Composition of delegations and panels
the ILO experience
• NORMATIVE BACKGROUND
• MONITORING
• LESSONS LEARNED
• NEXT STEPS
Normative background
 Article 389 of the 1919 Treaty of Versailles (now article 3.2 of
the Constitution)

When questions specially affecting women are to be considered by the
Conference, one at least of the advisers should be a woman
 1975 ILC Resolution concerning a Plan of action with a view
to promoting equality of opportunity and treatment for
women workers

call on member States to ensure appointment of women in delegations on the
same basis and by the same standards as men
 1981 ILC Resolution concerning ILO action for women
workers

call on member States to secure the widest possible participation of women at
the ILOC on the same footing as men
 1990 ECOSOC Resolution E/RES/1990/15

recommended targets for increasing the proportion of women in leadership
positions: 30% by 1995 and 50% by 2000
Normative background (cont.)
 1991 ILC Resolution concerning action for women workers

call on governments, employers’ and workers’ organisations to include more
women in their delegations to the Conference and other major ILO meetings.
 2009 ILC Resolution concerning gender equality at the heart
of decent work

call on the ILO to improve through concrete measures the representation of
women at all levels in the ILO, in all ILO meetings, and develop a set of gender
indicators
 2012 Report of the ILC Credentials Committee noting a
decrease in the participation of women

Request to the Governing Body to consider measures to improve the situation
 2012 Follow-up decision of the Governing Body


Request more detailed reporting on the participation of women
Establish a reporting mechanism through annual requests to States below the
30% target
Monitoring (evolution)
 Basic monitoring of women participation in ILC since





1982 (following 1981 ILC resolution), and since 1990s for
ILO regional meetings
Annual Office web posted report on Gender balance in
the ILC since 2001
Special section of ILC Credentials Committee report on
proportion of women in delegations since 2013
(following decrease in 2012)
DG’s request to selected member States since 2013
30% target reached at ILC in 2015
Breakdown by country since 2016
Scope of monitoring (current)
 Credentials committee & subsequent Office report
 Overall proportion of women and men, including 10-year
trends
 Breakdown by group (Government - Employers - Workers)
 Breakdown by category (in leadership positions and other
positions)
 Breakdown by country (and by region)
 Reporting mechanism for countries < 30% target
 Reasons for not having met the target
 Measures taken to address the situation and to achieve
ultimate parity goal
 Clinics with selected countries to analyse the situation
Monitoring sample 1
Proportion of women by group
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
2006
2007
2008
Governments
2009
2010
2011
Employers
2012
2013
Workers
2014
2015
2016
Conference total
Monitoring sample 2
Proportion of women by function
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Governments
Titular delegates
Employers
Substitute delegates
Workers
Technical advisers
Monitoring sample 3
Proportion of women by region
2016
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
23.7
Africa
23.4
22.6
20.3
23.9
23.8
24.5
29.5
Arab States
13.0
12.8
11.7
14.0
22.8
18.8
Asia and the Pacific
21.3
23.9
24.6
21.1
24.8
27.7
23.5
38.4
Europe
36.3
35.6
35.8
30.9
35.0
32.2
36.1
38.6
38.3
33.8
Americas
32.2
34.0
34.1
30.2
Total
27.6
27.9
26.8
27.2
29.7
29.8
Monitoring sample 4
Proportion of women by country and group
Some lessons learned
 Success factors
 Gender equality as part of Organization’s core mandate
 Senior management drive and support
 Dedicated ressources
 Need for improvement
 No progress without indicators and close monitoring
 Impact analysis of national policies and incentives
 Need for better communication of best practices and training
opportunities
Next steps
 Beyond the 30% target - moving towards gender
parity in major ILO meetings
 Expanding the data collection and monitoring to all
ILO meetings
 Start monitoring gender dimension in
panels/committees
 Momentum for further action by 2019 in the context
of the «women at work» ILO centenary initiative
Useful links
 Last Credentials Committee report:
http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/--relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_486711.pdf
 Last Office report:
http://www.ilo.org/gender/Informationresources/WCMS_438292/la
ng--en/index.htm
 Women at work centenary initiative:
http://www.ilo.org/global/about-theilo/history/centenary/WCMS_480301/lang--en/index.htm
 ILO Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch:
http://www.ilo.org/gender/lang--en/index.htm