UASA Media Release: 28 August 2023
In picture: SADC region delegates attending the Development of a Sub-Regional Strategy on Gender Equality in the Workplace workshop hosted by SATUCC in collaboration with Solidarity Center in Gaborone, Botswana.
Statement by Abigail Moyo, spokesperson of the trade union UASA:
A two-day workshop on Advancing Gender Equality Commitments in Southern Africa, attended by UASA’s Abigail Moyo and Fedusa’ Brenda Modise, held today and tomorrow at the Grand Aria Hotel in Gaborone, Botswana, aims to increase the leadership and power-building capacity of women and other marginalized workers in Southern Africa to defend and promote gender equality. It will also focus on the development of a sub-regional strategy on gender equality in the workplace.
UASA, led by the Southern Africa Trade Union Co-Ordination Council (SATUCC) in collaboration with US-based workers’ rights organisation Solidarity Center, is attending the workshop as part of organised labour and its affiliation to the Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA).
Opening the session, Solidarity Center’s senior program officer Penelope Kamungoma reminded women how far they have come in fighting gender equality and the ratification of Convention 190 of the International Labour Organisation which aims to eradicate all forms of violence and abuse against women and children at home and at work.
Kamungoma encouraged women to strengthen their collective power to address the common challenges posed by gender inequality by:
• Developing strategies to address gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in the workplace.
• Reviewing civil society organisation assessments on GBVH in the sub-region.
• Identifying the trade union movement’s main demands.
• Developing ideas for promoting these recommendations within the Southern African Development Community and our governments.
UASA is pleased to be part of this workshop on a regional level, as it provides an opportunity to engage on the matters on a higher level. Over the past years, UASA has and continues to acknowledge the work done by FEDUSA on a national level to ensure the ratification of the C190 across the country to ensure all genders are protected and safe from harm in the workplace and at home.
We look forward to the workshop’s outcomes and recommendations on how the SADC’s Regional Strategy and Framework of Action for Gender-Based Violence can be enacted and implemented into domestic legislation for the period 2018 to 2030.
Nearing the end of Women’s Month, UASA encourages labour organisations to avoid mere lip service but work together and take real action towards achieving gender equality in the workplace and society.
For further enquiries or to set up a personal interview, contact Abigail Moyo at 065 170 0162.