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Changes to the composition of the Committee were confirmed during the meeting. Maxine Gay will be the President of UNI Apro Women with the resignation of Tamami Uda. The committee recorded the appreciation to those who resigned and welcomed the newly confirmed members.

“I hope that the trade union movement will continue in their efforts to engage and include more women workers,” said Tamami Uda. Tamami also encouraged participants to be active in the Women’s Committee Meeting and the Sector Conferences.

Committee members and observers reported on their own achievements and activities in each country in addition to the written Breaking Through annual reports. Women empowerment is a crucial key in Asia Pacific and the appreciation for UNI Apro’s continuous assistance in providing women with training opportunities was echoed by the meeting.

Tomoyasu Kato, President of UNI Apro grace the event with an inspirational speech. President Kato was the first person to declare support and commitment to the UNI 40for40 campaign and has been actively advocating the campaign to other affiliates.

The strength of the UNI Apro Women’s Committee was also echoed in Titular member Nilaimol Montrekanon. Nilaimol is also the President of UNI Thai Liaison Council who has led UNI affiliates in Thailand in ensuring the success of the UNI Apro sector conferences in Bangkok.

Piquing the interest of participants was Veronica Fernandez Mendez, Head of UNI Equal Opportunities who introduced UNI’s global awareness-raising campaigns using webpages, video clips, and colorful posters with catchy slogans. The materials from the Equal Opportunities website is open to trade unionists and available for the use of their own campaigns and activities.

After Therese’ brief report on the last World Women’s Committee meeting, Veronica added information on the collective lobbying process leading to the agreed conclusions at the recent 57th UN Committee of Status of Women which focused on the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls and its significant outcomes. Mizuho Wada, a newly confirmed Titular member who attended the World Women’s Committee on behalf of Tamami Uda said that the global union’s efforts to fight against gender-based violence was very impressive and that Japanese trade unions should give more attention to this issue.

Highlighting UNI Apro’s national and sub-regional empowerment programs in South Asia, Yoko Ogawa, UNI Apro Director for Equal Opportunities reported on the activities implemented since the last committee meeting. She also proposed a plan to launch and activate the women networks to advocate more women and work together to achieve UNI’s goals.

Participants took time to strategize on the most effective way to participate in and contribute to the ensuing panel discussion on “Women’s Access to Decent Work” and the interactive debates in the Joint Conference held on 30th August 2013. This was successful with the intervention from women committee members on the floor.

In order to realise gender balance within each sector, the committee members also confirmed their roles for each Sector Conference where some would be elected Titlar/Substitute in their sector committee or chair sessions in their sector conferences.

On behalf of UNI Apro Women, Maxine expressed heartfelt gratitude to Tamami Uda for her countless contributions in promoting gender equality regionally and globally. UNI Apro Women wishes her success in her new roles in the union.

Photos can be downloaded from Flickr