C190 continues to be the fastest ratified convention in ILO history- with 44 countries now having ratified. And the momentum for C190 is growing. On the eve of C190’s anniversary, GLJ along with many partners, including Solidarity Center, Asia Floor Wage Alliance (AFWA), Bangladesh Center for Workers Solidarity (BCWS), Feminist Alliance for Rights, HumanRights Watch, International Domestic Workers Federation (IDWF), International Trade Union Confederation - ITUC), Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), and UNI Global Union, held a digital town hall that capped a month of activities to celebrate five years of C190.
More than 350 people from around the world joined the digital town hall and committed to working together over the next year and integrating C190 principles and priorities into Beijing's 30+ conversations.
You can view the video of the town hall here.
When we empower women workers to fight gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) in the world of work, they can change their lives and their communities. C190 is a valuable tool to empower workers, but only when we take action on it. Once a state ratifies it as an international treaty, it must implement it. Even without ratification, it can still be a benchmark for domestic laws and policies. Therefore, the usefulness of C190 depends on how we treat it and put it into action.
C190 recognizes that women’s agency should be at the center of any approach to ending violence in the world of work. Women’s collective power building and agency to negotiate are fundamental to addressing GBVH. The Dindigul Agreement is a powerful reminder of the transformative impact that worker-driven change can have.
Drawing on the foundation of ILO Convention 190 principles, Dalit women workers have transformed their workplace after signing the landmark Dindigul Agreement to End Gender-Based Violence and Harassment with their union TTCU (tag) and the Asia Floor Wage Alliance (tag)
The Dindigul agreement offers protection against gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) for 5,000 garment workers in Eastman Export’s facilities in Dindigul in Tamil Nadu, India. It resulted from the Justice for Jeyasre Campaign, which was informed by the murder of the garment worker Jeyasre Kathiravel in January 2021 after facing months of sexual harassment at the hands of her supervisor. The Dindigul agreement has empowered these women garment workers to combat gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) and caste-based discrimination and to improve working conditions. In a landscape where audits and certifications often fail and major brands skirt responsibility for conditions in their supply chains, the Dindigul agreement provides a model for investors and brands who are serious about responding to GBVH and systemic discrimination in garment supply chains.
This month is about more than just celebrating C190’s five-year anniversary. We are recommitting to the unions, women's organizations, and millions of workers worldwide who are using C190's recommendations and norms to bring change to their workplaces and the world of work. Through various means such as law and policy, collective bargaining, supply chain agreements, model contracts, and other creative methods, C190 is laying the groundwork for workers to combat violence and harassment in the world of work. By empowering women workers to address gender-based violence and harassment in the workplace, they can transform their own lives and their communities.
