Browse by Theme: ILO Convention

#MeToo began with the bravery of individual women not willing to be silenced about their experiences of sexual harassment and abuse. Their voices have become a global movement exposing the systemic nature of sexism and male entitlement in all industries and countries. And, with #AidToo, #LabourToo and #MosqueMeToo, the movement has shown that no section of work or society is immune.

The Harvey Weinstein case has caused an enormous outburst of anger and concern on the issue of sexual harassment, particularly in the world of work. While piecemeal suggestions have emerged as to how to improve the protection of women (and men), little public attention has yet been paid on a major global initiative to address this very problem – the potential ILO Convention on Ending violence and harassment against women and men in the world of work.

Saturday 7 October is World Day for Decent Work, an annual event sponsored by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) to bring global attention to issues faced by workers. This year, the ITUC’s focus is on Corporate Greed, but CARE is maintaining its focus on tackling violence and harassment in the workplace. While we agree with the ITUC’s demand for decent wages this World Day for Decent Work, we believe that pushing for greater regulation of workplace violence is a key enabler for women to achieve all the elements of the Decent Work agenda, such as on wages.

There is currently a great opportunity for everyone who is interested in women’s economic empowerment to push forward a key initiative to tackle the gender-based violence which plays a key role in the workplace in continuing oppressive working conditions, in diminishing women’s voices, and in breaching women’s rights. Achieving an ILO Convention on ending violence and harassment in the workplace will support the empowerment of millions of women.

The suggested ILO Convention on ending violence and harassment at work, while positive, still has some way to go on some key issues, including the role of women in developing and implementing the Convention, who are identified as workers, what is a place of work, and the responsibilities of multinational companies.

Largely through the efforts of the Trade Union movement, the ILO is now in a process of considering whether to establish a new instrument or instruments on “Ending violence and harassment against women and men in the world of work”. CARE views this as a great opportunity to reduce the prevalence of the gender-based violence (GBV) which faces the women workers around the world whom we try to support on issues of Dignified Work.

Today we launch our paper Making decent work a reality for domestic workers: civil society's experience of ratifying ILO Convention 189 in the Andes. Since 2010, we have been supporting domestic workers and their organisations in the Andean region to fight for their labour rights. The rights include a minimum salary, a written contract and social protection such as provisions for maternity leave.