Mali: A crucial step towards equality for men and women in Mali trade unions

The success of this approach also lies in the participatory and inclusive nature of the process of the gender audit, which was piloted with the expertise of CNV Internationaal and its Africa office. This approach has led to a strong sense of ownership for the audit process, not only from the women’s committee, but especially from the leaders.

One key tool in this process has been the ‘Gender Inequality Map,’ which visually showed the differences between men and women in our unions. This Map has provided valuable information, allowing us to make concrete changes, such as adopting gender and age differentiated attendance lists for our Congresses and General Assemblies. These lists now also include quotas for women and youth participation.

The leaders of both organisations are now planning to include quotas for women and young people in decisionmaking bodies at all levels of their affiliated organisations. Further, they are adopting an internal gender policy with mechanisms for preventing and addressing gender-based violence. They have also allocated a substantial amount of budget to supporting women’s and youth committees in their unions.