Across Africa, Asia and Latin America, women are more likely than men to be in informal employment and are found in low paid and vulnerable forms of work. Organizing women workers and supporting their leadership aligns the movement with what is most sustainable in the long term – gender-balanced membership, democratic leadership, and fairness in representative spaces.
Women workers in informal employment experience discrimination based on several intersecting identities, including class, gender, race, caste and ethnicity, age, ability and migration status. These multiple forms of inequality create a set of circumstances that limit women’s access to leadership roles. For example, women migrant street vendors in many countries cannot join a union and may be barred from leadership. They are unable to voice their needs and demands so as to inform the broader movement.
Participants of the Gender and Waste Workshop in Belo Horizonte sit outdoors, attentively listening during the discussion. Photo credit: LMintz.
Achieving gender balance and democratic leadership for all workers in informal employment is the focus of this MBO Newsletter. Many questions are raised, which invites all MBOs to hold space in their...
Read MoreThe following themes represent areas of strategic focus for WIEGO.