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FOURTH ITEM ON THE AGENDA

Effect to be given to the recommendations of
the Tripartite Meeting on Breaking through
the Glass Ceiling: Women in Management
(Geneva, 15-19 December 1997)

1.  The Tripartite Meeting on Breaking through the Glass Ceiling: Women in Management was held in Geneva from 15 to 19 December 1997, and was chaired by Ms. M. Rozas Velásquez (Worker member of the Governing Body, Chile).

2.  The Meeting had before it a report entitled Breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management, prepared by the International Labour Office.

3.  The Meeting unanimously adopted the following conclusions and resolutions:

1. conclusions on breaking through the glass ceiling: Women in management;
2. resolution concerning areas of ILO future activity in the financial and professional services sector;
3. resolution concerning measures to be taken by the ILO for the advancement of women in the financial and professional services sector;
4. resolution concerning the promotion of gender equality in all ILO policies and programmes regarding the financial and professional services sector.

4.  These texts, together with a summary of the proceedings of the Meeting, appear in the Note on the proceedings, which is appended to the present paper.¹ In accordance with the Committee's earlier decision, the Note on the proceedings has already been distributed to the participants. The texts call, inter alia, for certain action by the ILO, as detailed below.

5.  The role of the ILO in relation to improving the situation of women in management is dealt with in paragraphs 34 to 37 of the conclusions. In paragraph 34 the Meeting underlines the need for adequate tools and appropriate indicators for research on gender equality issues and requests the ILO to collect data based on country definitions of women in management and to examine the feasibility of revising the International Standard Classification of Occupations so that comparative analysis can be conducted in this field. The Meeting called on the ILO --

1. to carry out a study on the situation of men and women in senior decision-making positions in both the private and public sectors;
2. to organize a tripartite meeting with the aim of producing a manual of best practices on the promotion of women in management;
3. to collect and disseminate information on tripartite approaches in addressing gender equality issues (paragraph 35);
4. to ensure the presence of gender specialists in the multidisciplinary technical advisory teams and to monitor the integration of the principle of equal opportunity and treatment in all its activities (paragraph 36);
5. to organize tripartite meetings on women in management issues in all regions, in particular in Africa and countries in transition (paragraph 37).

6.  The role of the ILO in regard to women in management is addressed in the resolution concerning areas of ILO future activity in the financial and professional services sector. In the operative part of this resolution, the Governing Body is invited to request the Director-General to ensure that --

1. the ILO continues to emphasize particularly the promotion and ratification of existing relevant standards and urges governments to implement these standards in their national action programmes aiming at the promotion of women in management;
2. the ILO intensifies education programmes focusing on employment, recruitment, career planning, respect of fundamental workers' rights and the promotion of women in management, and on the position of female entrepreneurs;
3. the ILO encourages employers' and workers' organizations to facilitate women's access to membership of their boards and equally to representation in management positions within the structure of their organizations;
4. on the basis of the report submitted to the Meeting, the ILO conducts studies on relevant approaches and new concepts of management, such as diversity management and total equality management, including best practices, and on their impact on opportunities for women to have access to management positions, thus breaking through the glass ceiling.

7.  In the resolution concerning the promotion of gender equality in all ILO policies and programmes regarding the financial and professional services sector, the Governing Body is invited --

1. to encourage member States, as well as employers, workers' organizations and the ILO, to integrate gender equality into activities that are funded or executed by the ILO (e.g. projects, programmes, policies);
2. to request the Office to promote the following:
   1. active training programmes, and the development and implementation of policies aimed at enhancing gender equality;
   2. recruitment and promotion procedures to reflect the need for competence and gender equality;
   3. the creation of inter and intra-organizational networks, databases and cooperation to allow for an exchange of information relating to gender mainstreaming;
   4. the development or improvement of tools to assess and follow progress in this area;
   5. the accountability of organizations/enterprises for their own progress in this field;
   6. internal auditing to measure the extent to which gender equality is integrated into the policies, programmes and practices of the organizations/enterprises.

8.  In the resolution concerning measures to be taken by the ILO for the advancement of women in the financial and professional services sector, the Governing Body is invited --

1. to continue to discuss ways and means of improving women's access to managerial positions and to promote the need for gender equality in governments, workers' organizations, employers' organizations and the ILO;
2. to urge all member States who have not yet done so to ratify the Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), the Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), the Employment Policy Convention, 1964 (No. 122), the Human Resources Development Convention, 1975 (No. 142), and the Workers with Family Responsibilities Convention, 1981 (No. 156), and to promote their full application;
3. to request the Director-General to study the feasibility --
   1. of establishing an observatory to follow and evaluate progress in achieving equality between men and women in management positions and to inform the Governing Body on proposals and developments made;
   2. of the ILO's sponsoring national awards for best practices to be presented to an organization that has excelled in promoting a genuine system of equal opportunities and which actively encourages women to take up management positions and promoting such initiatives internationally;

4. to request the Director-General --
   1. to conduct a study on the situation of women and men in management positions, in both the private and public sectors;
   2. to continue to cooperate with intergovernmental and international employers' and workers' organizations, so as to address problems relating to women's access to management positions worldwide, particularly in developing countries;
   3. to cooperate with employers' and workers' organizations to promote equality between men and women worldwide;
   4. to organize a tripartite meeting of experts as soon as possible with the aim of producing a practical manual to guide the promotion of women to management positions.

9.  The Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and related Issues may wish to recommend that the Governing Body authorize the Director-General to communicate the Note on the proceedings containing the texts mentioned in paragraph 3 above --

1. to governments, requesting them to communicate these texts to the employers' and workers' organizations concerned;
2. to the international employers' and workers' organizations concerned;
3. to the international organizations concerned.

10.  The Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and Related Issues may wish to recommend that the Governing Body request the Director-General to bear in mind, when drawing up proposals for the future programme of work of the Office, the wishes expressed by the Meeting in paragraphs 34-37 of the conclusions and in the relevant parts of the resolutions.

Geneva, 12 February 1997.

Points for decision:

Paragraph 9;
Paragraph 10.

¹ TMWM/1997/12.