Flanders signs ILO agreement to aid women in global workforce

In much of the world, women are employed in low-skilled and badly paid jobs with little access to training or social benefits. At the same time, they often have to undertake unpaid work such as caring for family members.

The Geneva-based ILO, which brings together governments, employers and workers, has been helping to improve labour standards throughout the world for nearly 100 years. The new agreement commits Flanders to support of at least €900,000 every two years for projects that contribute to increasing social benefits and championing dignified work.

One of the first objectives will be to obtain greater recognition and appreciation of the work done by women in the care sector. Flanders has earmarked €400,000 on projects that ensure that caring for children and the elderly in their communities, for example, is actually recognised as work.

“Women and young people hold a central position not only in our collaboration with the ILO but also in our support of UNAIDS and the World Health Organisation,” Bourgeois said. “Thanks to our support for these three organisations, we are improving the health of women, and we are also helping them find dignified work.”

That support, Bourgeois continues, “improves their position in society and also with regard to their partners. It allows them to feel more secure when they have children, and those children will have better opportunities in the future and in turn be healthier. The new collaboration agreement is an important step towards a more co-ordinated, focused and coherent policy regarding the international organisations that are important to Flanders.”

Photo: A woman working in a leather factory in Hazaribagh, India, considered one of the most polluted cities on the planet.

©Belal Hossain Rana/NurPhoto/Corbis