Pay Equity Now!

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Notes

1. The Public Services International (PSI) has 20 million members in 600 affiliate unions in 146 countries. Its members are principally in female-dominated sectors of the economy. Although PSI membership is 65 per cent female only 25 per cent of women are in leadership positions. The PSI gives priority to gender equality through affirmative action measures, specific structures for women, women's education and capacity building and quotas in PSI events. Key issues at the national level include the poor representation of women in leadership and negotiating teams and the need to resource women's structures, ensure that trained women are better utilised in union work and that women's issues reach the union agenda. New strategies to mainstream gender issues include gender awareness training, gender impact assessment of the PSI budget, recruitment of staff guidelines, gender mainstreaming policy. The PSI has also tried to mainstream its own structures with the new ‘ground-breaking’ constitutional requirement of 50 per cent women's participation in all decision-making activities and sponsored events. Other activities include education and capacity building, campaign training for women, resources/technical assistance for local and national workplace campaigns and two global campaigns on maternity protection and pay equity.

2. Capacity building has taken place in several countries in Central and South America, in the Philippines, in Namibia, South Africa, East Africa (Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya), and in Romania and Latvia. Campaign materials and reports of the global research and the free pay equity newsletter can be found on http://www.world-psi.org.