MARKING the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 25, the African Regional Organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC-Africa) has issued a powerful call to action, highlighting the escalating threat of digital violence and reaffirming that gender-based violence (GBV) is a fundamental workers’ rights issue.
In a statement, signed by ITUC-Africa General Secretary, Akhator Joel Odigie, and released from its Lomé headquarters, the confederation expressed solidarity with the millions of women and girls across Africa and the globe who endure violence daily.
The statement underscores the timeliness of this year’s United Nations theme, “UNITE to End Digital Violence against Women and Girls,” noting an “alarming rise of technology-enabled abuse that transcends borders and invades the most private spheres of women’s lives.”
The statement paints a stark picture of the challenges faced by women in the African workforce, from domestic and agricultural workers to the vast majority employed in the informal economy, who are subjected to harassment, intimidation, and violence.
ITUC-Africa asserts that such acts in the workplace directly undermine women’s dignity, economic security, and their fundamental right to safe and decent work.
While acknowledging the opportunities of the digital age, the labour body detailed its dark underbelly, where cyberstalking, online harassment, non-consensual sharing of intimate images, and doxing have become serious threats.
The organisation expressed particular concern for women trade unionists and activists in Africa, who face coordinated online attacks designed to silence their advocacy for labour rights and gender equality.
ITUC-Africa cited the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst that, while accelerating digitalisation, also exposed women workers to new forms of digital surveillance, control, and harassment, highlighting the plight of platform workers, predominantly women in domestic and care sectors, who face algorithmic discrimination and have limited recourse when abused through digital systems.
The organisation outlined a clear mandate for workers’ organisations, urging them to integrate gender-based violence prevention into collective bargaining agreements, establish robust workplace policies, create safe reporting mechanisms, and ensure women’s meaningful participation and leadership at all levels of union structures.
Looking ahead to the 16 Days of Activism against GBV, ITUC-Africa called on African governments to take decisive action.
Its demands include the immediate ratification and implementation of the landmark ILO Convention 190 on Violence and Harassment in the World of Work, which would ensure national legislation covers all forms of workplace violence, including domestic violence and its impacts.
The confederation also pressed governments to enact comprehensive laws that criminalise all forms of gender-based violence, including digital violence, with adequate penalties.
It further called for policies that ensure women’s safe and secure access to the internet and for the extension of labour law protections to all women workers, including those in the informal economy, domestic work, and agriculture.
“Violence against women is not a private matter; it is a societal problem that requires collective action,” ITUC-Africa noted while also reaffirming its unwavering commitment to ending all forms of violence against women and girls, asserting that the support of women’s labour rights and economic empowerment are fundamental tools for its prevention.
