Organised jointly by the Belgian Govermnent and the ILO Brussels, November 1977

Transcription

1 SHA.W/1977/D. 3(Rev. 1) SYMPOSIUM OP }D!ADS OP AGENCIES DSkI,ING WITH WONEN WORXERS' PRO BLEMS Organised jointly by the Belgian Govermnent and the ILO Brussels, November 1977 CONCLUS IONS Brussels, November 1977 II I I I I II I II I II II

2 The participants expressed their warmest thanks to the 110, and particularly the Office for Women Workers' Questions for having taken the initiative of organising the Symposium and to the Belgian G-overnment for having hosted it. following conclusions: They adopted the I. Ways and means of improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the bodies responsible for the promotion of women workers A. Types of bodies The participants noted that the 110 resolution of 1975 concerning a plan of action with a view to promoting equality of opportunity ana. treatment for women workers recommended the setting u-p of two types of bodies: a national advisory commission and a bureau which would form an integral part of an administrative structure and would serve as a secretariat of the Commission. The discussion revealed that it would be useful for many countries to set up a specific body whose mandate would be defined by law or regulations and which would be in line with the social, economic and political realities of each country. It also appeared that in certain countries the existence of two parallel and/or complementary bodies enabled the objectives set to be more easily reached. In countries possessing both a commision and a bureaux, the former, by reason of its composition and its broad representativeness, makes it possible to exert a direct influence on a policy in favour of women workers designed to eliminate discrimination and remove inequality between men and women, while the latter provides administrative support for the commission and ensures continuity in the consideration of the problems involved. In certain countries with plaamd economies, it was considered that, given the large numbers of working women and their large-scale integration into economic life, other means of action were required. As regards the developing countries, another type of structure with broader competence could be established. must urgent problems in effect call in these countries for a comprehensive strategy as part of the national development The

3 2. programme as well as specific not only women workers. action relating to all women and The Symposium considered consequently that possible to propose a single model for the bodies. it is not B. Ooiirposition It is desirable that the commission (type I) should be representative in its composition;, this can be ensured by including in its membership representatives of employers' and workers' organisations, members 0±1 parliament, of the ministerial departments and other public bodies concerned, and possibly women representatives of political parties, and women's and. family organ! sations. The choice of persons to serve on the commission, their competence and their representativeness are of decisive importance to ensure its effectiveness. The committee should contain a certain number of male representatives so as to avoid the risk of indifference or the danger of creating a "ghetto". At the level of the bureau (type II) it is desirable that personnel should be established officials or have other permanent status so as to ensure continuous contacts and co-ordination at all levels of authority with representatives of all ministerial departments and within the department to which the attached. 0. Budget bureau is It appears desirable that the commission and/or the bureau should have an easily identifiable budget commensurate with the efforts made within the government to promote specific action in favour of women workers and any other measures to promote equality between men and women. Nevertheless, both types of bodies should make every effort to obtain as much support as possible from each of the ministerial departments concerned.

4 1). Competence It is desirable that the commission should act in an advisory capacity, either at the request o± the government or other authorities, or on its own initiative. It should publicise such activities and follow them up In liaison with the bureau where such exists. It should also be able to imdertake investigations in order to facilitate the application of laws and regulations. Pinally, it should have the capacity to initiate research, possibly in collaboration with independent bodies. The competence of the bureaux should be clearly defined and should go beyond that of a mere secretariat, so as to enable them to develop their own programmes. The Symposium noted with interest the experience of certain English-speaking countries, where such bodies are empowered to engage in legal action, either during examination of individual complaints or by conducting general investigations for the purpose of discovering the origins of discrimination and discriminatory practices, particularly in cases where individual complaints raise questions of principle. When specific legislation is adopted in the field of equality of wages or equality of opportunity and treatment, there is a special need for a competent body (commission or bureau) to take all the initiatives required to secure its observance, including measures to avoid any possible negative consequences of such legislation. In developing countries, areas of competence of these organisms should centre around policies o± education, creation of employment opportunities, the improvement of living conditions (particularly in rural areas), matters relating to wage earning women and changes in the attitude of both men and women towards their respective roles in the family, in production and in political and social life.

5 E. Means of action Among the means of action which it would be desirable to adopt, the Symposinm, while emphasising that they should be appropriate to the social, economic and political realities of each countr, mentioned the importance of the co-ordinating role of the bodies vis-.a-vis all decisionmaking authorities; snob collaboration should take place through internal channels (participation of representative.s of such authorities within bodies) or external channels (ermanent direct contacts with the athorities). This co-ordinatiiig role should he played not only at national 'level hut also at. the regional and loai, levels, the stimulating activities to meet the specific needs of the female l.ahoux' force, particielarly as regards social facilities which should he provided for all working parents. It is also imdort.ant that these bodies should collect, the collection and disseminate as much data as possible on women's promote roblems in order to build up a source of information on the basis of iip-tn-dae knowledge and analyses. Where there is legislation ci' equal. wages and equality of opportunity and treatme:nt, it is desirable that these organisms should he rovir1ed wi.th means of action, enabling them to exercise a supervisory function in a manner corresponding to national practice and There should he statutory recognition of this confli eta. Another means of action custom. competence so as to avoid consists of the use of the mass media, not only to pnblicise the activities of the bodies hnt also to associate them with camaigns t influence mentality and attitudes. These bodies shoifid also follow the activities of international. organisations and participate actively in their meetings in order to be in a position to influence the contents of the instruments which they adoyt and to recommend implementation of their decisions at the national level. In order to define their policy and to ensure its implementation, the bodies should, be able to organise symposia, conferences, investigations, pilot experiments, etc. The agencies should also develop information systems, pubucise their work and carry out propaganda at the national and local levels. the

6 r 2. The impact of the reconiinendations of the bodies will he greater if they are representative and if they have previously consulted all interested authorities (ministerial departments, research institutes, joint bodies, etc.). In order to avoid the clash of opinions which arise in many countries between these bodies and other tripartite or joint bodies which negotiate and fix most working conditions, wage classifications and wage scales, representation of women, including women in rural areas, who are generally under-represented in such joint bodies, should be improved. F. Future action at the international level The $ymposium expressed the wish that the dialogue inftiated at the first meeting between heads o± agencies should be pursued and that such meetings should be organised regularly by the ILO. It was proposed that the Office for Women Workers' Questions of the ILO should be provided with adequate means enabling it to centralise, abstract and disseminate all documentation on the activities of the different bureaux; its task might be facilitated by making use of regional international organisations. They would like the ILO Office for Women Workers' Questions to increase its activities despite financial difficulties, and e.xpressed the hope that more women wil] be given positions of responsibility in the 110. The IIO was requested to intensify its assistance to developing countries,, especially in the field of the establishment of agencies dealing with women workers and of data collection on problems of women at work. II. Means of evaluating the progress made in implementing the principle of equality of opportunity and. treatment for women workers The participants noted the recommendation made in the Resolution concerning a plan of action with a view to promoting equality of opportunity and treatment for women workers, that an evaluation of progress be made towards greater equality of opportunity

7 6. and treatment in practice by the ILO in They considered that the very exhaustive inventory of data to be collected, as laid down in the document SHkW/l977/II, constituted an excellent instrument of work and that commissions or bureaux should start by identifying all the data already available in the ministries or other bodies. They felt that it would be desirable that the maximum amount of technical data should be collected on a continuous basis, and that instructions for data collection should be made out in such a way as to develop existing statistical bases, to improve the utilisation and broaden the coverage of data, and to avoid stereotyped criteria and concepts which distort the scope and impair the usefulness of the information collected; it is desirable that the women's agencies in each country should participate in processing such data. 34 There was general agreement on the need to choose a number of themes of major significance, to be treated at the international level, which would serve to describe the situation of women workers and stimulate future action and policies. 35. The Symposium considered that the themes could be different according to the level of economic and social development of each country. 6. The following themes were considered to be priorities by the representatives of industrialised countries: - education and training of women and progress made in co-educational training of all kinds and at all levels; - trends in average wages, both over-all and for each sector of activity; - trends in the rate and distribution of women's employment, with special reference to age, number o± children and marital status; - trend.s in unemployment by sex, economic activity and d.uration;

8 7. - treids in the action of the public authorities to set up child-care facilities permitting persons with family responsibilities to work and at the same time assume their civic responsibilities; - rate of participation of women in political life, joint economic, cultural and. social bodies, and rate of occupation of certain key posts. 37. Representatives of the developing countries also considered it desirable that data be collected on the following themes; - -the socio-cultural framework1; - the legal framework; - the economic contribution of women in rural areas, iheir training in agriculture, handicrafts and co-operatives, and the rights to own or inherit land; - the role played by women at the rural community level. 1Representatives from developing countries considered that it was important for industrialised countries as well to collect data on the soclo-cultural framework.