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Decisions for Life: a new UNI Women's project
Published: 26 June 2009
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The overall objective of the Decisions for Life project is to raise awareness amongst young female workers about their employment opportunities and career possibilities, family building and the work-family balance. The lifetime decisions adolescent women face, determine not only their individual future, but also that of society: their choices are key to the demographic and workforce development of the nation. The project focuses on 14 developing countries and it targets adolescent women in the service industries because these industries employ the majority of working women aged 15-29 and because these industries are growing in (almost) all 14 countries. It is estimated that in the 14 countries selected 10 to 12 million female adolescents aged 15-29 work in the services industries concentrated in urban areas. Decisions for Life deploys two mutually reinforcing approaches to raise awareness. First, trade union campaigns through the channels at their disposal, aiming to reach 10,000 women. These campaigns include face-to-face meetings, training sessions and dissemination of offline materials. Second, the Internet is used to reach one million women in the 8 selected occupational groups: call centre operators, secretaries, bookkeepers, IT programmers, sales persons and cashiers in retail, front office workers / receptionists in hotels, travel agency intermediaries in tourism and housekeepers in hotels. Given these occupations and the urban areas where they are concentrated, it may be safely assumed that the Internet is an efficient medium for reaching them. Moreover the project offers special websites addressing the decisions these young women face at this crucial stage in their lives. The awareness raising information is also made available in downloadable form for offline use in the trade union campaigns. Raising gender awareness is part of UNI and ITUC’s long-term strategy. Both cooperate with their affiliates in the 14 countries mentioned. Another project partner is the WageIndicator Foundation, which has longstanding experience in the development and operation of attractive websites on work and wages, currently operational in 35 countries. The scientific partner of ITUC in this project is the University of Amsterdam/AIAS, specialized in worldwide inventories underlying the decent work agenda, wages, and companies’ industrial relations systems. Together these partners compose a supervisory management board that convenes on a regular basis during the project. Decisions for Life is awarded a MDG3 grant from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in support of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals no 3 (MDG3): “Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women”. Decisions for Life focuses in particular on MDG3.5: “Promoting formal employment and equal opportunities at the labor market”. This is one of the four MDG3 priority areas identified in Ministry’s MDG3 Fund. Decisions for Life runs from October 2008 until June 2011. UNI and its affiliates have already participated in the following meetings: · Brazil: The launch meeting took place in Sao Paulo, March 18th. The participants identified their priorities and will have another workshop in October. · South Africa: The launch meeting was held in Cape Town in March. Many UNI and ITUC affiliates took part in this event. During the three-day meeting the participants identified the priorities and prepared a work plan which they are already implementing. · Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe: The launch meeting for these 6 countries took place in Hammamet, Tunisia, 10 and 11 May. The group of women was very active and planned the second part of the project. · India: The launch meeting in India was held in Bangalore, 9 and 10 June. The President of the UNI Apro Women’s Committee Anjali Bedekar took part in the meeting as well as UNI affiliates who are members of the women’s committee in India. UNITES India will also assist in coordinating this project in India. The partners: UNI Equal Opportunities: http://www.uniglobalunion.org/Apps/iportal.nsf/pages/thm_20090123_khn4En ITUC Equality: http://www.ituc-csi.org/spip.php?rubrique8 Wage Indicator Foundation: http://www.wageindicator.org/main University of Amsterdam: http://www.uva-aias.net/39 Decisions for Life: http://dfl.wageindicator.org/home |
