CUPE is joining other trade unionists at the 56th session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women, currently underway in New York. The commission is meeting to discuss the empowerment of rural women and their role in poverty and hunger eradication.
CUPE’s participant in the meeting is equality representative Maureen Morrison, who is sharing her thoughts on a joint blog about the event, hosted by Public Services International, Education International, and the International Trade Union Confederation.
The trade union delegation is focusing on the rights of rural women to decent work, and the importance of quality public services and education in ensuring their economic, social and political rights. The union delegation represents over 70 million women workers from all over the world, seven million of whom are rural women. The trade union delegation is calling on governments to commit to concrete measures to ensure that women living and working in rural areas enjoy opportunities for economic, social and human development.
Morrison has attended a variety of workshops and panel sessions and participated in discussions with other delegates to lobby their governments about the importance of including the principles of decent work and public services in the statement of agreed conclusions, which will be issued at the end of the session.
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