We are a movement! – women trade unionists

"We are a movement, not just a structure!"

This was the statement issued by women trade unionists who attended last 5 September BWI  Africa and Middle East’s 17^th Regional Women’s Committee Meeting. The women trade union leaders called on their fellow women workers to join hands in expanding spaces inside and outside trade unions to ensure their broad participation and exercise of leadership.

The online meeting, moderated by BWI RWC Chairperson Fozert Mugabe, featured lively discussions on women-related resolutions and statutory revisions enacted during BWI's 5th World Congress in Spain. The gathering provided an opportunity to discuss global and regional reports, strategies, and activities planned for the region's female trade unionists until the end of the year. It also approved the updated regional women action plan for 2023-2026, as well as the regional women calendar, and reiterated the women trade union leaders' commitment to a just transition from the climate crisis.

Making her first appearance at a regional women’s meeting outside of the Latin American region, BWI International Women’s Committee Chairperson Marta Pujadas congratulated the RWC for fulfilling its statutory duties and conveyed her well wishes to the women workers of Africa and the Middle East. Following that, BWI Regional Representative Crecentia Mofokeng conveyed the warm messages from BWI General Secretary Ambet Yuson, BWI Regional President Abdel Monem El Gamal, and other BWI regional and global leaders. Mofokeng underscored the effects of climate change on women workers, stating that women trade unionists must take action to address women workers' vulnerabilities to food insecurity, illness, indebtedness, internal displacement, and forced migration, all of which, she said, are aggravated by climate change.