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Gender equality

“Women hold up half the sky – get used to it.” That message, painted on a sign at a demonstration, tells only half the story. In many ways, women do more than their share: caring for the next generation and elderly parents, household duties, and contributing economically. Women are more than equal in the responsibilities they assume. This must be matched with political, economic and social equality.

What Women Want: CPSU Australia 2013-2014 survey

24 March 2014
What Women Want

PSI affiliate in Australia, Community & Public Sector Union (CPSU), launched, for the eighth year in a row, a survey on “What Women Want” asking women to give a detailed picture of their working lives. This is Australia’s largest survey on working women, with over 11 200 women participating.

Racism? Not for us!

22 March 2014

Speak out and take a stand against racism and xenophobia! On the eve of the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 21 March 2014, Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary of the global union federation Public Services International affirms that “our commitment to fight racism and all forms of discrimination is guided by respect for human rights and basic union principles: social justice, equality, collective action and collective responsibility”.

Video: Global Labor Unions Step Up the Fight for Women's Empowerment

21 March 2014

To achieve gender equality and empower women around the world, leaders are increasingly looking to history's pioneers of progress and social inclusion: Labor Unions.

Trinidad & Tobago: Inspiring change through artistic expression

20 March 2014

The National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW TT) launched Arts in Action®, a national project aimed at providing a means for children to express their perceptions of violence against women and girls and gender-based violence. The project/campaign seeks to inspire change and break the cycle.

PSI's Caribbean Women's Committee puts on its gender lens to review activities

20 March 2014

Twenty-four women trade union leaders and activists (5 of them under the age of 35) participated in the 2014 Caribbean SUBWOC held in Dominica on March 7. They represented 17 of the sub-region’s 24 affiliates.

Japanese unions working to increase women's participation

07 March 2014

PSI affiliate the All Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union (JICHIRO) organised a meeting with the chairpersons and general secretaries of JICHIRO prefectural offices at JICHIRO head office in Tokyo on 28 February 2014. A total of 59 representatives (35 men and 25 women) participated in this meeting.

PSI statement: International Women’s Day 2014

05 March 2014
Women Trade Union League

Public Services International joins its members around the world in celebrating women and their achievements on 8th of March. PSI promotes the work of women trade unionists and stands united with all of our sisters who deliver vital public services.

Statement: Putting women’s rights to decent work, quality education and quality public services at the heart of the post-2015 Agenda

27 February 2014

Statement submitted to the UNCSW58 by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Education International (EI) and Public Services International (PSI), and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), civil society organisations with consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

PSI and UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals

20 February 2014
Juneia Batista represented the PSI Women’s Committee at the UN OWG8 meeting

Public Services International participated in the United Nations Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, which had its eighth and final stock-taking and information-gathering session 3-7 February 2014 (OWG8), in New York. 

One of the main outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, was the agreement by Member States to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Rio+20 did not elaborate specific goals but stated that the SDGs should be limited in number, aspirational and easy to communicate. The goals should address in a balanced way all three dimensions of sustainable development and be coherent with and integrated into the UN development agenda beyond 2015.

Mercury victims win Supreme Court case against Norwegian state

10 January 2014
Dental Nurses. Photo by Royal Navy Archives

A former dental nurse in Norway, Bertha Regine Serigstad has won her case against the Norwegian state in the Supreme Court. Many legal experts are already saying that the ruling sets an important precedent and may turn out to be as important for these women as the asbestos ruling was for a number of men some years ago.

Photos: Singapore Forum on the Elimination of Violence against Women

27 November 2013

PSI affiliates in Singapore held an event on 23rd November on Ending Violence against Women and invited the Speaker of the Parliament as the guest speaker, Mdm. Halimah Yacob. Together they said violence against women is an age-old problem – it is time to end it now!

See photos on Flickr.

Unions in India hold forum on the elimination of violence against women

27 November 2013
Participants to the forum holding the different GUF posters

Close to 50 representatives from ITF, PSI, UNI, IndustriALL and BWI affiliated unions attended a joint discussion forum on the issue of Effective participation by trade unions on ending violence against women.  The forum was held on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 25 November 2013, at Maniben Kara Hall, in Mumbai, in India.

Video: Say NO to violence against women

26 November 2013

Watch the video published by PSI affiliate, SINALSERPUB, produced by Laura Camila Esteban Niño a young student in economics, on ending violence against women.

Communiqué: Public Services International Steering Committee SC-17

25 November 2013
PSI Steering Committee and staff, November 2013

Angered by the continuing attacks on public services and the workers who provide these services, distressed by the rising inequality across the world and the failure of the current economic system to provide jobs, particularly for young people, the Steering Committee reiterated its commitments to the 2013-2017 Programme of Action “Social Justice through Quality Public Services” and endorsed priority actions for 2014.

Violence against women is an age-old problem – it is time to end it now.

25 November 2013
PSI violence against women poster

“If we act with courage, conviction and commitment, we can change violence against women from being the most pervasive violation of human rights to being a rare occurrence that is considered unacceptable and no longer tolerated.” Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, on International Women’s Day (8 March 2013).