By Carol Barton
WIMN had a strong presence at the UN CSW, which focused on the digital economy. Members from GAATW, MigrantRights.org, ACT Alliance and a large Trade Union delegation – Women, Power, Unions, including IDWF, ITUC, PSI and Solidarity Center – were present, gathering in person at the CSW for the first time in three years.
WIMN worked with members and allies to organize an International Women’s Day Rally across from the UN on March 8. The rally focused on “Women Workers Claiming Rights” and made local news in AM New York.
With a banner calling for “All Rights for All Women Workers,” the rally particularly lifted up the organizing efforts of migrant, rural and displaced women workers. The rally call recognized the many forms of work, including “formal” work, work in the informal economy including sex work, and women’s unpaid labor. See call for full list of rally co-sponsors. Speakers from the International Trade Union Confederation, the International Domestic Workers Federation, DAWN, Solidarity Center, the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women, and WIMN raised demands for safe, rights-based and regular migration pathways; end to the Kafala System and exploitative short-term/temporary labor programs; rights for platform economy workers and sex workers; freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining; decent work, and ratification of several ILO conventions advancing women workers’ rights. See rally photos.
WIMN also participated in a parallel event organized by GAATW – Women, Work Migration and Technology – along with IDWF, SEWA and the Urban Justice Center Sex Workers Project. Domestic Workers, sex workers and self-employed workers shared how they are using technology for protection, networking and organizing, and also how employers and the state are using technology for surveillance, control and criminalization.
Other parallel events were organized by WIMN members and allies. Solidarity Center hosted Women Workers Organizing: Transforming the Gig Economy through Collective Action, focused on women taxi drivers and delivery workers. The full webinar recording can be found here. Public Services International played a central role in a Digital New Deal, linked to a Feminist Digital Justice Declaration, led by DAWN and IT for Change.