Key objectives:

• To advocate decent work for women and gender equality in labour policies and agreements;

• To seek gender equality in trade union structures, policies and activities and a significant increase in the number of women trade union members and women in elected positions.

The ITUC and the Global Union Federations (GUFs) focus their activities on sectors/ areas of work where women workers are most vulnerable such as Export Processing Zones, domestic work, part-time workers, women migrant workers and the informal economy.

Key dates for action:

8 March - The International Women’s Day

7 October - The World Day for Decent Work: Special Campaign events focusing on women workers will be planned around this date.

25 November - The UN International Day on the Elimination of Violence Against Women: The ITUC and Global Union Federations are participating in a global initiative to stop violence against women, running from 25 November until UN Human Rights Day on 10 December. The initiative is based on the 1993 Declaration on this issue adopted by the UN.



Join the Campaign!
- Subscribe to the Campaign email list (see subscription box at the top right corner of this page) or send an email to: [email protected]
- Fill this participation form and send it back to [email protected]


Report your actions!
- Please send your reports and other materials (e.g. photographs) related to your actions to: [email protected]


Campaigning tools

- Campaign Guide
- Campaign presentation (Powerpoint 6.8 MB)
- Campaign poster
- Campaign Update I
- ITUC/EI Posters for March 8 (Powerpoint 8.9MB), March 2008


ITUC supporting publications

- Gender (in)equality in the labour market, March 2009
- Video on Maternity protection, March 2009
- Trade Unions Say no to Violence against Women and Girls, November 2008
- ITUC Gender Pay Gap Report, March 2008
- ITUC/EI/PSI Statement on ’Investing in Decent Work for Women’, 52nd Session of the UN Comission on the status of Women, March 2008
- Action programme on achieving gender equality in trade unions, November 2007


Press releases
- New Report Shows Global Gender Pay Gap Bigger Than Previously Thought, 5 March 2009
- Gender Pay Gap Stuck at 16% Worldwide, 8 March 2008


- Read the list of participating National Centers