From the Garden to the Market

On 8th March , it will be International Women's Day - the ninety-seventh of its kind, I believe. It is a day when feminists, socialists and indeed all people can remember the achievements of women worldwide. However, that is not to say that gender inequality and discrimination against women does not still persist. One cannot hope to tackle global poverty and injustice without understanding the unique problems that women face every single day.

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions recently interviewed Hélène Sawadogo, general secretary of the general secretary of the SYNATRAFLA union in Burkina Faso, which organises workers in the fruit and vegetable sector. The ILO was integral to unionising this informal economy, showing the benefits of international solidarity. Anyway, take a look!

Also note the following:

On 8 March 2006, the ICFTU will be launching the second stage of its global campaign on organising women workers. The campaign is called "Unions for Women, Women for Unions" and is principally targeting women working in export processing zones and the informal economy, and migrant women workers.

The first stage of the campaign, between 2002 and 2004, was led by 60 national centres from 49 different countries. It achieved remarkable results in some countries, including Mauritania, where the number of women trade unionists tripled.