HWW is today launching new resources on organising women workers.
Across the world, women workers are concentrated in the poorest paid jobs, with the fewest rights and least job security. Often traditional organising approaches are too rigid to answer the needs of working women - women whose work may be irregular and insecure, women whose domestic responsibilities take up every spare moment after a working day, women who need to see other women leaders in order to imagine leadership roles for themselves.
New methods are needed. We want to shine a spotlight on some inspiring examples of trade unions and NGOs who are working to support the organisation of women workers in highly challenging circumstances.
We have produced two briefing notes in what will be an ongoing series. The first highlights our experience working with Indian NGO SAVE organising homeworkers in Tamil Nadu’s garment industry. The second looks back at the experience of the West Midlands based AEKTA Project which worked with Asian garment workers in the 1980s, and explores what lessons this has for addressing labour rights issues in today’s, apparently growing, UK garment industry.