Meeting of PERC Women Committee

The PERC Women Committee meeting took place on 17 December in a virtual format; the main issue on the agenda of the meeting has been discussing the action plan for the next year and see how to better organize and coordinate the activities of PERC Women Committee with ETUC Women Committee action plan and ITUC Equality Department priorities.

The PERC Women Committee Presidium invited for the meeting Anton Leppik , Executive Secretary of the PERC, Aline Bruser from ETUC and Marieke Koning from ITUC Equality Department. The ETUC Women Committee will have as priorities for next year : work on Gender Pay Transparency Directive; developing the ETUC project on New frontiers for Collective Bargaining and Equal Pay ; actions to combat gender based violence at the workplace and work on artificial intelligence and combating gender cyberviolence. Marieke Koning introduced the theme of gender dimensions in climate emergency and just transition plans. She referred to work done by UNCSW and mentioned that the main theme for the next year will be a gender transformative and inclusive transformation for a green and caring world and that ILO is going to prepare a policy brief on climate and gender. ITUC has issued an expert paper on how climate change effects women that can be used in the work of PERC Women Committee. After discussion the committee members decided on the draft action plan for next year. The PERC Women Committee members will take part in all PERC Statutory meetings and make the work of the committee known with contributions in all discussions. PERC Women Committee will organize the two statutory meetings of the PERC Women Committee and the PERC Women School, which will discuss gender pay gap and fair wages, The first meeting of the PERC Women Committee will take place on 18 March 2022.

A strong PERC women delegation will take part in the second session of the ITUC World Women Conference in March, which will debate on wages, gender pay gap and social protection. The President of the PERC Women Committee will facilitate one of the working groups and we hope to have representatives in plenary discussions. All members of the PERC Women Committee will be involved in preparation of the ITUC Congress document.

A PERC Women Committee delegation will take part in the next session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2022 with contributions on gender aspects of climate change and just transition. The following main activities are foreseen in the draft action plan for 2022, activities, which will be developed and implemented by PERC women networks on national level: Lobby for ratification of ILO Convention 190 on gender-based violence with national campaigns and activities; Campaigning for ratification of ILO conventions: 189, 183, 156 and summarize the experience of national trade union centers in motivating migrant women and domestic workers to join the unions; Closing gender pay gap and pension gap campaign in PERC region (“”NO wage gap-NO pension gap””) with results to be presented at the PERC Women School in October 2022; Promotion of women in decision making positions; organizing activities and survey with the situation in the region; Invest in care and job creation in care economy, East-West migration of care workers; national workshops on Count us in and Care economy; Rights for vulnerable groups and inclusion, fighting discrimination and follow up the PERC Women Conference organized in June 2021 and mapping the situation in the region; New realities of labour: telework, digitalisation, gender aspects of remote work, digital divide and cyberbullying with follow up of the PERC Women Conference on gender aspects of teleworking in 2021.

The PERC Women Committee has introduces a new item to the action plan : Women and Climate change and Just transition with awareness raising and round tables with experts from ITUC, ETUC and participation in the work of UN Commission on the Status of Women. As concerns education and training the PERC Women Committee is proposing : Promotion of women in decision-making positions, increase participation of women in trade union work, young women trade unionists capacity building; Training on C 190 together with ETUI or ILO Turin Center. The action plan for next year is ambitious and the PERC Women Committee hopes to achieve good results and have a good contribution to ITUC Congress debates and resolutions; the members of the committee hope to have an increase number of young women present in the national trade union delegations to the ITUC Congress next year.