Women Forward with Network V
The IISH and the FNV have jointly received a grant through the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment from the European Social Fund for their project Women Forward with Network V. Rosa Kösters will be the principal investigator of this project.
Gender equality in ICT and cleaning sector
One of the most direct and enduring ways to promote gender equality in the workplace is by empowering women workers themselves. With the support of employers and male colleagues, they can ensure sustainable change in terms of of wage transparency, economic independence and division of labour. In many sectors, it is not natural for women to come together, to empower each other and to have access to effective means in order to put more gender equality on the agenda and to engage in dialogue about it. This also applies pre-eminently to workers in ICT and cleaning. Despite the major differences between these sectors, there are still major steps to be taken in both to achieve sustainable gender equality.
Aim of the project
The aim of the project is to promote gender equality in the ICT and cleaning sector through the creation, support, scale-up and research of women's networks: called the Network V's. These networks are able to give women knowledge and skills so that they themselves can contribute to an attractive sector, better working conditions and change to organisational culture to enable sustainable gender equality in their own labour organisations. In doing so, the project ensures that employers and male employees can actively contribute to the necessary change in working conditions and work culture.
Two pillars
The project consists of two pillars that reinforce each other through mutual exchange: the workplace approach and the research approach, which run in parallel. The workplace approach focuses on setting up and supporting women's networks that work effectively for gender equality. FNV is starting pilots in ICT and cleaning to test and develop the approach.
In the research pillar, the IISG focuses on researching, testing and supporting the workplace approach through three research methods. We conduct analytical research to map a broad palette of best practices . This involves examining solutions devised elsewhere (through scientific literature, archives and other sources) and translating them to the specific context of ICT and cleaning. In addition, we do participatory needs and implementation research in ICT and cleaning to see how and when the women's networks we drive and support there are most effective. Finally our approach in the monitoring and evaluation at the end of the project.
The project Women Forward with Network V will take three years to complete.
