INTRODUCTION

Women workers in all their diversity across public services continue to face the combined impacts of austerity, privatisation, discrimination, unequal care responsibilities, and attacks on labour and human rights in the world of work. In this context, the role of trade unions is more important than ever in defending hard-won gains and sustaining progress, particularly within a global political and economic environment that places gender equality at a critical juncture.

PSI-affiliated unions have advanced gender equal opportunities at work not only through collective bargaining but also by influencing national policies through tripartite social dialogue. Supported by PSI’s strong and longstanding commitment to gender equality — including initiatives introduced over two decades ago, such as gender parity in representation within decision-making bodies — affiliated unions have adopted gender mainstreaming approaches at varying levels and with differing degrees of intensity.

This report provides important insights into current bargaining priorities, achievements, and persistent gaps relating to gender equality. Particular attention is given to care rights, equal pay for work of equal value, and the elimination of violence and harassment in the public services world of work — three priority areas linked to the practical implementation and impact of International Labour Organization Conventions 156, 100, and 190. Intersecting dimensions of gender equality remain insufficiently reflected, highlighting the need to further strengthen efforts and ensure closer attention to the implementation of ILO Convention 111.

1. WORK-LIFE BALANCE AND CARE RIGHTS AT WORK

Recognising care as a human right means ensuring that women workers are not penalised for fulfilling caring responsibilities. Governments and workplaces have a duty to guarantee flexible working arrangements, adequate parental and caregiving leave, and supportive social infrastructure so that care never becomes a barrier to economic justice and equality. In this regard, ILO Convention No. 156 on Workers with Family Responsibilities provides a key framework by promoting equal opportunities and treatment for workers with family responsibilities and shifts the understanding of care away from being a “women’s issue”.  

The responses from PSI-affiliated unions worldwide provide a revealing description of current collective bargaining priorities, particularly in relation to work–life balance and care responsibilities. The data suggests that while progress has been made in embedding family-friendly provisions within Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs), coverage remains uneven and significant gaps persist.

A clear majority of unions (58.8%, 30 respondents) reported having negotiated clauses on flexible working hours. This makes flexible scheduling the most commonly secured provision among the options listed. The prominence of flexible hours reflects a broader global trend in labour relations, where adaptability in working time has become central to workers’ wellbeing, productivity, and retention. It also suggests that unions perceive flexibility as both achievable in negotiations and responsive to members’ immediate needs. Importantly, flexible hours often represent a relatively low-cost adjustment for employers compared to more resource-intensive benefits, which may explain their comparatively high uptake.

Remote work options and other arrangements for workers with family responsibilities were negotiated by 47.1% of respondents (24 unions). This figure indicates that nearly half of the surveyed unions have successfully incorporated provisions addressing the realities of modern care obligations. The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic likely accelerated recognition of remote work as a viable and sometimes necessary arrangement. However, the fact that slightly more than half of unions have not secured such clauses points to structural and sectoral limitations, particularly in public services where remote work may not be feasible for all occupational groups.

Similarly, 49.0% (25 unions) reported negotiating on-site childcare services or childcare subsidies. This relatively high percentage signals a growing awareness of the structural barriers faced by working parents, particularly women, and the importance of employer-supported childcare in promoting gender equality at work. Compared to paid carers’ leave, childcare-related provisions appear marginally more prevalent, possibly because they can be framed as workforce participation measures rather than solely as leave entitlements.

Paid carers’ leave was negotiated by 37.3% of unions (19 respondents), making it less common than the other principal measures. This lower percentage may reflect the financial implications for employers, as paid leave entails direct costs. It may also indicate that carers’ leave is still emerging as a distinct bargaining demand in some contexts, particularly where unpaid leave frameworks already exist in national legislation. Nevertheless, the fact that over one-third of unions have secured such provisions demonstrates growing recognition of the broader spectrum of care responsibilities beyond childcare alone, including eldercare and support for dependants with disabilities.

Notably, 21.6% of respondents (11 unions) indicated that they had negotiated none of the listed provisions. This is a significant minority and suggests disparities in bargaining power, legal frameworks, or strategic priorities across countries and sectors. It underscores that while progressive clauses are gaining ground, access to family-friendly rights through collective bargaining is far from universal.

Only 7.8% (4 unions) selected “Other”, implying that the listed categories capture the principal areas of negotiation in this domain. This also suggests a degree of convergence internationally around a core set of work–family reconciliation demands.

Overall, the data portrays a collective bargaining landscape in transition. Flexible working arrangements have become relatively mainstream, while more resource-intensive or structurally transformative measures, such as paid carers’ leave and comprehensive childcare support, are less consistently secured. The findings highlight both the advances made by PSI-affiliated unions in promoting care-sensitive employment conditions and the continuing need for strategic bargaining, legislative advocacy, and international solidarity to close existing gaps. Evidence of emerging intersectional dimensions began to recognise diverse caregiving arrangements, family forms, disability, household composition, and employment circumstances.

2. EQUAL PAY FOR WORK OF EQUAL VALUE

While the root causes of the gender wage gap have been clearly identified and there have been major visibility and multilateral commitments, the path to pay equity is only halfway travelled. ILO Convention 100 on Equal Remuneration sets the highest standard by establishing the principle of equal pay for work of equal value, going beyond pay equality for the same job or occupational category. It introduced the crucial dimension of assessing the value of work, recognising that the historical gender-based division of labour has pushed women into different roles and sectors than men, often underpaid or undervalued.

To tackle the problem, two major strategies have been identified: Eliminating barriers to women's access and advancement in all jobs and sectors and revaluing traditionally female-dominated occupations and sectors. While eliminating barriers has been a more straightforward track, often addressed through legislative measures, revaluing work remains under-addressed, lacking both traction and political will from governments and employers, despite being a key union priority.

The survey findings reveal that collective bargaining approaches to equal pay for work of equal value are increasingly moving beyond narrow wage provisions towards broader and more structural understandings of gender inequality in the workplace. While traditional equal pay clauses remain an important entry point, unions increasingly recognise that gender pay gaps are not solely the result of direct wage discrimination but are shaped by institutional, occupational, and social inequalities that require multidimensional responses.

A first notable finding is the continued importance of formal equal pay and anti-discrimination provisions, which represented the most commonly reported bargaining strategy (58.8%; 10 unions). Across different regions, unions negotiated clauses guaranteeing equal remuneration regardless of sex or gender and sought to equalise employment-related benefits. This suggests that unions continue to rely on collective bargaining as a mechanism for reinforcing legal principles and transforming them into enforceable workplace rights. However, the prevalence of these clauses also highlights that ensuring formal equality remains an ongoing challenge, even where legal frameworks already recognise equal pay principles.

The outcomes further indicate an emerging shift towards addressing structural determinants of pay inequality. Approximately 41.2% of unions (7 unions) reported broader equality provisions linked to recruitment processes, promotion opportunities, and career progression. This reflects growing awareness that gender pay gaps frequently arise through cumulative disadvantages throughout workers’ careers rather than through direct wage discrimination alone. Occupational segregation, barriers to advancement, and unequal access to decision-making positions continue to affect women workers disproportionately and influence long-term earnings trajectories.

Although less frequently reported, the incorporation of gender-neutral and gender-sensitive job evaluation mechanisms (23.5%; 4 unions) constitutes a particularly significant development. Such mechanisms seek to establish objective criteria for assessing work and challenge historical patterns in which occupations predominantly performed by women have been systematically undervalued. Their relatively limited prevalence may indicate the technical complexity of implementing such systems and the institutional resistance often associated with revising established pay structures. Nevertheless, their inclusion points towards an important evolution in bargaining strategies, shifting from outcomes-focused approaches to interventions addressing the mechanisms through which inequalities are produced.

Similarly, the presence of monitoring and accountability structures (17.6%; 3 unions), including equality commissions and gender pay studies, demonstrates growing recognition that formal commitments alone are insufficient without implementation mechanisms. The inclusion of oversight structures suggests an increasing emphasis on enforcement and institutional accountability, particularly in contexts where legal protections exist but implementation remains weak.

The findings also demonstrate an important relationship between care responsibilities and pay inequalities. Some unions (23.5%; 4 unions) negotiated provisions relating to childcare support, parental leave, and shared care arrangements. This reflects increasing recognition that unequal care burdens continue to shape women’s labour market participation and earnings. Collective bargaining strategies therefore, increasingly acknowledge that achieving equal pay for work of equal value requires addressing broader social reproduction dynamics and work–family inequalities.

Despite these advances, the survey also reveals uneven bargaining outcomes and persistent implementation gaps. Around 23.5% of responses (4 unions) highlighted unsuccessful negotiations, uneven application of provisions, or dependence on non-binding agreements. These findings indicate that bargaining outcomes remain heavily influenced by institutional contexts, employer willingness, legal frameworks, and union bargaining power. Significant disparities across sectors and regions suggest that progress remains fragmented.

Overall, the information provided by PSI-affiliated unions suggests that collective bargaining on equal pay is undergoing an important transition. Rather than focusing exclusively on equal remuneration principles, unions increasingly pursue integrated approaches combining wage equality, care rights, anti-discrimination measures, and institutional monitoring mechanisms. Nevertheless, the relatively limited prevalence of structural interventions and ongoing implementation challenges indicate that substantial barriers remain. Closing gender pay gaps, therefore, appears to require not only stronger equal pay clauses but also broader transformative bargaining strategies capable of addressing the underlying causes of inequality.

Although broader anti-discrimination clauses exist, collective bargaining has yet to systematically integrate an intersectional understanding of equal pay that recognises the compounded effects of gender, race, migration status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity and employment precarity on wage inequality.

3. GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND HARASSMENT

A major milestone in this struggle was the adoption of ILO Convention No. 190, representing a historic victory for workers and trade union movements worldwide.  C190 has provided unions with a powerful framework to strengthen bargaining agendas, influence policy, raise awareness, and advance workplace protections. The findings presented below illustrate how unions are translating this landmark achievement into practical action while continuing efforts to drive meaningful change.

The survey results reveal evolution in how trade unions are addressing gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) through collective bargaining. The overall pattern suggests a transition from viewing GBVH primarily as an individual misconduct issue requiring disciplinary intervention toward understanding it as a broader workplace and organisational challenge requiring prevention, awareness, and institutional responses. However, the uneven distribution of bargaining clauses also highlights important limitations in the depth and transformative potential of current approaches.

The predominance of training and awareness-raising initiatives, present in 60.3% of agreements (35 unions), indicates that unions' preventative and pedagogical orientation seeks to reshape attitudes and organisational cultures. The emphasis on training may also reflect a relatively accessible bargaining strategy: awareness programmes can often be negotiated more readily than structural reforms involving financial costs or significant institutional restructuring.

Closely related is the high prevalence of complaint mechanisms, included in 58.6% of agreements (34 unions), suggesting that unions increasingly seek to institutionalise pathways for workers to report abuse and access support.

The finding that prevention measures appear in 51.7% of agreements (30 unions) suggests that preventative strategies are becoming embedded in workplace governance structures. Protocols, risk assessments, and anti-harassment frameworks indicate movement beyond reactive responses toward attempts to identify and mitigate workplace conditions that facilitate violence and harassment. However, the fact that prevention clauses remain less prevalent than training and complaint mechanisms suggests that many bargaining agendas continue to prioritise procedural responses over broader organisational redesign.

The lower prevalence of protection mechanisms for victims, witnesses and whistleblowers, present in 43.1% of agreements (25 unions), reveals a potential gap between recognising violence and ensuring meaningful support for affected workers. Legal support, confidentiality protections and psychosocial assistance are critical because workers, especially women, often experience significant professional and personal consequences after reporting violence. The comparatively lower presence of these provisions may indicate that bargaining processes focus more heavily on identification and reporting than on long-term victim-centred responses. This pattern may unintentionally reproduce burdens on survivors by expecting individuals to navigate institutional processes without sufficient protections, where women are more vulnerable.

Particularly encouraging is the growing inclusion of resolution and enforcement mechanisms, now present in 37.9% of agreements (22 unions). While there remains scope for further expansion, this reflects important progress toward embedding stronger accountability measures within GBVH frameworks. Effective approaches require not only recognition and reporting mechanisms but also clear pathways for sanctions, remedies, and redress. The findings suggest that many agreements have already made substantial advances in establishing systems to identify and address issues, creating a strong foundation upon which more robust enforcement provisions can continue to develop.

The emerging recognition of third-party violence, addressed in 34.5% of agreements (20 unions), represents a significant development, particularly in public service and care sectors where workers regularly interact with clients, patients, or service users.  Recognition of third-party violence expands this understanding and reflects the realities of sectors characterised by emotional labour and public interaction. This finding is particularly relevant in feminised sectors.

Only 29.3% of agreements include follow-up mechanisms or organisational change measures (17 unions).  Organisational learning and structural reform are central components of sustainable GBVH prevention. Follow-up procedures, workplace redesign and institutional monitoring can address underlying organisational conditions that enable violence, particularly GBVH. Their limited inclusion suggests that bargaining remains heavily oriented toward managing individual incidents rather than transforming workplace systems.

While unions increasingly negotiate comprehensive mechanisms to prevent and respond to workplace violence and harassment, these initiatives rarely incorporate an intersectional lens. The absence of explicit recognition of how violence is experienced differently according to race, migration status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or Indigenous identity suggests an important gap between emerging GBVH frameworks and the realities of workers exposed to multiple and compounded forms of discrimination.

Finally, while only 15.5% of respondents (9 unions) reported having no negotiated GBVH provisions, the explanations provided reveal important contextual inequalities in bargaining capacity. In several cases, unions relied on national legislation rather than collective agreements, while others highlighted legal restrictions, institutional barriers or political limitations. This suggests that the uneven development of GBVH clauses may not simply reflect union priorities but also differing regulatory environments and bargaining opportunities across national contexts.

CONCLUSIONS

Taken together, the findings across care rights at work, equal pay for work of equal value, and gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) demonstrate a significant evolution in collective bargaining as a tool for advancing equality and social justice. Across diverse contexts, unions are increasingly expanding bargaining agendas beyond traditional employment conditions to address the structural realities shaping workers’ lives, including care responsibilities, workplace safety and the persistent undervaluation of women’s work.

Important progress is evident. Bargaining on care rights increasingly recognises broader caregiving responsibilities and more diverse family realities. Equal pay initiatives are moving beyond formal equality toward addressing occupational segregation, pay transparency and structural undervaluation. In the area of GBVH, unions are progressively embedding prevention measures, reporting systems and institutional responses aligned with rights-based approaches.

At the same time, common challenges cut across all three areas. Bargaining agendas remain stronger in establishing procedural protections than in achieving deeper structural transformation. While references to inclusion and multidimensional inequality are becoming more visible, explicit recognition of the experiences of LGBT+ workers, migrants, Indigenous peoples, racialised workers and persons with disabilities remains limited. Intersectionality often appears as a guiding principle rather than a consistently operationalised bargaining framework.

Nevertheless, the overall trajectory is clear. Collective bargaining is increasingly being used not only to improve working conditions, but also to challenge inequalities embedded within labour markets and social institutions. These findings point toward a broader and more transformative vision of gender equality within labour rights. Transformation is underway, yet there remains further ground to cover.