Ei-iE

Paraguay: UNE-SN starts building its gender equality policy

Education International Latin America’s Network of Women Education Workers lent its support to the initiative.

published 1 August 2022 updated 15 November 2022

Within the framework of the activity, UNE-SN joined the campaign for the ratification of ILO C190 led by EILA and the Network of Women Education Workers.

Among the key issues addressed at the workshop, the participants highlighted the unequal opportunities between men and women, the gender gaps in care responsibilities and the limited scope for women’s participation in trade unions.

Members of UNE-SN, an affiliate of Education International (EI), met on 18 and 19 July for an in-person workshop to help the organisation develop a gender equality policy.

The activity, carried out with the support of Education International Latin America (EILA), took place in Asunción, Paraguay, and was attended by 25 members of the UNE-SN Women Workers’ Network and the organisation’s Policy Committee. EILA was represented at the event by regional coordinator Gabriela Sancho and specialist consultant in gender and public policy, Maritza Rojas.

The participants came from different parts of Paraguay to discuss the needs and problems experienced by trade union members, especially women.

The workshop sought to identify priorities and to use them as a basis for drawing up action guidelines for a prospective gender equality policy.

“The EILA Network of Women Education Workers has been working on the need to develop gender equality policies within the region’s trade union organisations, with a view to eradicating all gender gaps and all forms of discrimination within union organisations,” explained Gabriela Sancho.

Among the key issues addressed at the workshop, the participants highlighted the unequal opportunities between men and women, the gender gaps in care responsibilities and the limited scope for women’s participation in trade unions.

As Sancho explained, the space was also an opportunity to present the EILA campaign for the ratification of Convention 190 (C190) and Recommendation 206 (R206) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) on violence and harassment in the world of work.

Following the information shared on the importance of the ILO Convention, the UNE-SN gender secretariat decided to adopt the campaign and to join in the effort to promote its ratification in the countries of Latin America.