The DFL is in its third year, and has successfully attracted thousands of young women workers to become involved in activities which educate, inform and strengthen, at home and in the workplace.
DFL is aimed at empowering young women to make informed decisions concerning their careers, their working conditions and their work-life balance. It specifically targets young women in the service industries because these industries employ the majority of working women aged 18-29, and because these industries are growing.
Apart from South Africa, DFL focuses on 13 developing countries, notably Brazil, India, Indonesia, the CIS countries Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and the southern African countries Angola, Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
Some achievements so far
- DFL has reached out to more than 90 000 women internationally, of whom 30% have joined a union.
- DFL has achieved gender clauses in collective agreements – for example, South Africa has achieved five new collective agreements with clauses on sexual harassment and gender rights.
- More women are becoming activists and leaders – for example, in South Africa women held 40% of decision-making positions in SACCAWU by June 2010.
The conference
The conference has been dedicated to the memory of Tabisa Sigaba of the South African DFL campaign, who passed away in a tragic accident. It aims to consolidate the achievements made by DFL participants in all countries, specifically looking at successful ways of getting young women involved, looking at what challenges young women are facing, and the most effective ways of providing support and information to young women.
Read more
Find out more about the international Decisions for Life campaign.
