Advancing shared analysis and collective action on Women and Work

Publish Date: 
Tuesday, April 16, 2019

In Mexico City, from 12 to 15 February, our Women and ESCR Working Group held a strategy meeting on women and work, co-hosted by Instituto de Liderazgo Simon de Beauvoir-ILSB. Building on a shared systemic analysis, the meeting brought together 15 ESCR-Net members from 13 countries, to explore and develop potential collective action relating to women and work.

During the first day of the meeting, participants shared their current work and their personal experience linked to working around women and work issues, as well as to build shared systemic analysis about injustices being faced by women in the world of work and those drivers fostering injustices. This shared analysis was deepened during the second day, were several thematic discussions conducted by participants took place: i) Understanding the world of work through the lens of intersectionality, ii) discrimination, violence and harassment against women in the world of work, iii) unpaid care work: From global dynamics to regional perspectives, iv) Women workers in the future of work.

Drawing from first two days of discussion, potential areas for collective action around women and work were discussed during the third day. A training on protection of human rights defenders in the context of work was conducted by Elena Villafuerte, from PRODESC during the last day of the meeting.

Emerging areas for collective work on women and Work

  • Build solidarity across movements and struggles to confront injustices being faced by women in the world of work, especially by bridging trade unions and workers associations with feminist and women’s rights organizations, and connecting rural and urban struggles related to women and work issues to those targeting land- related injustices.
  • Strengthen corporate accountability by developing and elevating a shared feminist analysis drawing on injustices being faced by women in the world of work. Mutual learning around value chains and the impacts of lack of accountability on women’s rights as well as developing a common position from the perspective of women and work to influence the current drafting process for a binding treaty on enterprises and human rights are among the envisioned actions.
  • Promote the social recognition and redistribution of unpaid care work. Articulate advocacy plan with clear targets and objectives around austerity measures being adopted by States and affecting provision of public and affordable care services, doing a comparative study around redistribution of care and co-responsibility measures in legislation and public policies, and developing a common position around unpaid care work are the strongest collective actions envisioned.

Certain cross-cutting issues that will be embedded in the collective actions are advancing substantive equality/ intersectional analysis and approach in practice, membership diversification with centrality of social movements, and strengthening implementation of women’s human rights standards.

Potential areas for collective work will be further refined in a project plan for the next two years.

Find here the preparatory webinars on unpaid care work and on violence and harassment in the world of work.

Get involved in this work! Contact Viviana Osorio at vosorio@escr-net.org.