Knowledge-Sharing Forum on Women, Work and Migration

Written on 03 April 2018.

Women make up 49.4 percent of the global paid labour force yet their labour participation remains highly gendered. Irrespective of where they work, there are several factors that are common to women’s working and living conditions. Women workers are concentrated in occupations that are unpaid, underpaid and informal, and their economic contributions are consistently undervalued (such as being paid below minimum wage levels, or lower than their male counterparts). Given societal attitudes, women also face gender-specific mobility restrictions including migration bans on women, segregation in living spaces, and the confiscation of passports. Of grave concern is the fact that women workers are subject to gender-based violence (GBV). The risk of exposure to violence is greater in occupations where work is informal, precarious, or low compensated, where work is segregated by gender, where employer accountability is low and where workers are prevented from joining or forming trade unions. With growing international conflict and economic stagnation, there is the risk of women’s working conditions worsening across occupational sectors. There is a need to understand and reflect on such global trends, identify common challenges and positions, and share experience on how to develop solidarity and advocacy through strategic coordinated action. 

To this end, GAATW is organising a Knowledge Sharing Forum on Women, Work and Migration  on 7-9 April in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with the aims to:

1. Take stock of current trends for women workers across the region, learn the impact of policy responses on the lived realities of women workers, and to understand the impact these responses have on labour conditions, exploitation and human trafficking 
2. Learn from the strategies utilised by women workers’ movements from different sectors to protect labour rights, and reduce risks of labour exploitation and workplace violence 
3. Provide an opportunity to share experiences from participating groups in the Work in Freedom programme, in strengthening solidarity and advocacy among women workers’ organisations, women migrants’ rights, women’s rights and other key advocacy groups

Participants will include women's rights, labour rights and migrant rights organisations and trade unions. The Forum is a three-day meeting comprising of panel discussions, active group work and interactive, participant-led sessions.

More information is available in the meeting concept note and draft agenda. 

A brief report of the meeting is available here.