Gender equality and international labour standards

Training materials on gender equality and international labour standards have been developed in Arabic. The materials are being utilized in workshops at the Arab regional, sub-regional (Gulf and Levant), and country levels (West Bank and Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Kuwait). In addition to tripartite constituents, participants in the workshops have included national women’s machineries, human rights and women’s rights organizations and media institutions.

Pay equity

The methodology developed to promote pay equity includes national situation assessments, policy briefs, policy awareness workshops, and the formation of a national committee on pay equity with research, training, advocacy, and legislative change components. The ILO’s Gender Neutral Job Evaluation Guide has also been translated into Arabic. To date Jordan is the only country in the region where the methodology has been initiated. A sub-regional project has been drafted, and search for funding is underway. There has been interest from Egypt and West Bank to be included in the sub-regional initiative. 

Decent work for domestic workers 

The methodology developed includes situation assessments and institutional mapping, policy briefs, policy awareness workshops, formation of national advisory committee, training of labour inspectors, advice on MoL hotline development, development of standard unified contract (in 12 languages), information guide for domestic workers (in 12 languages), frequently asked questions sheets, documentary films (Maid in Lebanon I and II), inputs in the legislative process for drafting of decrees and law specific to domestic workers. The main country of engagement has been Lebanon, although research has been undertaken and engagements have been under way in a number of other countries of the region including Yemen and Syria. An Arab trade union workshop has been held in which participants issued a declaration in support of decent work for domestic workers.

Gender equality and workers’ rights in the informal economy 

The methodology developed includes expert group meetings, regional overviews of social protection and statistics, country-level studies, policy briefs, policy awareness workshops, training, and dissemination in research networks. The methodology has been initiated at the regional level and is at different stages of progress in different countries, with more engagement to date in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and Syria.

Gender mainstreaming in labour statistics 

The methodology developed includes situation assessments, survey of institutional stakeholders, policy briefs, user-producer dialogues, and training on gender-responsive labour statistics. To date the methodology has been initiated only in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, although there was been engagement in other countries such as Lebanon, and collaboration at the regional level with ESCWA.

Women entrepreneurship development (WED) 

A series of ILO WED tools have been translated, pilot-tested and adapted to the regional context. These tools (including the Get Ahead Gender and Entrepreneurship Together and the Women Entrepreneurship Development Capacity Building Guide) have been used in Iraq, Yemen, West Bank and Gaza Strip, Lebanon, Egypt and Sudan successfully. UNDP Libya and Syria have also utilized the materials via ILO regional trainers.

Rural women cooperatives  

The methodology developed includes situation assessments and institutional mapping, policy briefs, policy round tables, technical committee meetings for training material development, training sessions for cooperative support institutions and women cooperative leaders. A number of ILO materials have been utilized including the Business Group Formation Guide, MATCOM and value chain analysis for the training. To date the methodology has been used in Yemen as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Gender mainstreaming in technical and vocational educational and training (TVET)  

The methodology developed includes situation assessments and institutional mapping, policy briefs, policy round tables, technical committee meetings for training material development, training sessions for administrators and trainers of TVET institutions, campaign materials for parents, students and employers (TV spots, poster, documentary and brochures), and action briefs. Materials are available for Yemen and are under development for the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Participatory gender audit 

The ILO methodology has been translated, pilot-tested and adapted to the Arab regional context. Extensive work has been undertaken in Yemen as well as in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, where gender audits of the tripartite constituents have formulated recommendations for improving their gender-responsiveness. There has been interest expressed for the application of the methodology from GCC countries as well as Jordan.