UNI publishes guides to support gender equality in Asia-Pacific

UNI Global Union’s Equal Opportunities department has updated and released two new tools to support gender equality in trade unions in South and South-East Asia.

Gender Equality – practical guide for delegates and Violence and Harassment in the world of work – Training Guide for Trade Unions on ILO Convention 190 are now available in English, Spanish, Bahasa, Thai and Vietnamese. They contain information to help understand concepts related to gender equality as well as violence and harassment and provide ideas and suggestions for trainings and workshops.

“Skills, training and capacity building are essential to the promotion of gender equality in trade unions and the world of work,” says Veronica Fernandez Mendez, Head of UNI Global Union’s Equal Opportunities department. “These practical and accessible guides, available in multiple languages, will support our mentoring programmes in the region and hopefully be a useful tool for our affiliates.”

The guides are released as part of a Mentoring Programme in South and South-East Asia, which was launched last year in a collaboration between UNI Asia & Pacific, UNI Equal Opportunities and the educational branch of the German trade union confederation, DGB-BW. The programme has reached more than 120 women in 28 unions in nine countries across the region and aims at expanding in the next three years, empowering more women in affiliated trade unions.

As part of the programme, women receive training in basic trade union skills such as negotiation, communication, leadership, planning and gender mainstreaming; and their work is supported by the creation of a tandem of a Mentor and Mentee who guide and support each other throughout the project cycle.