Engendering Social Dialogue in Chile (2000)

Veronica Oxman: Engendering Social Dialogue, the Chilean Process Chile, September 2000

ENGENDERING THE SOCIAL DIALOGUE: THE CHILEAN PROCESS Veronica Oxman Vega Ministry of Labour and Social Security- Chile BACKGROUND Chile's current situation is one of institutionalising the democratic process started in 1990. Since then, the country has reinstalled a party political system, including the government's administration and a state of political and human rights, including labour and women's rights. The third government of the Concertación de Partidos por la Democracia1, being led by President Ricardo Lagos Escobar (PS) has assumed the importance of social dialogue based on tripartite representation as part of the institutionalisation of the democratic process. The newly elected president (2000) declared the constitution of the Social Dialogue Council (Consejo de Diálogo Social) with representation of government and the major employers (CPC) and workers (CUT) organisations. This process is supported by a number of political and economic measures. At the State level, an ongoing decentralisation and modernisation process - seeking for 'good governance', has improved government management and at the same time has generated mechanisms to confront the old practices based on hierarchy, authoritarianism and restricted participation in the decision making process. The principles of equal opportunities and rights for women, indigenous groups and other social groups, and the alleviation of poverty are top priorities of the agenda. The political situation has stabilised since General Pinochet's trial in London, but the 1980 Constitution is still in force. A large number of Constitutional and Legal reforms have not yet been approved by parliament, partly due to the remaining presence of designated senators at chambers (11 nominated by the military regime). The democratic transition process made clear the strength of cultural conservatism existing in the country. This has special relevance in relation to gender and women’s rights issues, since changes in the division of private and public arenas, sex roles and sexuality have been quite slow. Gender issues have generated an ongoing debate related to the pertinence of the role of the State and the public sector's impact into the lives of families and individuals. Practices of discrimination are rooted in social culture, coming from a long history of political turmoil and economic inequities. These practices have adopted sophisticated ways of preservation and therefore need to be constantly reviewed in the context of changes occurring within Chilean society. These inequities continue to have a strong impact on the labour market, since women still have low participation rates in the workforce, lower incomes and less career development opportunities. The Chilean economic stability suffered with the impact of the 'Asian financial crisis', but the equilibrium was maintained at the macroeconomic level. The country had been showing continuos economic growth with low inflation rates for almost 15 years. But, since 1998 the product growth has peaked, the

1 Coalition of the centre and left political parties, now constituted by the Socialist Party (PS), Christian Democratic Party (DC), the Party for Democracy (PPD) and the Radicals.


unemployment rates have increased up to 10% and the inflation rising has been affected by the international rising oil prices during this year. On social grounds, since 1990, Chile experienced an important recovery in comparison to the 1980's. Social indicators show an improvement of women's lives during the decade. For instance, life expectancy has increased considerably (being of 78 years for women and 72 years for men); the fertility rate is as low as 2.3 children per woman. Income per head has also increased considerably (currently the minimum wage is of one hundred thousand Chilean pesos or approximately US$ 200 per month); income indicators show a reduction in the gender gap and less women are living under the poverty line. All these have improved mainly due to permanent State investment in social policies. This economic and social development still faces the challenge of approximately 18% of the population living under the poverty line and the increased income differentials between poor sectors and high-income sectors. Data provided in 1998 by CASEN a national survey2, conducted every two years, show that the income differential has increased from 1 to 14 up to 1 to 15.5 between the richest and the poorest in the country during the period 1996-1998. Poverty affects men and women differently, in 1998 more women (22%) than men (21.5%) were living under the poverty line, this reflects clearly in those families headed by women. In Chile 1 in 5 families are women headed households. This difference increases with age, 29% of women over 65 years of age living in poverty had no income of their own, compared to only 8.6% of men of the same age group living in this situation (CASEN 98). The largest resistance to changes can be found within the domestic realm where men still have a predominant economic role and power within the family. Women in Chile are increasingly improving this situation, but there is still a long way to go. Women’s participation in the labour force increased from 32,4% in 1990 to 38,8% in 1998 (CASEN 98) and has remained stable since then. A number of inequalities between women and men are still present, unemployment rates continue to be higher for women, particularly for young women; women are over-represented in the informal sector; and there is still a strong sex segmentation of the labour market. Chile, according to the United Nations Human Development Program-UNDP Report (1995) is one of the countries in Latin America where the rate difference between the national HDI (Nº33) average rate and the national gender index IGD (Nº59) is higher, occupying one of the lowest places within the Latin American countries. The main problems continue to be the inequalities in resources and income distribution and differential rights and power between the sexes. PUBLIC POLICIES The Chilean government has increasingly established policies tending towards the democratisation of society, in this context several services and institutions have been created. The 'National Woman’s Service' (Servicio Nacional de la Mujer-SERNAM) created in 1991 being one of them. It has the responsibility of introducing measures towards the achievement of equal opportunities for women within the different sectors and levels of society. At the State level, SERNAM has established sectorial co-ordination with ministries and offices of the public sector.3

2 National Survey of Socio-economic Characterisation (Encuesta Nacional de Caracterización Socioeconómica- CASEN) conducted by the Ministry of Co-operation and Planning (MIDEPLAN) every two years. Data quoted in this paper correspond to CASEN 1998. 3 For instance the Ministries of Labour and Social Security, Education; Health; State Resources; Housing; Justice and Economy.


These government efforts have shown to be of great importance for the development of social policies with a gender perspective. In this sense the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (Ministerio del Trabajo y Previsión Social) has played a crucial role in the engendering of labour policies, particularly in relation to the areas of access to employment, working conditions and pension retirement programs. By considering the importance of gender issues at all policy levels, this ministry is involved in a strategic planning process that attempts to incorporate solutions to the main obstacles that women face within the labour market. Namely, equal opportunities for women in the labour training programs, legal reforms to the regulations related to maternity protection and reform proposals to the acting pensions system (AFP) in favour of the disadvantaged women and their families, these initiatives include policies for the eradication of child labour. The public policies contribute simultaneously to the macroeconomic stability and to advance in the alleviation of poverty. The social expenditure has increased considerably and the expenditure on women and gender programs is one of the most important changes in the government's budget. During the years 1994 to 1998 expenditure on women increased by 37,5% (Valenzuela:00). This expenditure was focussed mainly on aged women (over 65) and poor women heads of households4 the latter program's budget was increased by 5 times in the same period. SOCIAL DIALOGUE INSTANCES The National Productive Development Forum (Foro Nacional de Desarrollo Productivo) 1997- 1999 One of the tripartite initiatives established during the previous presidential period (1994 -1999) was the National Productive Development Forum (Foro Nacional de Desarrollo Productivo). This constituted an instance of political concertation of different sectors of society. It was a tripartite attempt where government, the private sector represented by CPC (Confederación de la Producción y del Comercio) and workers organisations represented by CUT (Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile) got together to debate on the tendencies of the Chilean economy. This Forum was created with the objective of promoting productive development and diminishing the social gap produced by a long period of implementation of a neoliberal economic model in the country. It looked for consensual economic measures that would have a positive impact upon the society as a whole. Considering that to achieve a sustainable and equitable development in the country, there was a need to generate trust between the different actors: policy makers, employers and workers. In 1996, SERNAM and the FORUM started a coordination process with the aim of diminishing the barriers for women’s participation in the economy. It meant the introduction into the debate of a series of issues concerning women’s access to the labour market and the importance of women's labour participation on equal grounds for the Chilean economy. Consensus was made on the importance of seeking measures tending to gender equity within the economic sector. A working agenda was set for the years between 1997 and 1999. The purpose of this agenda was to introduce a gender perspective to the forum’s debate, starting with measures contained in the Plan of Equal Opportunities for Chilean Women 1994-1999, part of the Chilean government’s agenda for the same period.

4 Since 1991 the Chilean government has developed a specific alleviation of poverty program for women heads of households - Programa de

Habilitación Laboral para Mujeres Jefas de Hogar y de Núcleo, depending on SERNAM and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security through it's training Service (SENCE).


The process started with negotiations that ended in the elaboration of a report on the situation of Childcare Services in the country (government funded or subsidised). Due to the recognition that childcare for children aged 0-12 years old, was still inadequate and constituted one of the main obstacles to women's full participation in the labour market. It also analysed the possible impact of the Educational Reform -being implemented by the Ministry of Education at the time, on liberating women’s labour. The resulting discussions focussed on the impact that childcare services had on the economy. The principle leading was that if women’s issues and a gender perspective are introduced at all levels of the working plans and agendas of economic decision making, the society as a whole will benefit. The planning processes will achieve better results mainly in the areas of social justice, acceptance of the differences, tolerance and the search for a more equitable society and an improved quality of life for all inhabitants of the country. Nevertheless, the cultural change in order to reach the perspective that children are a responsibility of both working parents and not an only mother's responsibility hasn't happened yet. The need to demonstrate that the consideration of equal employment opportunities for women in the economic decision making processes is essential for the democratisation of the economic policies is still on the agenda. The main activities in relation to the engendering of social dialogue during 1996 to1999 were: 1) Elaboration of a theoretical background to justify the importance of introducing gender issues in the National Productive Forum’s debate. 2) Negotiation of an Agenda for the years 1997-1999 including topics such as: childcare as a shared responsibility (ILO 156 Convention), diminishing the wage difference between the sexes, the needs of a changing productive process and the improvement of women's labour skills. 3) Reproducing the experience at the Regional Forums for Productive Development existing along the country. The existence of the Tripartite Commission for Women’s Equal Opportunities (Comisión Tripartita de Igualdad de Oportunidades para las Mujeres en el Trabajo), convoked by the Ministry of Labour since 1995, with representation of SERNAM and women from the employers and workers sectors which had permanent support from the International Labour Office-ILO, was one of the strategic elements for introducing these gender issues on the debate. Other important aspect was production of knowledge through research studies that provided a diagnosis of the Chilean labour market from a gender perspective. In June 1997, a Seminar on Gender and Work with participation of officers belonging to a diversity of Services and Ministries of the Chilean government, its objective was to obtain consensus at the government level on key concepts such as: workers with family responsibilities (contained in the ILO Convention 156 and recommendation 165); the importance of childcare services for liberating women’s labour and eliminating discrimination against women due to childcare responsibilities. The seminar was followed by the creation of an Ad-Hoc Commission to discuss the issues to be contained in the Equal Opportunities for Women’s Agenda. A number of tripartite meetings were held to homologate concepts and achieve a consensual perspective on the main issues concerning women’s employment and productive opportunities in the country.


The highlights of the first stage of the process were in August 21 and 22 1997 when the III National Productive Forum met and the issues related to women were considered. A Commission on Women, Work and Family operated during the FORUM that came up with a Conclusions and Proposals paper (see Annex 1). It contained a proposal of modification to the current 203 Article at the Labour Code. This article gives right to childcare (children under 2 years old) to women employed in enterprises with more than 20 women workers, excluding women of small enterprises and businesses. The proposal attempted to give childcare rights to all working parents (men and women with children under 2 years old) independently of the size of the enterprise, the system was to be funded through tripartite financial contributions. Later, a number of institutional activities regarding the agreements achieved at the III National Productive Development Forum followed. The Tripartite Commission for Equal Opportunities supported the negotiations along the process. The Executive Secretary of the Productive development Forum provided resources for the realisation of the first Consultation on Existing Childcare Services (1996-1997) and also for the realisation of the follow-up Seminar after the III National Productive Development Forum. Meanwhile, at the regional level, information was produced and distributed amongst the existing Regional Productive Development Forum’s. At the same time, two Tripartite Regional Commissions were established incorporated in the process (Iquique in the north of Chile & Rancagua in the central south). But the changes to the legislation implied a large amount of financial resources, not available in the country, so the Ad Hoc Commission decided to postpone the making of a definite decision. The initiative of a tripartite funding for the system was further discussed in November that year and again no consensus was found. All these meetings showed that there were no common grounds to approve the proposal. The union's, particularly the public sector representatives feared a loss of rights, since their childcare rights were larger that those contained in the proposal. The disagreements again were related to aspects involving the payment system established in the proposal. During the years that followed (1998-1999) the FORUM suffered from the political turmoil derived from the detention of Pinochet in London and the economic stress created by the 'Asian financial crisis'. Nevertheless, during 1998, further studies on childcare and the costs of the law reform were carried out. But the FORUM operated at a minor scale than the previous years and the IV National Productive Development Forum was postponed for year 1999. So, in 1999 some of the gender issues were again considered in a Commission on Women and Work operated at the IV Forum realised at Reñaca in September. Within that same meeting, new issues were introduced in the agenda. For the first time, equal access to social security was considered in the debate, a Commission for the Institutionalisation of Social Security was established. One of the main issues raised at the Social Security Commission was the gender difference contained in the current individual capitalisation system for retirement pensions operating under the 3.500 Act of Law. In this system woman are disadvantaged due to the earlier retirement age of 60 years old compared to 65 years for men and for the life expectancy gap between women and men, on average Chilean women live 5 more years than men do. The fact that new topics looking at economic and social policies were brought up, and that these included gender perspective lead to affirm that during the years 1997 and 1999, the attempt to


introduce the gender perspective at the public debate, through the National Productive Development Forum was partially achieved. The Social Dialogue Council (Consejo de Diálogo Social) 2000 In March of the year 2000, the current President Ricardo Lagos created a second tripartite instance, named the Social Dialogue Council (Consejo de Diálogo Social). The Council was set up under the principles that there is a consensus in building up a national cohabitation based on a broad dialogue amongst all Chileans, especially between the organised social actors. The exchange of information and cooperation between the Government and organised social actors are basic needs in order to raise economic competitiveness and to improve the quality of life of the inhabitants of the country. For this purpose, the president made a call on all ministries to commit and be active in the construction of the social dialogue. Particularly the Ministry of Finances (Ministerio de Hacienda), the Ministry Secretary General of the Presidency (Secretaría General de la Presidencia), the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (Ministerio del Trabajo y Previsión Social), the Ministry of Economy (Ministerio de Economía, Fomento y Reconstrucción, Minería y Energía) and the National Woman's Service (Servicio Nacional de la Mujer). On the other hand, the commitment of the private agents was sought to be part of the social dialogue. In particular the Presidency convoked representative members of the worker's union -Central Unitaria de Trabajadores de Chile-CUT; of the main large entrepreneurial organisation the Confederación de la Producción y del Comercio- CPC; and the small and middle-size enterprise organisation Confederación de la Pequeña y Mediana Empresa- CONUPIA. This Council acts as an assessing organism to the President of the Republic in the mission of proposing actions to promote social dialogue and concetation between public and private agents. During the first period the Council is operating in work groups dealing with the following priority topic areas: 4) Creation of an Unemployment Insurance: under the responsibility of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. (Work Group 1) 5) Perfection and modernisation of the labour legislation: under the responsibility of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security. (Work Group 2) 6) Proposals in favour of the full incorporation of women into the labour force: under the responsibility of the National Women's Service. (Work Group 3) 7) Design and elaboration of mechanisms for the institutionalisation of social dialogue: Depending on the Ministry Secretary General of the Presidency. (Work Group 4) The Council is coordinated by the Minister Secretary General of the Presidency, representing the President of the Republic. With the responsibility of presiding the Council's sessions, and the coordination of constituted work groups to achieve the previous objectives. It is also the President of the Council's responsibility to inform the President bimonthly of the work group's advances. Since the constitution of the Council, all work groups have been operating on a permanent basis. Work Group 1 has already elaborated a proposal for the creation of Unemployment Insurance being currently discussed at Parliament.


The social actors congregated in Work Group 2 are currently discussing the terms and contents of a labour reform, including: - Regulations of new forms of labour contract that promote employment - Flexible working hours - The adequacy of labour training - Regulation of temporary work - Promotion and strengthening of Unions (protection against anti-Union practices, collective bargaining and negotiations) - Constitutional and human rights within the workplace. This Work Group has formed three subgroups. One of them dealing with the regulation of new forms of employment such as computer and communication based work (telemarketing), job contracts for externalised workers and subcontracting regulations. A second one dealing with anti-discrimination regulations within the workplace and the building up of a democratic culture within the enterprise that considers human rights as the basis for negotiations. And a third, dealing with all matters related to the strengthening of workers unions, particularly the enforcement of the Nº87 and Nº98 ILO Conventions on freedom of association and collective bargaining. It has been a Social Dialogue policy to introduce a gender perspective in all of these issues. For the purpose of this paper we will focus on the discussions being held at Work Group 3 on Women and Labour (dealing with all matters relating to the inclusion of women into the labour force). Even though the participation of men was required, it hasn't been constant, therefore the group is mainly constituted by women. The group was able to establish a work plan including the design of a methodology for the treatment of topic areas, including: sexual harassment, child care, development of small and middle enterprise, the situation of women in seasonal agricultural labour, and existing discrimination within the retirement funds system. In July 2000, the group submitted a set of proposals to the President of the Republic (see Annex 2). The general gender issues raised at Work Group 3 had already been considered during the discussions of the National Productive Development Forum. Due to the fact that the previous commission on Women, Work & Family only met once a year, while the current one meets every fortnight, the treatment of topic areas has gained depth. Each issue has been analysed in a technical fashion, incorporating economic and labour market considerations, as well as the political feasibility of each proposal. In general terms, even though the Work Groups have been fully functional, there is a dramatic difference between the organisational capacity of employers and workers. While entrepreneurial organisations possess the technical and financial resources to elaborate properly structured legal and economic proposals, workers find it difficult to make proposals that benefit them in the same way because the Unions don't necessarily have access to technical and financial resources to support the elaboration of well-structured proposals. This unequal situation affecting the equilibrium of the Social Dialogue Council in general is more important in the case of women. For instance, in Work Group 3 on Women and Labour, there have been great differences in the participation of employers and workers. Entrepreneurial women possess larger technical capacities but also they have shown to be more autonomous and powerful in their relationship with their


organisations. This reflects in the positive approach sustained by men leaders of CPC in relation to the inclusion of gender issues at the other Work Groups. Women belonging to the employers sector have attended the Work Group in larger numbers than women workers. Also they have introduced their independent views as women. Most of them are highly trained women occupying executive positions within the private sector and therefore are able to put forward their interests as well as the interests of their organisations. On the other hand, The Chilean union movement has been through a slow recomposition process of organisational procedures and representation. Women representing unionised workers are affected by the difficulties faced by the union movement, namely diminishing of membership and conflict of interest between members. At the same time, Chilean unions continue to be hierarchical and bureaucratised, so women participating in the Work Group had to consult positions and inform the directive on each one of the issues being debated. This created an unstable participation on the workers side. During the month of October the union's central CUT underwent a directive elective process taking over most of the time of the leaders and restraining unions' participation in any Work Group. The Work Group should reassume tasks during October. Government has been aware of these inequalities between social actors and has established several mechanisms to support union women leaders during the process. Several training sessions were conducted on topic areas such as globalisation and flexibility, as well as international tool such as the Convention for the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women-CEDAW and the ILO Conventions (Nº111,103 and 156) affecting women. At the same time, high government authorities from the Ministries of Economy and Labour have attended the Work Group to inform on government policies. Since most gender issues were being debated at Work Group 3, the Tripartite Commission for Equal Opportunities officially was temporarily discontinued. Nevertheless by December this year a regional meeting of all Tripartite Commissions on Equal Opportunities, operating in the countries that form the 'Common Market of the South' MERCOSUR: Argentine, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay, will be held in Chile, and sponsored by ILO. PROJECTIONS The main conception of tripartism within a social dialogue system is equality between parts, most usually the understanding that three parties sit together in equal conditions and establish certain areas of consensus. For instance, within the National Productive Development Forum, the criterion was the approximation between economic and social policies, with greater emphasis on the perfection of the macroeconomic model. Closer looks at the micro social level tended to show that the quality of life of low-income earners continued to be a problem if looked just under the market perspective; therefore it needed a deeper social perspective, including the responsibility of the State. Since the beginning of the year 2000 the structure of tripartism that depended on the Ministry of Economics was moved into the President's Cabinet, particularly into the Ministry Secretary General of the Presidency and from there a revival of social dialogue was initiated. The old form of tripartism, which emphasized on productive development with an important influence of macroeconomic equilibrium, gave way to the idea of the tripartite construction of social policies and legal reforms, in accordance to the new governments’ guidelines of promoting social actors' participation in decision making.


The appearance of social dialogue as a part of every day life can mean the occurrence of true change within the system. Today, when we talk about the "economic reactivation" needed in the context of the "Asian crisis", there is an understanding that a compromise on behalf of all sectors of society is required. SERNAM, the Ministry of Labour and the FORUM started a coordination process with the aim of diminishing the barriers for women’s participation in the economy. Currently the introduction of a gender perspective in the social dialogue process has led to the recognition by all parties of the importance of women’s contribution and participation in the productive field for the maintenance of economic growth as well as for advancing in the alleviation of poverty. On one hand, government authorities such as the current Minister of Labour, Ricardo Solari, who is constantly enhancing the importance of promoting women’s access to employment particularly for women heads of households, are showing the government’s commitment to gender issue in all labour policies. On the other hand, further analysis of data provided by the CASEN5 surveys held in the country since 1990 has shown that poor women’s incorporation into the labour market leads low income households to overcome the poverty line. Moreover, studies linking woman’s labour and education have demonstrated that children of working mothers have better educational results and stay longer at the formal educational system6. The fact that gender issues are being discussed by a specific Work Group, and at the same time are being transversally incorporated -through permanent monitoring by gender specialists- into the debate of the Social Dialogue Council activities constitute a step forward. Specifically in the Labour Reforms Work Group and its sub-groups there has been permanent representation of gender experts from the Ministry of Labour and SERNAM. This has resulted in for example, that when discussing “constitutional and human rights in the enterprise”, special consideration has been given to sex discrimination and the type of anti-discriminatory regulations to be introduced for the purpose of enforcing CEDAW7 in the country. Gender has also been considered in the discussion of new regulations for subcontracting enterprises, temporary and part time work, particularly in terms of promoting decent work for women and youth. All these efforts are willing to have an impact on equal opportunities for women and diminishing the gender gap. The process is ongoing and it is too soon to come to conclusions. Still further recognition of women’s contribution to the economy and of the importance of women’s participation in decision-making processes are needed for the democratisation of labour policies and regulation being discussed in the country. The social dialogue process largely depends on whether equilibrium between social actors is improved. Particularly important is to achieve real representation of workers and small and medium size entrepreneurs, so as to at list reach the levels of current representation of large size entrepreneurs and government. The fact that only women compose Work Group 3 raises the question of how gender issues can be mainstreamed at the rest of the Work Groups. Since women's participation in specific groups operating separately from men's tripartite units can act as a restrain to the engendering of the social dialogue

5 Comparative gender analysis on CASEN data compiled in years 1990-1992-1994-1996 to look into poverty issues have been done by SERNAM

and MIDEPLAN. 6 Scholnick, M.: 1996: Education in Chile: UNICEF.

7 UN Convention for the Elimination of all forms of discrimination Against Women-CEDAW.


itself. Therefore, it is the responsibility of women from all sectors (government, employers and workers) to make sure that their needs, expectations and gender interests are fully incorporated in the Social Dialogue Council's debate and actions. The President of the Republic, in number of occasions has enhanced the importance of gender equality and social equity for the human development of the country. Therefore, this presidential period is a great opportunity for Chilean women, who need to become aware of the importance of their participation in labour organisations (employers/workers). As well as take this opportunity to strengthen women leaderships and in those organisations as well as in their autonomous organisations in order to have a real impact on the decision-making processes at all levels. Therefore the near future challenges are: - to improve women workers participation within their organisations, as well as in the Social Dialogue Council working groups; - to make sure that gender issues are thoroughly introduced at all current working groups, and within Work Group 4 on mechanisms for the institutionalisation of social dialogue instances; - to make social and economic policies coherent from a gender perspective. All these aspects need to continue being investigated and discussed. Public policies as well as private and workers’ sectors initiatives need to take these matters in consideration and act upon them. In that way the social dialogue process will prove to be an effective tool for improving women's working lives and raising the quality of life for all members of society.


ANNEX 1

CONCLUSIONS OF THE “WOMAN, WORK AND FAMILY” COMMISSION

III NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PRODUCTIVE FORUM, 21 - 22 August 1997, Reñaca-Chile The Commission’s work was organised in two main areas: diagnoses and recommendations. Diagnosis a) The Chilean society is undergoing deep social, economic and cultural changes, within the context of a sustained economic growth and democratic stability. b) One of these changes is the irreversible and growing tendency of active participation of women within the labour force. c) Nevertheless, this incorporation is happening in a context of inequity and with great difficulties for making work and family responsibilities compatible. d) There is a wage difference between women and men even for men and women within the same occupations; there are differences in the access to employment available in the labour market; and sex segregation by productive sectors and services. e) In relation to participation in the labour market, there is enough data available to show that poor women participate less than middle and upper class women in the Economically Active Population (PEA). There are consensual concerns about the feasibility of data collection systems, especially in regards to informal employment under-registration. f) There are certain myths in relation to the expectations of labour performance of men and women: supposedly women are weaker and present more labour absenteeism. g) Since there is no system to facilitate compatibility between work and family, the changes in society have generated tensions that have a negative impact on women’s physical and mental health. h) The major obstacle to women’s incorporation into the labour force is childcare: the traditional expectation of assigning exclusive responsibility of child raising to the mother. i) The current norms do not facilitate the compatibility between occupational development and developing family life, this is common for men and women: legislation about childcare is only referred to working women, while men’s occupations are determining men to be mainly producers. Recommendations: According to the previous analysis, a working agenda is proposed, particularly referred to the following issues: 2.1. Childcare: - To create an ad hoc Commission between entrepreneurs, workers, government and Parliamentary representatives to agree on and evaluate a Law Project to modify the current Law on Childcare for children between 0 and 2 years (203 Article of the Chilean Labour Code). - To agree with the proposal presented by SERNAM in relation to substitute the current childcare system with a tripartite contribution system, where there is no one sector’s responsibility (currently only the employer's responsibility). - To study actions directed to other members of the family who can contribute to solve the existing tension between work and family life: grandparents and others. 2.2. Education and Training: - To require from the Ministry of Education the full cover of the school journey to all the basic level of education.


- To facilitate labour training for women, especially for women of scarce resources. 2.3. Working Conditions: - Social reproduction and its processes are a responsibility and of interest of the society as a whole. This implies the flexibility of roles for men and women. Therefore it is recommended to: - Analyse the possibility of flexibility of working hours and timetable in the context of a proper regulation. - To analyse the possibility of flexibility of the pre and postnatal rights within proper regulations, taking into consideration the well-being of the mother and the child. - To elaborate specific proposals oriented towards the small and middle size enterprise, tending to a full incorporation of women in the work force.


ANNEX 2

SOCIAL DIALOGUE GROUP 3: WOMEN AND LABOR.

SUMMARY OF THE PAPER PRESENTED TO PRESIDENT RICARDO LAGOS IN JULY 2000 PROPOSALS BY TOPIC AREAS SEXUAL HARRASMENT - The representatives of the employer's sector have agreed that it is priority to have a law that effectively punishes sexual harassment in the work place. - A formal commitment was made that enterprises will initiate a preventive policy against sexual harassment in the work place by introducing sanctions within the internal regulation and in job contracts. CHILDCARE - Implementation of legal reforms in order to improve coverage of the legal benefit of childcare for children between 0 and 2 years old, by conceding this right to both working parents and creating an alternate financial mode to support the system. - Develop measures to ensure the appropriate focussing of the childcare system on women workers. - Develop infrastructure plans to improve localisation and quality of childcare centres. - Implement different modes in the time schedules of childcare centres, responding to working mothers' needs. - Improve coordination between the different government and non-government childcare agencies. - The broadening of coverage committed by government (120,000 new places) to be focalised on children of working mothers especially low-income workers (father and mother). INCORPORATION OF SMALL ENTREPRENEURS THAT ACT AS INDEPENDENT WORKERS TO THE LAW Nº16.744 - To introduce a legal reform that incorporates the right to insurance of working accidents to those individual entrepreneurs that act as independent workers and are active in their social prevision payments, currently excluded from the safety net of these labour rights. AGROEXPORTS SECTOR AND SOCIAL SECURITY - Develop a program for the evaluation on the physical, environmental, mental and organisational working conditions of women workers in the seasonal agro-exports sector. - Develop occupational health training programs for women in the agro-exports sector. - Develop labour conditions supervision programs regarding sanitary and environmental conditions of working places within the agro-exports sector.


BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES Foro de Desarrollo Productivo (1998): Conferencia Chile hacia el 2010: una visión de país: 2 Diciembre 1998: Ministerio de Economía: Santiago-Chile. Foro de Desarrollo Productivo (1997): Memoria Anual 1997: Santiago-Chile. Foro de Desarrollo Productivo (1996): Memoria Anual 1996: Santiago-Chile. Foro de Desarrollo Productivo (1995): Memoria Anual 1994-1995: Santiago-Chile. OIT (1999): Informa. Panorama Laboral '99 America Latina y el Caribe: OIT: Lima-Perú. Oxman, Verónica & Galilea Silvia (Eds.) (1999): Políticas de Igualdad de Oportunidades entre Mujeres y Hombres 1994-1999: SERNAM/Ministerio del Trabajo y Previsión Social: Santiago-Chile. Oxman, Verónica (1998): The contribution of a gender perspective to the democratisation of economic policies in Chile: Project Paper: CENTEK- Lulea Technical University: Sweden. SERNAM/MINTRAB (1998): Tripartismo e Igualdad de Oportunidades para las Mujeres en el Trabajo: hacia una mejor calidad de vida: ISIS Internacional: Santiago-Chile. SERNAM (1997): Propuesta de Ampliación del Sistema de Salas Cuna: unpublished: Santiago-Chile. SERNAM (1997): Memoria del SERNAM 1994-1996: Servicio Nacional de la Mujer: Santiago-Chile. SERNAM (1994): Equal Opportunities Plan for Chilean Women 1994-1999: Servicio Nacional de la Mujer: Santiago-Chile. Valenzuela, Juan Pablo (2000): Los Programas Público Vinculados a las Mujeres y su Impacto en el Presupuesto Público: una aproximación al Análisis Presupuestario en Chile: Ford Foundation: unpublished: Santiago-Chile. Valenzuela, María Elena & Oxman, Verónica Eds. (1997): Igualdad de Oportunidades para la Mujer en el Trabajo: Servicio Nacional de la Mujer- SERNAM: Santiago-Chile. VOV/Santiago, Chile September 2000

Engendering Social Dialogue in Chile (2000)

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