Short report on the situation of trade union women’s structures of the Network

1. Short report on the situation of trade union women’s structures of the Network based on a questionnaire disseminated within the ITUC-PERC Women’s Network Agnieszka Ghinararu

2. Aims of the short questionnaire • to see what is the general situation of the TU women’s structures and in which forms they are organized • to use the outcomes during the 13th Women’s School • 26 collected questionnaires out of 30 organizations present during the School

3. Who took part? 26 organizations from 19 CEE and NIS countries Albania: BSPSH, KSSH Bulgaria: CITUB, Podkrepa Czech Rep.: CMKOS Croatia: NHS Estonia: EAKL Georgia: GTUC Hungary: LIGA, MSZOSZ Kazakhstan: FTURK Kyrgyzstan: FTUK Latvia: LBAS Lithuania: LDF, LPSK, Solidarumas Macedonia: KSS, UNASM Moldova: CNSM Montenegro: CTUM Poland: Solidarnosc Romania: BNS, Cartel-Alfa Russia: FNPR Serbia: Nezavisnost Ukraine: FPU

4. Organizational form of women’s structures a. women’s network – 6 / 26 b. women’s committee-national level – 8 / 26 c. equality committee-national level – 6 /26 d. other form of organization: 6 /26 • LPSK Women’s Center • Solidarnosc: structure based on individual membership with regional internal composition • FPU Council’s standing commission • BNS, CITUB and Podkrepa have both: Network and National WC

5. Legal personality Legal personality which allows women's structure to act on your own for example: ability to submit project proposals to different donors, cooperate with different institutions, etc. YES- 10 /26

6. Political position of women’s structures (1) • Women’s structure is mentioned in a statute of confederation in • 20 cases out of 26

7. Political position of women’s structures (2) – reserved seats • 21/26 women’s structures have reserved seats in decisions making bodies • in majority of cases (13 ) it is 1 seat in 1(or two) decision making body • the other varies from 2 up to 27!? • In 21 cases they have full voting rights; • 2 – advisory position

8. Political position of women’s structures (3) – influence Other means of influencing the decision making bodies of confederations: submitting proposals of decisions and statements (8 answers) lobbing among the delegates and other leaders (5 answers)

9. Dissemination of information about own activities and issues of interest • confederation’s website - 24 • e-mail - 23 • own website - 8 • regular bulletin of our structure - 4 • other: • - mass media; • - Facebook (!) of the Women Committee of GTUC; • - own newsletter, and newsletter of the MSZOSZ; - mailing list; • - Newspaper “Solidarumas”; • - Meetings of the Committee and decision making bodies/ web site of the Confederation will be active soon/; • - various events (round tables, seminars).

10. Financial situation of the women’s structure • Women’s structures’ activities are financed by their confederations in 17/26 cases • 11 cases - regular, annual budget • 9 cases - ad hoc financial support • Other financial sources were listed as well: • - applying to different foundations; • - projects (5 answers) • - ESF (2 answers) • - F. Ebert Foundation (2 answers) • - funding from branches • - membership fees; • - ILO • - partnerships with NGOs • - donor organizations (2 answers)

11. The most successful action/activity of your women’s structure in the last 12 months Educational activities Campaigns Cooperation with NGOs, institutions, etc. Successful lobbying governmental bodies to influence (amend/adopt new) law 8 March activities and other celebrations Projects

12. Major obstacles in functioning of women’s structures Lack of (or not sufficient) funds Lack of human resources Not many (young) active women and passiveness of those in women's structures – do we know why? Lack of understanding that women’s issues are trade union issues Not enough educational activities for women Small number of women in decision making bodies Crisis