A project specially dedicated to empowering and enlightening

A project specially dedicated to empowering and enlightening adolescent female workers and job seekers http: //dfl. wageindicator. org

Aims and Objectives

DECISIONS FOR LIFE aims at: ü Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women. and more specifically on: ü Promoting formal employment and equal opportunities at the labour market.

This project targets adolescent (defined as women aged 15 -29) female workers and job seekers in 8 large occupational groups in the service sector. The 8 large occupational groups are

call centre operators front office workers / receptionists in hotels travel agency intermediaries in tourism secretaries sales persons and cashiers in retail housekeepers in hotels bookkeepers IT programmers

Why does this project target adolescent women in these service sectors ? These service sectors: • employ the bulk of working women in the age group of 15 -29. • are growing in (almost) all the developing countries.

The project’s main objective

future employment opportunities family building To raise awareness amongst these young adolescent female workers concerning career possibilities work-family balance

Why raise these awareness ?

The vast majority of the women in this group will set up a family within the foreseeable future. They will then face hard decisions about continuing employment and finding solutions for maternity leave and childcare.

When setting up a family, the chances that women will quit their jobs due to termination of contract or forced dismissal are higher than in other age groups. The lifetime decisions of adolescent women determine not only their individual future, but also that of society, as their choices are key to the demographic and workforce development of the nation.

DECISIONS FOR LIFE aims to support these women in making informed decisions as the expectations from this target group are multi-fold! Economic Professional Social Personal (Household, Familylife)

Here we sight some examples of the earnings of this target group and shall choose South Africa to demonstrate with. However big or small the amount may seem, yet it makes a significant contribution for one’s family ! Profession Salary per Month Salary per Year Call centre operators R 3514 to R 39122 R 42198 to R 469829 Secretaries R 4422 to R 16390 R 53110 to R 196835 Bookkeepers R 7219 to R 23259 R 86693 to R 279323 IT programmers R 7978 to R 55517 R 95810 to R 666719 Office Receptionists R 5087 to R 11097 R 61091 to R 133269 The Salary Check assumes work as 40 hr per week.

This project focuses on 14 developing countries

The southern African countries The CIS countries Angola Azerbaijan Botswana Belarus Malawi Kazakhstan Mozambique South Africa Zambia Ukraine 14 developing countries Zimbabwe The South American country Brazil The Asian countries India Indonesia

Why only in these 14 developing countries ? ? ? ? It is estimated that in these selected 14 developing countries, some 10 to 12 million female adolescents aged 15 -29 are working in the service sectors concentrated in the urban areas where Internet access can be easily had and so we have more chances to reach-out to them in massive numbers.

How do we plan to do all this ?

DECISIONS FOR LIFE deploys a ‘dual approach’ to reach out for as many adolescent women as possible in the 8 large occupational groups in the service sector. The popular ‘OFFLINE approach’ & An ‘ONLINE approach’

This means… FIRST, trade unions who have huge experiences in campaigning are to campaign through the channels at their disposal; aiming to reach 10, 000 women in face-to-face meetings and training sessions, and through dissemination of offline promotion materials.

This means… SECOND, the Internet is an efficient medium to target these occupational groups, aiming to reach 1, 000 women online with attractive web tools and content.

Online tools

Decent Work Check www. decentworkcheck. org A tool with a check-list to see whether your job, salary and social security are in accordance with National laws and International conventions.

Partner Check A game inviting young women, to imagine and consider several real life situations. Economic, professional, personal life scenarios that could take place in their life according to the life-partners they would choose.

Salary Check A tool that enables you to get an idea of the salary colleagues earn for a similar job or position. The resulting salary indication values are real statistics after having conducted a stretch of salary surveys.

Women’s rights at the work-place These can be found in the DFL website and the Wageindicator websites, like Mywage. org or Meusalario. org, enlightening women on topics such as: Ø maternity leave rights Ø day-care help for the working mother Ø laws and tips against sexual harassment Ø etc…

Best-place-to-work tool Will be online in the near future …. .

Inventories underlying these tools and checks will also be undertaken. Many of these tools, checkers and other online materials made available on the website, are also in downloadable form for offline use to target women who do not have access to the Internet.

A screen-shot of the home page

The International 'team partners' behind this Project Management

Project Management ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) in Brussels Wage. Indicator Foundation in Amsterdam Affiliates Global Union UNI in Geneva University of Amsterdam AIAS which already has websites on work and wages in 45 countries in the 14 countries the umbrella organization of unions in the services industries worldwide which specializes in worldwide inventories underlying the decent work agenda, wages and companies’ industrial relations systems

Together, these partners compose a supervisory management board that convenes on a regular basis during the project.

The Wageindicator website’s presence in the 14 countries: Angola Botswana Malawi Mozambique South Africa Zambia Zimbabwe www. Meusalario. org/Angola www. Mywage. org/Botswana www. Mywage. org/Malawi www. Meusalario. org/Mozambique www. Mywage. co. za www. Mywage. org/Zambia www. Mywage. org/Zimbabwe India Indonesia www. Paycheck. in www. Gajimu. com Azerbaijan Belarus Kazakhstan Ukraine www. Mojazarplata. org/Azerbaijan www. Mojazarplata. org/Belarus www. Mojazarplata. org/Kazakhstan www. Mojazarplata. org/Ukraine Brazil www. Meusalario. org. br

Regional Project Partners – AFRICA LRS - Labour research Service – Capetown (LRA) www. lrs. org. za Trade Unions in Southern Africa: South Africa: Confederation of South African Workers' Unions (CONSAWU) www. consawu. co. za Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) www. cosatu. org. za Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA) www. fedusa. org. za National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU) www. nactu. org. za

Trade Unions in Southern Africa: Angola: União Nacional dos Trabalhadores de Angola (UNTA-CS) www. unta-cs. com Botswana: Malawi: Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU) Mozambique: Organizaçâo dos Trabalhadores de Moçambique (OTM) www. otm. org. mz Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) www. zctu. co. zw Zambia: Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) Email: zctu@microlink. zm Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU)

CIS Countries: Azerbaijan: Azerbaycan Hemkarlar Ittifaqlari Konfederasiyasi (AHIK) www. ahik. org Email: ahik@azerin. com Belarus: Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP) www. bkdp. org Kazakhstan: Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan (FTUK) www. fprk. kz Ukraine: All-Ukrainian Union of Workers' Solidarity (VOST) email: vostky 2@i. com. ua Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU) www. kvpu. org. ua Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU) www. fpsu. org. ua/

Asian Countries: India: Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) www. members. rediff. com/hms Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) www. intuc. net Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) www. sewa. org Institute of marketing and management (IMM) www. immindia. com INITES Professional Indonesia: Konfederasi Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia (KSBSI) www. ksbsi. or. id/news. php

South-American Country: Brazil: Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) www. cut. org. br Força Sindical (FS) www. fsindical. org. br União Geral dos Trabalhadores (UGT) www. ugt. org. br Departamento Intersindical de Estatística e Estudos Socioeconomicos (DIEESE) www. dieese. org. br

Who finances the DECISIONS FOR LIFE project and what is the project duration ?

DECISIONS FOR LIFE is awarded a MDG 3 grant from: ü ‘The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’, in support of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals no 3 (MDG 3): ‘Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women’. The focus is particularly on MDG 3. 5: ü ‘Promoting formal employment and equal opportunities at the labour market’. This is one of the four MDG 3 priority areas identified in the Dutch Ministry’s MDG 3 Fund.

DECISIONS FOR LIFE runs from October 2008 until June 2011

How can you help to make DECISIONS FOR LIFE successful in your country?

To spread the message of this project, our primary aim is: The organising of young women workers wherever they might be. Our Affiliates and Federations are the tools to do this, but not an end in itself.

Where do you begin ? Trade Union Campaigns & Meetings

Industries, factories Government and private company offices Call centres Market places Where else can you begin this project awareness? Hospitals Universities Shopping malls The hospitality sector (hotels, guest houses, restaurants, pubs, bars, etc…) Clubs, dancing’s

TOGETHER … http: //dfl. wageindicator. org