-free, gender-responsive and inclusive Zimbabwe