Ei-iE

The Education International Latin America (EILA) network of women education workers (RED Trabajadoras) held its Subregional Meeting for Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic on 2 and 3 December in San José, Costa Rica.

The meeting began with welcome messages from Sonia Alesso, President of the EILA Regional Committee, Fátima Silva, member of the network’s policy team, Yorgina Alvarado and Isabel Olaya, Vice Presidents of the EILA Regional Committee, and Education International Global Executive Board member Gilda Montero. Combertty Rodríguez and Gabriela Bonilla from the EILA Regional Office also welcomed the participants.

Sonia Alesso reminded the participants that unions are faced with “a very big challenge: that of training more and more women in trade union leadership, not only on gender issues but also on aspects such as social dialogue or the trade union policies of our organisations.”

In her opening remarks, Gabriela Bonilla explained that the women’s network is essential to strengthening trade unions. She also insisted that strong unions are those that manage to represent and mobilise their rank and file, and in the case of education unions this mainly involves the representation of women, who make up 70% of their members.

Combatting hate speech

The meeting featured a presentation on “Information disorders:  disinformation, hate speech and digital violence”, by academic Larissa Tristán, director of the Communications Research Centre of the University of Costa Rica.

This session enabled the network to reflect on the types of hate speech that are predominant in each of their countries and that particularly affect women in politics.

The speaker provided insights into where this hate speech comes from and how it is manifested, while participants discussed some of the actions we can take as trade unions to address them.

Strengthening our trade unions

At the end of the first day, participants put forward strategies aimed at strengthening their unions using the tools of the network of women education workers and EILA.

They talked about the need to convey what was discussed at the meeting to their trade unions and, above all, to share it with the rank-and-file members to ensure progress on gender equality issues in each of their countries.

Other issues discussed on the first day of the meeting included the role played by women in trade unions, the value of hidden care work, and the need for gender-responsive collective bargaining agreements.

The two-day event was attended by women from Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, and Colombia.

Enhancing gender policies in trade union organisations

During the breakout sessions that followed, each group discussed what they were looking to build in the gender policy of their organisations and what strategies they were pursuing as part of the women’s network.

Issues raised during this discussion included the need for each country to strengthen its women workers’ networks at national level, the importance of updating gender policies, training for women workers in education, and the need for new communication strategies.

Participants also spoke about strengthening support for retired people, using digital platforms to enhance political participation, and the importance of proposing innovative strategies in countries trapped in a context of repression.

Finally, the participants stressed the importance of improving the way these issues are addressed at the grassroots level, of bringing together young women and women with permanent contracts, and of fully implementing institutional gender policies.

Sonia Alesso underlined that the network’s future work will focus on the comprehensive training of women in member organisations and on incorporating care work and other gender issues into collective bargaining.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the following Education International member organisations: COLPROSUMAH and COLPEDAGOGOSH, Honduras; ANDES 21 de Junio, El Salvador; SEC and ANDE, Costa Rica; MPU, Panama; CGTEN-ANDEN, Nicaragua, and FECODE, Colombia.

The conclusions of these sessions tie in with the proposals put forward by the network of women education workers from the Southern Cone, who held their subregional meeting on the 4th and 5th of November.

The event ended with a meeting of the EILA Regional Committee members present, including its President, Sonia Alesso (CTERA-Argentina), Vice Presidents, Yorgina Alvarado (SEC-Costa Rica) and Isabel Olaya (FECODE-Colombia), and Fátima Silva (CNTE/Brazil), member of the network’s policy team. The roadmap for EILA’s work in 2025 was discussed at this meeting.