Opening address at the Women workers’ forum on the ILO Convention 190: Moving forward in policy and practice

• Undersecretary Benavidez and DOLE officials,
• Ms Cunanan of the Civil Service Commission,
• Our partners from the government, workers’ and employers’ organizations,
• Distinguished guests, colleagues,
• Ladies and gentlemen, magandang umaga sa inyong lahat (good morning to all of you)!

At the onset, let me greet everyone, especially all the women here a Happy Women’s Month!

This year’s theme calls for the need to invest in women and accelerate progress to achieve gender equality.

Women often face poverty and inequality, including those in vulnerable and low-quality jobs. We are grateful to the United States Department of Labor (US DOL) for supporting the ILO Project on Improving Workers’ Rights.

The Rural Sectors Project promotes labour law compliance, occupational safety and health (OSH) and gender equality to improve working conditions, especially for women. The Project is implemented as part of the ILO Safety + Health for All Flagship Programme.

Investing in women

The Philippines ranks 17th in the 2023 Global Gender Gap Report. Several policies and measures support gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Recently, the Philippines became the first country in Asia to ratify the Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019 (No. 190) or ILO Convention 190.

The Convention is the first international treaty to recognize fundamental rights to a workplace free from violence and harassment, including those gender based.

Mostly cases of such violence remain unreported. Reluctance and fear of speaking up in the workplace persist because there is too much at stake or there are insufficient mechanisms. It makes women feel vulnerable. Thus, OSH management systems must address this psychosocial risk that at all levels.

This forum aims to strengthen mechanisms and integrate OSH to address such cases, particularly among women in rural areas and vulnerable sectors.

Moving forward with ILO C190

Your voices and inputs are crucial. We will gather and integrate them into the training design of the proposed Gender-based Violence and Harassment (GBVH) Training by the Rural Sectors Project and the Trade for Decent Work Project with the European Union (EU).

Workers organizations and trade unions are also developing a Women Labour Agenda to break barriers and reduce inequalities.

The Philippines joining the Global Coalition for Social Justice is another important milestone to promote decent work and advance social justice.

The Global Coalition as a groundbreaking cooperative initiative will address inequality, discrimination, and exclusion. It recognizes the importance of collective action for greater impact and scale.

The ILO Rural Sectors Project strongly supports this initiative by bringing together partners and creating an enabling environment. Indeed, it is time to accelerate action and shape a better future of work based on dignity and respect.

The ratification of ILO Convention 190 breaks new ground and paves the way to align or strengthen national laws and practices towards sustainable development.

We value your commitment and strong stance on zero tolerance for violence and harassment. We have made considerable progress to advance women’s rights and here comes an opportunity to take action.

We urge you as our partners to ensure compliance and mainstream gender equality in support of OSH, labour standards and social dialogue.

Effective advocacy starts with awareness and information, and we applaud and thank you for taking action today through this forum. Together, we can accelerate progress, advance social justice and ensure no one is left behind.

Maraming salamat po (Thank you very much)!