10 September, 2025Preparations for IndustriALL women’s conference and November Congress in Sydney are well under way, which will be an assessment of work undertaken to promote gender equality and women’s rights.
The women’s conference, will be held in two sessions — online on 18-19 September and in-person on the 3 November in Sydney ahead of IndustriALL Congress.
By analysing what we have achieved and identifying the areas that still need our focus, we can define our future priorities in Sydney, guided by the Action Plan. What actions should we develop to address the challenges that female workers will face in the years ahead?
The discussions will enable a roadmap to be drawn up, setting expected results for the next four years and debate how to measure and monitor progress.
The discussion on the participatory gender audit (PGA) findings and recommendations would be key as it provides clear guidance on how IndustriALL can strengthen its work on gender equality over the next four years and the upcoming women’s conference will be a crucial step in turning these recommendations into action.
The women's conference will discuss and explore how to address the three priority areas underscored in the PGA: mainstreaming gender throughout all of IndustriALL work, strengthening women’s leadership and promoting men’s allyship in advancing gender equality and women’s participation in leadership.
Exploring ways to promoting women’s leadership will be key in the debates in the conference. While progress has been made, women remain underrepresented in trade union leadership, particularly in certain industries. There is a need to address the grassroots causes of this gap, from barriers to union participation to structural discrimination and to develop concrete tools and instruments to support women leaders at every level of the movement.
The conference will also investigate how to engage men allies in building equality and ensuring women’s voices are heard and respected. The role of male leaders to actively support gender equality is key, not only by endorsing women’s participation but by taking responsibility for making unions more inclusive.
“Women belong in every space where decisions are made about workers’ rights and the future of our industries. This conference is not only about addressing inequality, it is about reshaping our movement to reflect the reality of our membership. When women lead, unions are stronger, fairer and more representative. That is why this work matters and why we must make space, build support and ensure women’s voices are heard at every level,”
said IndustriALL assistant general secretary, Christina Olivier.