São Paulo – Arab women who attended the League of Arab Women meeting last week in Amman, Jordan, need training in labour and women’s law within the unions they are in. This was one of the goals set for 2012 at the meeting, which was attended by the Brazilian union representative Nair Goulart, president of Bahia’s Força Sindicalunion central, and joint president of the International Union Confederation (CSI).
The meeting brought together 35 working women from Morocco, Palestine, Jordan, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Kuwait, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania. According to Goulart, the training is to be supplied by the unions the women are affiliated with, in order to prepare them for high-ranking positions. Another goal set by the participants was to organize campaigns against violence against women.
Other goals include establishing departments for women within the unions and increasing women’s participation in collective labour agreement negotiations, among others. As a member of the CSI, Goulart herself will help seek human and financial resources so the targets may be pursued. The organization also committed to discussing the issues tackled in Jordan at meetings of the CSI board, which comprises representatives of unions from Arab countries.
At the meeting, Goulart gave a talk in which she discussed Brazilian women’s law. “I talked a bit about our history, the conquering of the right to vote, the law, consolidated labour laws, the constitution, the election issue, and the problems we still have,” Goulart told ANBA. According to the joint president of the CSI, the Arab women asked ‘a thousand’ questions and wanted to know everything about the Brazilian reality.
"They have so much valour,” says Goulart, speaking of the women’s struggle, notwithstanding the fact that many live in war-riddled places such as Palestine. According to Goulart, women in the region are paid much lower wages, many have no maternity leave, and none are pledging freedom in the Courts. After debating, they reached the conclusion that they need further space in labour unions’ boards of directors.
International organizations such as the CSI must now help the Arab women pursue their goals. Aside from the CSI, the meeting was attended by organizations based in Canada, the United States and the International Labour Organization (ILO), among others. The United Nations (UN) also works with Arab women to improve their rights.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
