The trade union coalition ICFTU/PSI/EI(International Confederation of Free Trade Unions/Public Services International/Education International) hosted a Workshop on Monday 6 March 2000 on the theme: Working Women in the 21st Century:Equality Now. 39 women participated in this event. (See separate report).

At the end of the meeting, participants agreed that a Caucus would be formed entitled Women and Work, to examine all of the critical issues for equality posed by the imperative for women’s work to be recognised, valued, and fairly remunerated, and supported by an adequate legislative framework of core labour standards in the global economy, and by the organization and mobilization of women as workers seeking equal access to resources for sustainable livelihoods.

We aim to lobby as a Caucus on these issues, and the language already proposed for the Coalition document in support of the Beijing Platform by the ICFTU/PSI/EI coalition will serve initially as a basis for this. We shall continue to explore issues, language and lobbying strategy. We aim to sustain a dialogue with unions and concerned NGOs on the cross-cutting issues of women and work, for the Special Session of Beijing+5 and the ILO Conference work on the Revision of the Maternity Protection Convention in June 2000, and beyond.

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