RIO DE JANEIRO, 8 March 2009: As the Internationalt Trade Union Confederation, ITUC, publishes a new report condemning gender inequality and examining the cost of violence against women, the Brazilian trade union confederation CUT is launching on this 8th of March a permanent campaign against gender pay inequality.
Rosana Da Silva, a member of the ITUC Women’s Committee and the national women’s officer for CUT, speaks about the issues of inequality, the impact of the crisis on women workers, and violence against women in Brazil.
Is the impact of the economic and financial crisis on women workers already being felt in Brazil?
In Brazil, women tend to work in the most precarious sectors and in the informal economy. The crisis is set to accentuate this trend, as women are the first to be laid off: culturally, in Brazil, it is still widely believed that a woman’s primary role is to look after the family rather than to earn a living.
It is thought that women should largely remain in the private sphere, at home, whilst men go out to work in the public space. It takes time to change beliefs that are so deeply embedded in our society. And so, in the meantime, it is the women who face the biggest job losses. Some companies are laying off workers because they are genuinely suffering the effects of the crisis, but others are using it as a pretext to cut down on their staff.
Women are also the hardest hit by the cuts in public spending being pushed by the authorities on account of the crisis, such as in the health and education sectors, which employ large numbers of women.
The unions recently managed to obtain a commitment from the central government that social spending would not be cut, and may even be raised, but this promise still has to be ratified by the National Congress. And then there are the huge social budgets of the federal states, which are also threatened by cuts.
How wide is the wage gap between men and women in Brazil?
The wages of women in Brazil are 30 per cent lower, on average, than those of men. This injustice arises from the notion that a woman’s wage is just a “plus” in the household income, but ever increasing numbers of women are, in fact, the head of the household.
The trade unions and other social movements have become conscious of the need to challenge these conceptions. CUT launchs a campaign on International Women’s Day, on 8 March, that includes the issue of the gender pay gap.
The union had already led a campaign on this matter in 1995-96, but this one is going to be permanent. It will also address the issues of maternity and paternity protection, the abortion law, and increasing the presence of women in trade union decision-making structures.
What is the level of women’s representation in CUT?
Approximately 40 peer cent of CUT’s members are women, but there are only six women among the top 25 leaders. According to our statutes, there should be a minimum of 30 per cent women at all meetings but, in practice, it’s more like the maximum!
The ITUC is organising its first World Women’s Conference from 19 to 21 October 2009 in Brussels. What expectations do you have with regard to this event?
We would like to see the adoption of a resolution clearly underlining the need to fight all the inequalities suffered by women, across the board, not only within the workplace but also within the trade union movement.
ITUC resolutions, be they on domestic violence, pay inequality or other abuses, can help us raise these issues with our governments; they give more weight to our demands. They also show that it is not an isolated battle we are waging but a worldwide campaign.
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