A project specially dedicated to empowering

and enlightening adolescent female workers

and job seekers

http://dfl.wageindicator.org
Aims and Objectives
DECISIONS FOR LIFE aims at:

 Promoting Gender Equality and Empowering Women.

and more specifically on:

 Promoting formal employment and equal opportunities

at the labour market.
 This project targets adolescent
(defined as women aged 15-29)
female workers and job seekers in
8 large occupational groups in
the service sector.

The 8 large occupational groups are

 front office
travel agency
call centre workers /
intermediaries in
operators receptionists
tourism
in hotels

sales persons
housekeepers in
secretaries and cashiers in
hotels
retail

bookkeepers IT programmers
Why does this project target adolescent women in
these service sectors ?

These service sectors:

• employ the bulk of working women in the age group

of 15-29.
• are growing in (almost) all the developing countries.
The project’s main
objective
 future
 
employment family building
opportunities

To raise
awareness
amongst
these young
adolescent
female workers
concerning
career work-family
possibilities balance
Why raise these
awareness ?
The vast majority of the women in this group
will set up a family within the foreseeable
future.

They will then face hard decisions about

continuing employment and finding solutions
for maternity leave and childcare.
When setting up a family, the chances that
women will quit their jobs due to termination of
contract or forced dismissal are higher than in
other age groups.

The lifetime decisions of adolescent women

determine not only their individual future, but
also that of society, as their choices are key to
the demographic and workforce development of
the nation.
 DECISIONS
FOR LIFE
aims to support these
women in making informed
decisions as the expectations
from this target group are multi-fold!

Personal
Economic Professional Social (Household,
Familylife)
 Here we sight some examples of the earnings of this target group
and shall choose South Africa to demonstrate with.

However big or small the amount may seem, yet it makes a significant
contribution for one’s family !

Salary per Month Salary per Year

Profession

Call centre operators R 3514 to R 39122 R 42198 to R 469829

Secretaries R 4422 to R 16390 R 53110 to R 196835

Bookkeepers R 7219 to R 23259 R 86693 to R 279323

IT programmers R 7978 to R 55517 R 95810 to R 666719

Office Receptionists R 5087 to R 11097 R 61091 to R 133269

The Salary Check assumes work as 40hr per week.
This project focuses on
14 developing countries
The southern African countries The CIS countries

Angola Azerbaijan

Botswana Belarus

Malawi Kazakhstan

Mozambique Ukraine

South Africa
14 developing
Zambia countries
Zimbabwe

The South American country The Asian countries

Brazil
India

Indonesia
 Why only in these 14 developing countries

?
? ?
? ? ?
?

It is estimated that in these selected 14 developing

countries, some 10 to 12 million female adolescents aged
15-29 are working in the service sectors concentrated in
the urban areas where Internet access can be easily had
and so we have more chances to reach-out to them in
massive numbers.
How do we plan to do all
this ?
 DECISIONS FOR LIFE
deploys a ‘dual approach’ to
reach out for as many
adolescent women as
possible in the 8 large
occupational groups in the
service sector.

The popular ‘OFFLINE approach’

&
An ‘ONLINE approach’
 This means…

FI RST ,

trade unions who have huge experiences in

campaigning are to campaign through the
channels at their disposal; aiming to reach 10,000
women in face-to-face meetings and training
sessions, and through dissemination of offline
promotion materials.
 This means…

SECO ND,

the Internet is an efficient medium to target these

occupational groups, aiming to reach 1,000,000
women online with attractive web tools and
content.
Online tools
Decent Work Check
www.decentworkcheck.org

A tool with a check-list to

see whether your job,
salary and social security
are in accordance with
National laws and
International conventions.
Partner Check
A game inviting young
women, to imagine and
consider several real life
situations.

Economic, professional,
personal life scenarios
that could take place in
their life according to the
life-partners they would
choose.
Salary Check
A tool that enables you to get
an idea of the salary
colleagues earn for a similar
job or position.

The resulting salary indication

values are real statistics after
having conducted a stretch of
salary surveys.
Women’s rights at the work-place

These can be found in the DFL website and the

Wageindicator websites, like Mywage.org or Meusalario.org,
enlightening women on topics such as:

 maternity leave rights

 day-care help for the working mother
 laws and tips against sexual harassment
 etc…
Best-place-to-work tool

Will be online in the near future …..

 Inventories underlying these tools and
checks will also be undertaken.

Many of these tools, checkers and other online materials

made available on the website, are also in downloadable
form for offline use to target women who do not have
access to the Internet.
A screen-shot of the home page
The International 'team
partners' behind this
Project Management
 Project Management

ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) in Brussels

WageIndicator Affiliates Global Union University of

Foundation in UNI in Geneva Amsterdam
Amsterdam AIAS
which already in the the umbrella which
has websites on 14 countries organization of specializes in
work and wages unions in the worldwide
in 45 countries services inventories
industries underlying the
worldwide decent work
agenda, wages
and companies’
industrial
relations
systems
 Together,
these partners
compose a
supervisory
management board
that convenes on a
regular basis during
the project.
The Wageindicator website’s presence in the 14 countries:

Angola www.Meusalario.org/Angola
Botswana www.Mywage.org/Botswana
Malawi www.Mywage.org/Malawi
Mozambique www.Meusalario.org/Mozambique
South Africa www.Mywage.co.za
Zambia www.Mywage.org/Zambia
Zimbabwe www.Mywage.org/Zimbabwe

India www.Paycheck.in
Indonesia www.Gajimu.com

Azerbaijan www.Mojazarplata.org/Azerbaijan
Belarus www.Mojazarplata.org/Belarus
Kazakhstan www.Mojazarplata.org/Kazakhstan
Ukraine www.Mojazarplata.org/Ukraine

Brazil www.Meusalario.org.br
Regional Project Partners – AFRICA
LRS - Labour research Service – Capetown (LRA) www.lrs.org.za

Trade Unions in Southern Africa:

South Africa: Confederation of South African Workers' Unions (CONSAWU)

www.consawu.co.za

Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU)

www.cosatu.org.za

Federation of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA)

www.fedusa.org.za

National Council of Trade Unions (NACTU)

www.nactu.org.za
Trade Unions in Southern Africa:

Angola: União Nacional dos Trabalhadores de Angola (UNTA-CS)

www.unta-cs.com

Botswana: Botswana Federation of Trade Unions (BFTU)

Malawi: Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU)

Mozambique: Organizaçâo dos Trabalhadores de Moçambique (OTM)

www.otm.org.mz

Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)

www.zctu.co.zw

Zambia: Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)

Email: zctu@microlink.zm
CIS Countries:

Azerbaijan: Azerbaycan Hemkarlar Ittifaqlari Konfederasiyasi (AHIK)

www.ahik.org Email: ahik@azerin.com

Belarus: Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions (BKDP)

www.bkdp.org

Kazakhstan: Federation of Trade Unions of the Republic of Kazakhstan

(FTUK) www.fprk.kz

Ukraine: All-Ukrainian Union of Workers' Solidarity (VOST)

email: vostky2@i.com.ua

Confederation of Free Trade Unions of Ukraine (KVPU)

www.kvpu.org.ua

Federation of Trade Unions of Ukraine (FPU)

www.fpsu.org.ua/
Asian Countries:

India: Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS)

www.members.rediff.com/hms

Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC)

www.intuc.net

Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA)

www.sewa.org

Institute of marketing and management (IMM)

www.immindia.com

INITES Professional

Indonesia: Konfederasi Serikat Buruh Sejahtera Indonesia (KSBSI)

www.ksbsi.or.id/news.php
South-American Country:

Brazil: Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT)

www.cut.org.br

Força Sindical (FS)

www.fsindical.org.br

União Geral dos Trabalhadores (UGT)

www.ugt.org.br

Departamento Intersindical de Estatística e Estudos

Socioeconomicos (DIEESE)
www.dieese.org.br
 Who finances the
DECISIONS FOR LIFE
project and what is the
project duration ?
DECISIONS FOR LIFE is awarded a MDG3 grant from:

 ‘The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs’, in support

of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals
no 3 (MDG3):
‘Promote Gender Equality and Empower Women’.

The focus is particularly on MDG3.5:

 ‘Promoting formal employment and equal

opportunities at the labour market’.
This is one of the four MDG3 priority areas
identified in the Dutch Ministry’s MDG3 Fund.
DECISIONS FOR LIFE runs from
October 2008 until June 2011
How can you help to make
DECISIONS FOR LIFE
successful in your
country?
To spread the message of this project, our primary
aim is:

The organising of young women workers wherever

they might be. Our Affiliates and Federations are the
tools to do this, but not an end in itself.
Where do you begin ?

Trade Union Campaigns

&
Meetings
 Industries, factories
Government and private
company offices
Call centres

Market places Where else can you

begin this project
awareness? Hospitals

Universities
Shopping malls
The hospitality sector (hotels, guest
houses, restaurants, pubs, bars, etc…)
Clubs, dancing’s
TOGETHER …

http://dfl.wageindicator.org