UNI Senegal Women is born

Veröffentlicht: 16 Juli 2007
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 "We claim equity and social justice. Unions must show women what they can bring to them in order to attract them. To get women to join our ranks, unions must put the accent on the claims of women and show them that they deal with them," said one of the panelists.



“Unions must ask themselves the question why women are so active in associations and not in the trade unions. Union should be at the vanguard of gender equality, defend women’s interests as a priority and include them in their decision making. They must fight to have women’s work valued,” another woman union leader declared.



Women workers in Senegal, as elsewhere in the world, have been particularly hit by the perversion of globalisation. As they are generally less educated, most of them are to be found at the bottom of the job ladder. Therefore they were the first to be dismissed and then only found precarious employment or were driven into the informal economy.



In society, as in the labour market, women are still discriminated against, despite equality legislation. ILO equality conventions have been ratified by Senegal, but their application is still very partial. Gender equality requires a change in mentalities. “As long as we African countries have not solved the gender issue, we will not make any progress”, the leader of a Senegalese UNI affiliate trade stated.



“We unions need to be proactive, avoid to just react to developments. We must tackle questions at the global level and form alliances”, he continued.



The impact of globalisation on women was the theme of the panel discussion that took place in Dakar just prior to the UNI Africa Women’s and Executive Committee meetings. It attracted around 50 women activists from all UNI affiliates in Senegal. In addition to leading women of affiliates, the panelists included representatives of trade union centres, some Africa Committee members from other countries as well as the Head of the UNI Women. After a lively discussion, they all shared a delicious Senegalese meal in the host union office.