On March 8, 2020, hundreds of thousands of women joined the Women Global Strike calling for decent work, gender justice and women’s human rights amid the deepening economic inequality, multiple-interconnected crisis revealed by the COVID-19 pandemic, social injustice because of corporate capitalism, patriarchy, militarism and neo colonialism. It was a historic moment. Women withdrew their labour —from the workplace or from the household—spoke out and joined actions and marches in a collective gesture to resist the systemic ills that perpetuate women’s oppression and subordination.
This report is the result of Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development’s (APWLD) Labour Feminist Participatory Action Research (FPAR) programme conducted with/by 11 women-led labour organisations in nine countries in Asia. It features the human rights situation of women workers in Asia, including deficits and challenges related to decent work. From the perspective of women workers themselves, this report narrates the conditions and struggles of women workers representing various sectors and communities in the region. It documents how women, through the Labour FPAR, are building a movement to reclaim their right to decent work and a living wage – a framework that can ensure rights-based, just and dignified work in the world of work and living wages for workers and their families.
Download the full regional report here.
