The General Conference provided the opportunity for women activists to meet and discuss how workers' education for women could be promoted. Recommendations were accepted by the Conference that IFWEA undertakes activities specifically aimed at strengthening the involvement of women in education programmes and IFWEA structures. Saranel Benjamin from Workers' College in Durban, South Africa argues that this is essential to the growth and future direction of IFWEA.

The General Conference saw 116 participants come from every corner of the globe to discuss the challenges facing workers’ education. The broader objective was to address these challenges within the framework of internationalism and globalisation. Yet there was a distinct underlying theme that was directly related to women workers as well as the participation of women in IFWEA.

The number of women at the conference presented one of the first challenges to IFWEA. Of the 116 delegates, 38 were women (33% of the total number). Whilst this was unprecedented in the history of IFWEA, it raises question about who is participating in IFWEA programmes from the affiliates. The IFWEA Executive elected at the Conference poses the same challenge to IFWEA. There were only three women elected out of 19 seats. Seven women were elected as substitute members.

In order for IFWEA to progress and grow as an organisation, it needs to transform itself to meet the needs of its members and affiliates. The comparatively small number of women elected onto the Executive is in sharp contrast to the increasing number of women willing to play an active role in IFWEA. There is no official mechanism within the organisation which actively promotes and integrates women into activities and structures. By not having the issue of women on its agenda, IFWEA also runs the risk of excluding women’s issues from its education and training programmes and therefore not raising a general consciousness on women’s issues. The consequence of this is that IFWEA fails to influence the policies of its affiliates – it fails to create a gender awareness that becomes an integral part of education programmes at all levels of the organisation. 

The effects of globalisation on women workers are harsh. They are the most vulnerable to taking jobs in Export Processing Zones or elsewhere where working conditions and the minimum wage are largely circumvented. It is a crucial task of workers’ education to include the issue of globalisation in every education and training programme. But more importantly, the issue of gender discrimination has to be raised to a level where it is always a part of our consciousness. It must become an automatic part of the programmes which we run. IFWEA has a role to play in promoting the global oppression against women as a political issue around which support and activism is needed.

Creating an IFWEA Women's Platform

Against this two-fold backdrop, the women participants together with a few male participants, got together at the Conference. We discussed how to actively improve the participation of women in IFWEA. It was the first gathering of what later became known as the IFWEA Women’s Platform, a decision that solicited unanimous support. The forum agreed that there was a definite need to raise the profile of women in IFWEA and that it was the affiliates' task to drive this process. The Women’s Platform would provide the necessary co-ordination, structure and coherence.

The forum first dealt with integrating women’s issues into the educational programmes of IFWEA and influencing the programmes of its affiliates. In this respect, it was felt that affiliates need to promote the International Study Circles among women in the different regions. In addition, the content of ISC education materials as well as the design of ISC programmes need to integrate the issue of gender discrimination and raise gender consciousness.

Beyond ISCs, regional and international seminars need to be facilitated which specifically deal with the impact of globalisation on women workers and the implications for workers' education. For example, how do we develop the skills capacity of women workers to challenge the effects of globalisation?

The meeting identified IFWEA’s magazine “Workers’ Education" as a tool to raise consciousness. It was suggested that a special edition of  “Workers’ Education” be dedicated to the role of women in the international labour movement. It was also proposed that the magazine lifts the profile of women active in workers’ education and IFWEA activities. Affiliates which run programmes specifically for women workers should have their programmes publicised.

The most pressing need for the Platform is to build the networking capacity and solidarity of women in IFWEA. We felt that in order for this to occur, there should be a concrete starting point. It was decided that this should be an exchange of materials and programmes relating to women’s education. Rather than this happening randomly, it was proposed that the IFWEA Projects Office becomes a central collection point of materials and that the IFWEA Project Officer maintain and circulate a directory of resources available for women's education.

Developing a new culture

Whilst these recommendations were not adopted as a formal resolution, they represent a milestone for IFWEA. Women in the organisation are now starting to claim their place in a more organised and concerted manner. New research and statistics being churned out at an alarming rate, refer primarily to women workers as being the main victims of neoliberalism. The women members of IFWEA also recognise the crisis facing women workers worldwide. Without a strategic intervention from IFWEA to generate a consciousness around women’s oppression, workers' education will not effectively equip the international labour movement to formulate strategies in response to globalisation.

The Women’s Platform opens new opportunities for IFWEA, including becoming more representative of its membership. It had more women at its conference this year than in any other General Conference. It was also the first time that the women of IFWEA organised themselves with the specific objective of challenging and changing the dominance of men in the organisation. The Platform also offers the chance to improve the quality and impact of our education programmes by including issues related to the oppression of women. The object is to rejuvenate an activism that can be used to organise workers globally.

If women’s issues are taken seriously in IFWEA, it may find itself in a very pivotal advocacy position with the labour movements internationally. But for IFWEA to make an impact, it needs to start inside itself and begin to redefine its culture, vision and values.