Resolution on Women Workers in the Informal Economy

Adopted at the Asian workshop on: 'Issues Facing Women Workers in Informal Work' held in Bangkok on November 8, 2001, organized by Committee for Asian Women and HomeNet(Thailand)

We are representatives form 11 Asian countries representing women and men workers involved in different typed of work situation ?home based work, street vending, domestic work, agricultural work, handicraft work, scrap and rag-picking, small-scale factory work, part-time work, causal and contract work, construction work, among others.  We are from 12 trade unions, 2membership-based organizations, 8 NGOs and 3 networks.

A large proportion of the workforce is involved in the informal economy. Informal work contributes socially useful services and a significant proportion of global income. Official statistics indicate that the share of informal (non-agricultural) work is 45-85% in Latin America to 45-85% in different parts of Asia. The contribution of the income that comes form informal work dot national income amounts to between 30-60% in different countries. Most new jobs are being created in the informal economy. This growth in the informal economy is directly related to the acceleration of the process of globalization. These processes of globalization have affected both the workers in the formal and the informal economy. Workers in the formal economy have been increasingly reduced to the status of workers in the informal economy. This crowding into the informal economy has rendered workers in the informal economy even more vulnerable and with even less resources.

The conditions of workers in the informal economy are characterized by not just abysmal working conditions, but very often also by their appalling living conditions. This is even more true of women. The conditions of work of the workers in the informal economy include: non-recognition of the work and of the workers in informal employment, very low incomes; very long hours of work; insecure work; unsafe and dangerous work; no benefits; no leave or holidays; no accident or any other benefits; sexual and other harassment; no child care.

Apart fro invisibility, poor working and living conditions, and the absence of social protection, workers in the informal economy also suffer from a severe lack of access to productive assets and other resources, land, credit, marketing and technological assistance, education and training.

We, the assembled representatives, resolve to:
l        Organize and support each other in our organizing efforts;
l        Act in solidarity on common issues;
l        Build public awareness and visibility of the workers we represent;
l        Lobby public authorities and other institutions in society for our common interest;
l        Strengthen the capacity of our organizations through appropriate education programs;
l        Collate and disseminate best practices of strategies of organizations.