PSI Young Workers-Southeast Asia is in solidarity with the celebration of International Women’s Day this March 8, 2020.

We honor all women and strongly support the call for equality and end to gender-based violence and all forms of discrimination within and outside the workplace. We honor all women workers, most notably, the valiant and indefatigable health workers who fight at the frontline of the global battle against the new corona virus disease, COVID-2019.

Fighting for their rights is an everyday struggle for women particularly at the workplace. Division of labor along gender lines has resulted in deprivation of women’s rights at work – less pay, less protection, less benefits – undermining the capabilities of women, which were not recognized over time. We have forgotten the pivotal role of women in the society and their valuable contribution in the history of labor. The patriarchal system, which is manifested in the workplace, along with other institutions that are perpetrators of violence against women, prolong the struggle of women to occupy spaces and develop themselves as an equal part of the society.

We strongly support the call to end gender-based violence and end all forms of violence against women within and outside the workplace. We recognize the long-standing struggle of women to fight for women’s rights and emancipation from all forms of violence and discrimination. We salute all women who have risen and fought back to win their rights and cement the spaces they have struggled to occupy from the past up to today.

Gender-based violence, a reflection of unequal power relations between men and women in society and at work, is a serious human rights violation. PSI has started pushing for the ratification ILO C190 that will end to gender-based violence in the world of work!

According to ITUC in its cooperation work with the International Labor Organization, 35 percent of women worldwide have experienced violence whether physical and/or sexual. Between 40 and 50 percent of women experience unwanted sexual advances, physical contact or other forms of sexual harassment at work.

On this International Women’s Day 2020, we honor all women who have fought for their rights so that the women of this generation, including those within the PSI Young Workers group, would not have to suffer the same indignity and discrimination. We vow to continue the fight for a just and equitable society for all.