Gender Equity and Collective Bargaining Why Gender

Transcript:Gender Equity and Collective Bargaining Why Gender:
Gender Equity and Collective Bargaining Why Gender Equity Bargaining? Gender inequality = unequal gender power relations and women’s subordination: “The system of male domination has a social & economic basis, characterised by racism & capitalist exploitation.” (COSATU Gender Policy, 2015) Gender Equity means “fairness of treatment for women and men, according to their respective needs. This may include equal treatment or treatment that is different but which is considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations and opportunities” (ILO, 2000) Gender Equity is not the same as equal rights and opportunities for women and men, it recognises their unequal positions and that this requires different treatment to ensure equality in access and outcomes Collective Bargaining can make a significant difference for women workers, by reducing the gender pay gap, combatting low pay, valuing women’s work and addressing gender discrimination and safety in the workplace 2 Why engendering bargaining is important Collective bargaining is about the collective power of workers to improve working conditions for all workers Gender and women’s issues are union issues Women’s work is undervalued and invisible Women make up a significant proportion of precarious workers Gender issues are often overlooked in collective bargaining Taking up issues that affect women may encourage more women to join unions And because women workers matter! 3 A Gendered Bargaining Agenda There are a range of issues that we can take up through collective bargaining to promote gender equity by improving women workers’ working life and conditions Women workers experience discrimination in the workplace because of their unequal position in society and because of their reproductive role and disproportionate responsibility for care work But there is no one-size-fits-all approach – we need to understand women workers different conditions and experiences Organising and fighting for the rights of precarious workers is key The most crucial step in bargaining is to listen to workers and understand their challenges, and to organise and take up the demands of women workers in workplaces 4 Impact of Covid-19 on Women Workers The economic impact on women’s employment is devastating – almost 2 million (66%) of 3 million jobs were lost to women (Casales & Posel 2020) 46% of women were employed in Feb 2020, by April 2020 36% of women were employed (compared to 59% to 54% for men) Women’s working hours declined by 35% compared with 26% for men The impact was highest for vulnerable workers