“It is time to renew and radicalize OURSELVES, to raise the gender perspective in the context of and in response to the Emergency response as a function of the ‘New Normal’ that COVID19 presents to the world, managing to take up the WOC [PSI’s World Women’s Committee] agenda again at a global level and organize ourselves within the context of the global policies that PSI has proposed to respond to the crisis.”

Likewise, it is essential “to make this an opportunity for transformations that imply a new world order/new normal in terms of equality”.

These were some of the strategies established by the trade union leaders who participated in the virtual meeting of Public Services International (PSI) Interamerican Regional Women's Committee on 6 May. The main points of the work plan defined at the meeting were included in the PSI Inter-America Action Plan for 2020, approved at the Inter-American Regional Executive Committee (IAMREC) meeting held on April 29.

“It is obvious that crises exacerbate structural contradictions, which highlight inequalities and detrimental situations for vulnerable groups. These crises also expose where the limits were that block the full exercise of human rights, including women’s human rights,” said Verónica Montúfar, PSI Global Gender Equality Officer, in the introduction to the meeting.

Montúfar explained that due to the sexual division of labor, women’s work is divided into two areas: reproductive and productive. “We know that reproductive work supports the reproduction of life and of the workforce which is essential for capital. Now, with this crisis, it continues to be the responsibility of women, but due social distancing and quarantine, the impact is greater, as this reproductive work collides with productive work. The conditions of teleworking in this situation are highly stressful and result in clear mental health problems”.

Montúfar argued that the Interamerican Regional Women’s Committee should focus on three levels of struggle: women’s working conditions, especially in the health and social services sector; violence and harassment in the world of work and its gender dimensions, a reality that has emerged because quarantine makes the world of work merge with the private sphere; and to influence discussions on post-crisis economic proposals, focusing on tax and trade policies with a gender focus.

Jillian Bartlett, Co-Chair of the Regional Women’s Committee, reported on the situation of the Caribbean in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. According to her, no country had reliable infection numbers - there was therefore a high rate of underreporting. Although there are no specific data, she said, in her country, Trinidad and Tobago, there is a high rate of contamination among women health and care workers. Also, many of these professionals must struggle to access personal protective equipment (PPE).

“There was no planning for the response to Covid-19, even though we knew it was coming. That raises the anxiety level. That’s why we need to be together sharing information and examples of PSI affiliate actions in response to the pandemic. This way we create a source of actions and best practices, so we don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” she said.

Carolina Espinoza, Bartlett’s partner in the Co-Presidency of the Regional Women’s Committee, said that in a situation like the one we are living today, there is more concrete evidence of the inequality, injustice and fragility of the economic system that dominates the planet. “Neoliberalism, which makes a business out of everything, and thus, for example, privatizes public services, including health”.

Gender inequality is exacerbated during the crisis. Espinoza explained that in situations of confinement, reproductive work performed by women is intensified, as hygiene and family care requires greater attention. “This increases stress for women everywhere. This is even worse when teleworking is quickly implemented, a deregulated modality pushed by those in power, that is, governments and economic powers, without safeguarding any labor rights”, she alerted.

Espinoza also highlighted the increase in gender-based violence due to confinement measures and how this should be understood as workplace violence. Thus, it is necessary to work to pressure the countries of the Interamerican region to ratify Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work of the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In her final comments, Verónica Montúfar noted the, “importance of renewing and radicalizing ourselves. It is time that this committee, in addition to being a space for reflection, is also a space for policy work within PSI”.

Jillian Bartlett concluded by saying that the ‘new normal’ must be, “one in which resources are shared, in which public services remain in public hands and in which the value of the social contributions of all workers increases”.

AREAS OF WORK ESTABLISHED BY THE REGIONAL WOMEN'S COMMITTEE

• Strategy:

a) It is time to renew and radicalize OURSELVES, to raise the gender perspective in the context of and in response to the Emergency response as a function of the “New Normal” that COVID19 presents to the world, to take up the agenda again at a global level and organize ourselves within the context of the global policies that PSI has proposed to respond to the crisis.”

b) To make this an opportunity for transformations that imply a new world order/new normal in terms of equality.

• Women’s work:

a) Scope: Reproductive (care) work and productive work. Work in frontline sectors in the day-to-day response to the pandemic with predominantly female labour and essential public service sectors.

b) Conditions: Extension of the working day, effects on mental health, gender wage gap, horizontal and vertical gender segregation in the workplace.

c) New modalities: teleworking and physical distancing.

d) Transversality of gender violence in the world of work: education, pressure for the ratification of C190 and implementation of the provisions of the agreement where possible through collective agreements and direct social dialogue.

• Quality public services that transform gender relations:

a) Full public ownership; a guarantee for the full exercise of women's human rights.

b) Access to public sexual and reproductive health care services for women during the emergency.

c) Access to public services for care, prevention and containment of gender-based violence during the emergency.

• Global economy:

a) Taxation

b) International commerce