Gender equality

Mondiaal FNV is committed to a world in which everyone can be themselves and workers of all genders have equal opportunities and rights.

Strategic ambitions

Mondiaal FNV contributes to real democratic trade unions with fair representation, and which also take into account women’s specific concerns;
Mondiaal FNV ensures that its projects contribute to an improvement in the rights of female workers.

Read our gender strategy 2021-2025 (a summary)

Challenges in project countries

In their endeavours to promote gender equality, our partners in low-wage countries face a number of challenges. The knowledge required as to how women can be involved in trade union work is often lacking. Women attend meetings but do not express their opinions, and those in leading positions lack influence and power. In order to connect women to the trade union movement, it is important that they identify with it.

Objectives

In cooperation with our project partners, we seek to:

achieve proportional representation;
unite women;
prioritise topics on the trade union agenda that are highly important to women;
incorporate gender into all policy measures, programmes, and activities;
achieve equal access to decision-making positions for women within trade unions.

How

Develop a gender strategy
Partners develop and implement a gender strategy, with the help of Mondiaal FNV if necessary.

Lobby

We promote trade union and workers’ rights both in the Netherlands and internationally, often in close cooperation with our partners. In recent years, Mondiaal FNV has actively committed itself to the new ILO Convention (C190) on violence and harassment in the workplace. In the future, we will ensure that gender becomes a guiding principle in our lobbying activities and representation of interests, and we will dedicate ourselves more actively to the rights of female workers.

Background information

According to the most recent World Bank figures, women represent nearly 40% of the global paid workforce, and, according to the ETUC Annual Gender Equality Survey 2017, the average ITUC membership rate of women is 42.2%. However, women are still significantly underrepresented in leading positions, with only 28% of the members in the highest decision-making bodies of ITUC-affiliated unions being women.

Commitment to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQI+) Diversity

Mondiaal FNV is committed to support the building of respect and dignity for all workers. We believe every worker is entitled to work free from discrimination and violence regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or sex characteristics.

Read our Commitment to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBTQI+) Diversity

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