As education trade unions worldwide prepare
for the Education International World Women's Conference in Bahia, Brazil
(15-17 September 2026), the ETUCE Equality Working Group has developed a new Checklist
for Collective Bargaining on Women's Health at Work in the Education Sector.
The Checklist aims to support education trade unions in placing women's health
firmly on collective bargaining and social dialogue agendas, recognising that
women's health is not merely an individual concern but a workplace, equality,
and occupational health and safety issue.
Women make up the majority of the education
workforce across Europe, yet many health issues affecting women throughout
their working lives remain insufficiently addressed in workplace policies and
collective agreements. Too often, topics such as menstruation, reproductive
health, fertility treatment, pregnancy, miscarriage, menopause, and
gender-specific occupational risks remain invisible, misunderstood, or
surrounded by stigma. The Checklist seeks to break this silence and provide
education trade unions with practical tools to advocate for healthier, safer,
and more inclusive working environments at all sectors of education from
early-childhood to higher education and research.
Furthermore, the Checklist highlights that
health and safety standards, work organisation, and pay structures have
historically been designed around male-dominated professions, often failing to
recognise the physical, psychological, and organisational demands of
female-dominated sectors such as education. At the same time, a significant
gender health gap persists, with many conditions affecting women remaining
overlooked, under-researched, or insufficiently understood in workplace
policies and practices.
Structured around four key areas, the
Checklist guides trade unions through identifying and addressing occupational
risks in the education sector, promoting a life-course approach to
women's health, strengthening social dialogue and collective bargaining,
and fostering a workplace culture based on awareness, inclusion, and respect.
It highlights that workplaces should take account of women's health needs at
all stages of life and career and that effective measures can only be achieved
through meaningful involvement of workers and their trade unions.
The Checklist outlines a set of general
recommendations, including:
·
integrating women's health into
occupational health and safety policies,
·
conducting gender-sensitive
risk assessments,
·
ensuring access to appropriate
workplace facilities,
·
providing workplace adjustments
where needed,
·
tackling stigma and
discrimination,
·
collecting gender-disaggregated
data, and
·
strengthening training and
awareness-raising for both management and staff.
It emphasises that sustainable solutions
require genuine social dialogue, collective bargaining, and a whole-workplace
approach.
Women's health is a workplace issue. It
is time to bring it from the margins into the heart of social dialogue and
collective bargaining.
