From membership to leadership: advancing

women in trade unions

Working groups

ETUC workshop, Berlin

28 October 2010

Aims of the working groups

Define strategy to advance gender balance: Within ETUC Within EIF and national confederations

Discuss and finalise draft recommendations

Put forward concrete proposals to be used in the context of the Congress Preparatory Committee

Final recommendations will have to be discussed and endorsed by the ETUC womens’ Committee (Dec. 2010)

Background of the recommendations

ETUC Equality Action Plans, 1999 and 2003; Mid Term Review, 2007; Charter on Gender Mainstreaming What we achieved what we did not

ETUC survey findings 8th of March Women in trade unions: bridging the gaps (2006)

Discussions and recommendations from Luxembourg Conference

“From membership to leadership” report findings

How recommendations are structured

Target groups ETUC EIF National confederations

Timing Mid-term strategy: “What action to improve gender

balance before the Congress” Long-term strategy “What action to improve gender

balance after the Congress”

Follow up and assessment

How the work of working groups will be carried out

2 parallel working groups (1 EN, 1 multilingual)

2 hours of discussion (12:00 – 13:00) “Mid-term strategy: “What action to improve

gender balance before the Congress” (14:30 – 15:30) “Mid-term strategy: “What action to improve

gender balance after the Congress”

One rapporteur

Before the ETUC Congress…I. Recommendations for the ETUC

1. Make the argument for gender balance as a core union priority by engaging women and men in the debate and seek agreement from affiliates to ensure a gender balanced representation by adopting concrete measures in this regard

2. Gender disaggregate the composition of the ETUC decision-making bodies (Congress, Executive, Steering, Secretariat, working groups) and evaluate whether or not there is an adequate gender balance therein

3. Highlight gender equality issues in the Congress Preparatory Committee. Ensure that the Congress documents and debates are gender mainstreamed

Before the ETUC Congress…I. Recommendations for the ETUC

4. Adopt a policy instrument for the 2011-2015 period setting out requirements, actions and targets for gender balance for the European and national level trade union decision-making structures. This instrument could include: a) A new ETUC Action Plan with a time frame, monitoring and assessment system

for the next Congress period, providing an integrated and multi-faceted approach to achieving gender balance;

b) Guidelines that build on the content of the ETUC’s Charter on Gender Mainstreaming, with practical tools to implement gender mainstreaming;

c) Appropriate measures to reward good performance, such as a trade union “gender equality” award;

d) Appropriate sanctions to penalise poor performance.

5. Carry out a gender mainstreaming audit in order to identify areas where a gender perspective needs to be further developed in all ETUC policies and structures.

Before the ETUC Congress… II. Recommendations for EIF and NC

1. Make the argument for gender balance as a core union priority and seek to ensure a balanced gender representation by adopting concrete measures in this regard

2. Support ETUC actions to improve gender balance and to overcome barriers to achieve this

3. Monitor and gender mainstream the work of the Congress Preparatory Committee, by working together with the national/EIF representative taking part in its work

4. Ensure a gender balanced delegation at the ETUC Congress

Beyond the ETUC Congress…I. Recommendations for the ETUC

1. Regularly monitor the gender statistics as well as the composition of the ETUC decision-making bodies (Congress, Executive, Steering, Secretariat, working groups) and take appropriate action when necessary;

2. Adopt adequate measures to ensure balanced participation of female trade unionists in ETUC meetings, working groups, etc. both as speakers and participants;

3. Set up a mechanism to gender mainstream ETUC policies. Carry out a gender mainstreaming training to staff and secretariat;

4. Develop, through the ETUI (European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education and Health and Safety):

a) A programme of leadership training for women trade union members, and a set of training modules that can be used by European Industry Federations, national confederations and individual unions undertaking women’s leadership training;

b) A study, to be issued at least every two years, on the ‘state of the art’ of barriers and measures adopted by unions to improve gender equality in the trade union movement and at work place level

Beyond the ETUC Congress…I. Recommendations for the ETUC

5. Carry out an internal equality audit to identify the barriers that exist for gender progression within the organisation;

6. Work closely with those members that still do not collect gender disaggregate data of their membership and/or decision making bodies and examine together with them the solutions to overcome it. Draft a template for gender disaggregates data collection that can be used by national and EU affiliates.

7. Develop a mechanism, through the ETUC Executive Committee and in cooperation with the women’s committee, for monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the above recommendations (e.g. by putting gender equality as a standing/regular item on the governing bodies agenda).

8. Provide adequate staff levels and resources to follow-up the gender equality policies within the organisation.

Beyond the ETUC Congress…II. Recommendations for EIF and NC

1. Develop an internal action plan on gender balance and ensure that this is monitored regularly and endorsed by affiliates;

2. Examine the gender balance composition of organisation’s existing governing bodies and evolution over the last years. On this basis discuss how the organisation can introduce changes in the statutes, adopt targets and actions for balanced gender representation;

3. Ensure that systems of collecting disaggregated data on gender representation at all levels of the union are in place, and that this is reviewed on an annual basis to contribute effectively with the ETUC 8th of March Survey;

4. Work through the organisation’s training departments and/or national training organisations to put in place measures for the training and mentoring of women in order to prepare women for leadership and decision-making roles;

Beyond the ETUC Congress…II. Recommendations for EIF and NC

5. Produce guidelines on gender mainstreaming with practical tools for their implementation, in areas such as: collective bargaining; organising; social dialogue, etc.;

6. Ensure that trade union organisation promotes gender diversity through its own internal human resources;

7. Carry out a gender mainstreaming audit in order to identify areas where a gender perspective needs to be further developed in union policies and structures;

8. Address the image and culture of union, looking at its visual outputs;

9. Introduce a mechanism for monitoring and reporting on the recommendations listed above.

10. Inform regularly the ETUC of the measures adopted and the improvements achieved.

Good work!