Arab Countries – Gender Equality in Work – ILO Tools

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.