Sustainlabour and WEDO were in charge of the Jobs Hub at the Rio + 20 Partnership Forum on gender equality and sustainability. Indicators related to Just Transition (number of countries carrying out a gender impact assessment of environmental policies), Social Protection (rate of women covered by a Social Protection Floor) and Green and Decent Work (rate of women having access to green and decent employment opportunities) were agreed.
As a crosscutting indicator, women’s effective participation in decision making processes related to the definition and implementation of the green economy was highlighted.
In the framework of Rio+20 Side Events, on June the 21, 2012, Sustainlabour participated in the “Rio+20 Partnerships Forum”, organized by UNDESA, IUCN and UNEP. The Forum was aimed at promoting partnerships among organizations committed to gender equality and sustainability, while looking for potential gender indicators on the following issues: forests, disasters, water, cities, jobs, oceans, agriculture and energy.
Sustainlabour and WEDO (the Women’s Environment and Development Organization) were in charge of coordinating the information-sharing “Job Hub”, in order to discuss how to guarantee gender equality for women workers in the transition to a green economy. In particular Sustainlabour presented its Report “Green Jobs and Women Workers” and proposed a set of indicators to promote green and decent work for women, while WEDO highlighted the specific problems related to women’s unpaid and informal work.
Among the conclusions, at the hub it was agreed that if we do not make concrete efforts to ‘engender’ the green economy, it will maintain or exacerbate the same gender inequities of the traditional labour economy – segregation, underrepresentation and discrimination. ‘Green jobs’ must mean decent jobs but also for women, in terms of respect of labour rights, employment opportunities, social protection and social dialogue.
To that end, the hub agreed on 3 key indicators, related to Just Transition (number of countries carrying out a gender impact assessment of environmental policies), Social Protection (rate of women covered by a Social Protection Floor) and Green and Decent Work (rate of women having access to green and decent employment opportunities). As a crosscutting indicator, women’s effective participation in decision making processes related to the definition and implementation of the green economy has been highlighted.
UNDESA welcomed such indicators as a reference for mainstreaming gender in the Sustainable Development Goals, inviting Sustainlabour and WEDO to be active partners in the follow-up process of debate on gender equality and sustainability.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) organizes the International Labour Conference (ILC) annually. Among other agenda items, general discussion at the 102nd session will take place on "Sustainable development, decent work and green jobs
The Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food called for the post-2015 development agenda to be urgently refocused on equality, social protection and accountability, as the efforts of the UN Open Working Group on the Sustainable Development Goals to draft post-2015 targets to succeed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) entered a crucial phase.
The world’s leading retail labels commit to the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh before the midnight deadline. The Accord now covers more than 1000 Bangladeshi garment factories. Implementation starts now!
Many of the major companies file their sustainability reports without conscience. And their approach to the workers whose labour fuels their profits is criminal.Ask any CEO if they would like their sons or daughters to work in the textile factories in Pakistan, the mines in the Congo, manufacturing plants in Central America, or as beer women in Cambodia, and they shudder.
The decision was adopted in response to EU Commission consultation on unconventional fossil fuels in Europe
