Where are the women?

At every Central Committee meeting, I ask myself one question: Where are all the competent and well-trained women of the IMF? They are not at meetings where they should be, had we done our job better. I am sure that a certain number of traditional reasons are still the cause for women not participating in trade union jobs, but other reasons as well are responsible for this situation. I am thinking of what happens internally in our organisations that makes it difficult for women to be actively involved in all our work at all levels. We have to prepare the path so that all women can join their forces to make the organisation better, more active, more open, more attractive for all workers and to enrich it through their experience. I believe that a great number of reasons which today pose obstacles for women to become more active in the union can be eliminated if women are more and more involved in collective bargaining at all levels. There is no doubt that the situation of women - with housework and childcare very often combined with one other additional job - has given most women experience that men do not have . This aspect is surely not taken enough into account when new agreements are negotiated. Also, despite all the legislation and hard work oriented towards eliminating discrimination in the labour market, one sees that in Europe, for instance, women still earn 25% less than their male colleagues for doing the same job. I am sure, as well, that if more women were involved in negotiating working conditions at their workplaces, the question of working hours would be discussed from a different angle, and more attention would be given to the aspect of quality of life rather than just the purely economic point of view. I wish every time the leadership of our affiliated unions have to decide about a delegation to be sent to a meeting or conference of the IMF or other important organisations, such as confederations, the ILO, WTO, etc., they will always seek to include competent and representative women in the delegation. There is 30%-35 % female membership in the IMF; that's something like 6-8 million, so I would be surprised if we cannot have at least 80-100 women participating every time the Central Committee meets. It is not just a question of sending somebody, but of delegating a woman capable of representing all workers from her region or workplace. We have to prepare women through education and training and a lot of changed attitudes, to make it easier for them to feel at home amongst us men. They are terribly needed, and they will strengthen the organisation through something which we men do not have -- their experience.