Decent Work: a socially dynamic concept The primary goal of the ILO today is to promote opportunities for all women and men to obtain decent and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity

Decent work: a human face to global economy Mainstreamed policies for –development – gender Focus on enterprise: –from local to global scale

Decent work: mainstreaming development Copenhagen: complementarity of economic and social development ILO advocacy role: –Research (empirical evidence-theoretical justification) –Focus on the working poor –Institution building for participation and social dialogue

Decent Work: mainstreaming gender Gender: –a matter of human rights –a tool to identify and address inequality –key factor in the quality and quantity of labour market –key factor for sustainable development

Decent Work: mainstreaming gender The world of work seen through a gender perspective to: –analyze economic and social roles –identify forces leading to inequality –address de jure and de facto inequality

Decent Work: Strategic Objectives Integrated strategies for development: –Fundamental principles & rights at work –Employment & income opportunities –Social protection –Social dialogue FOR ALL, WOMEN AND MEN

Gender & Principles and Rights at Work Core conventions directly relevant: C100 Equal remuneration C103 Maternity Protection C111 Discrimination C156 Workers with Family Responsibilities C175 Part time work C177 Home work C179 Child labour C180 Maternity (revised)

The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998) –Freedom of association and recognition of the right to collective bargaining –Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour –Effective abolition of child labour –Elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation Gender & Rights at Work

Declaration as the threshold to Decent Work – a minimum social platform for the global economy (Copenhagen) –a promotional instrument for universal rights and the development agenda –a common objective for the international community

Gender & Rights at Work Follow-up to the Declaration sustains: –Womens socio-economic empowerment, also in the informal economy –New avenues for womens representation in social dialogue –Further ratification of core conventions –Implementation of fundamental principles and rights

Gender and Rights at Work Gap between de jure – de facto calls for proactive measures Law enforcement mechanisms Information, dissemination, training Advocacy, mobilization, coordination, monitoring Trade union action and partnership with civil society

Gender and Employment More and Better Jobs –Decent work: qualitative approach –Address horizontal and vertical segregation

Gender and Employment Gender sensitive labour market policies: –Widen occupational choices –Gender-focus training and re-training systems –Enhance demand for female labour –Improve womens awareness of opportunities

Gender and Employment Promoting womens enterprise development (WED) –integrated women-specific sets of measures to facilitate entitlement and access to productive resources and credit access to markets to find better and more remunerative opportunities

Gender and Employment Gender is a determinant of poverty and crisis situations: –Integrated approach to poverty eradication –Gender focussed crisis response and reconstruction

Gender and Social Protection Extending Social Protection to All:: –To reduce insecurity at work –To ensure safe conditions of work –To maintain incomes –To ensure adequate access to care and social services

Gender and Social Protection Women: –Lower earnings, irregular employment and contribution patterns –Concentrated in the informal sector/atypical works –Different trends in different regions, but regression in transition economies –Specific reproductive role

Gender and Social Protection Its necessary to find innovative solutions to –eliminate existing discrimination –extend coverage to those who are now excluded –meet specific needs of the workers, women and men, within their different roles, concerns, constraits

Gender and Social Protection Occupational safety & health –women have lower no of accidents –higher specific health risks (e.g. pesticides) –higher stress-related problems: dual role (economic/reproductive) –Enormously impacted by AIDS in specific regions

Gender and Social Dialogue Social dialogue: matching economic growth and social justice –a means to promote decent work and remove inequities –an end in itself, as democratic participation

Gender and Social Dialogue –Improving womens representation in SD structures to include gender issues on the agenda and meet womens strategic needs –Reaching out new partnerships including EO machineries, non traditional actors, the non organized, SMEs, informal –Reinforcing womens organizational and negotiating capacity

Gender and Decent Work Gender cuts across the economic, social, political and cultural spheres Gender inequalities in the world of work challenge the legitimacy of the dominant models of development

Gender and Decent Work Needs: –A holistic approach, macroeconomic level – Mainstreaming gender at the highest policy level –Attention to strategic and practical needs of women –A new paradigm of development, integrating social standards into economy

Gender and Decent Work All actors of civil society should be involved in a concerted endeavour to promote equality between men and women