European women workers extract digital lessons amidst COVID-19

The European Regional Women’s Committee (ERWC) held its annual statutory meeting online on 26 October and extracted valuable lessons on how women workers can respond to the pandemic. 

The online meeting focused on the role of women in the global recovery from the COVID-19 crisis, various experiences in pursuing trade union and women work amidst the pandemic, and policy proposals for BWI’s Global Congress next year. 

One important lesson identified by the participants was for women workers to develop strong capacities in the digital world. “New technologies are now part of our day-by-day life and work. Our new digital skills will help us strengthen our trade union work during and after the pandemic,” said Lesia Husak, ERWC member from Ukraine.

This was affirmed by ERWC Chair Rita Schiavi, who said that online meetings and other digital platforms allowed many women workers to meet regularly and bring more participants to different trade union events despite the pandemic. 

Schiavi said that while the statutory meeting was the first one convened by ERWC this year, women workers in Pan Europe have already met numerous times. “Through these various gatherings, we discussed the impact of digitalization, climate change and new technologies on the nature of our work in BWI. From these, we extracted important lessons which we intend to push forward and include in our strategic plan as we imagine the future of world of work,” Schiavi said.