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Gender equality

“Women hold up half the sky – get used to it.” That message, painted on a sign at a demonstration, tells only half the story. In many ways, women do more than their share: caring for the next generation and elderly parents, household duties, and contributing economically. Women are more than equal in the responsibilities they assume. This must be matched with political, economic and social equality.

Statement: Putting women’s rights to decent work, quality education and quality public services at the heart of the post-2015 Agenda

27 February 2014

Statement submitted to the UNCSW58 by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Education International (EI) and Public Services International (PSI), and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), civil society organisations with consultative status at the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

PSI and UN Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals

20 February 2014
Juneia Batista represented the PSI Women’s Committee at the UN OWG8 meeting

Public Services International participated in the United Nations Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals, which had its eighth and final stock-taking and information-gathering session 3-7 February 2014 (OWG8), in New York. 

One of the main outcomes of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012, was the agreement by Member States to launch a process to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Rio+20 did not elaborate specific goals but stated that the SDGs should be limited in number, aspirational and easy to communicate. The goals should address in a balanced way all three dimensions of sustainable development and be coherent with and integrated into the UN development agenda beyond 2015.

Mercury victims win Supreme Court case against Norwegian state

10 January 2014
Dental Nurses. Photo by Royal Navy Archives

A former dental nurse in Norway, Bertha Regine Serigstad has won her case against the Norwegian state in the Supreme Court. Many legal experts are already saying that the ruling sets an important precedent and may turn out to be as important for these women as the asbestos ruling was for a number of men some years ago.

Photos: Singapore Forum on the Elimination of Violence against Women

27 November 2013
PSI affiliates in Singapore held an event on 23rd November on Ending Violence against Women and invited the Speaker of the Parliament as the guest speaker, Mdm. Halimah Yacob Together they said violence against women is an age-old problem – it is time to end it now! Ms. Diana Chia, President of NTUC Singapore, is also a guest at this event. Photo credit: HDBSU - Singapore
Source: Flickr

PSI affiliates in Singapore held an event on 23rd November on Ending Violence against Women and invited the Speaker of the Parliament as the guest speaker, Mdm. Halimah Yacob. Together they said violence against women is an age-old problem – it is time to end it now!

See photos on Flickr.

Unions in India hold forum on the elimination of violence against women

27 November 2013
Participants to the forum holding the different GUF posters

Close to 50 representatives from ITF, PSI, UNI, IndustriALL and BWI affiliated unions attended a joint discussion forum on the issue of Effective participation by trade unions on ending violence against women.  The forum was held on International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 25 November 2013, at Maniben Kara Hall, in Mumbai, in India.

Video: Say NO to violence against women

26 November 2013

Watch the video published by PSI affiliate, SINALSERPUB, produced by Laura Camila Esteban Niño a young student in economics, on ending violence against women.

Communiqué: Public Services International Steering Committee SC-17

25 November 2013
PSI Steering Committee and staff, November 2013

Angered by the continuing attacks on public services and the workers who provide these services, distressed by the rising inequality across the world and the failure of the current economic system to provide jobs, particularly for young people, the Steering Committee reiterated its commitments to the 2013-2017 Programme of Action “Social Justice through Quality Public Services” and endorsed priority actions for 2014.