Flushing women’s careers down the toilet
World Toilet Day highlights women’s rights in transport sector
One almost wants to snicker at the fact that today is World Toilet Day, but it’s no laughing matter for many women in the maritime and transport sectors.
Acknowledging the day, the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) is calling for real action to address the lack of safe access to decent sanitation facilities for both men and women in the transport sectors. The union emphasises that the issue causes particular problems for women, however, and can put them at risk of violence, harassment and ill health, while also effectively enforcing barriers to employment opportunities.
Consider, for example, the plight of truck drivers arriving to face day-long queues at our ports. Although engaging in not ideal solutions, men have an anatomical advantage to endure such conditions. The lack of available options for women, however, imposes invisible discrimination.
For maritime workers, the ITF highlights several specific issues facing women. “Women seafarers are accustomed to a reality where we can’t find the menstrual products we need on board a ship, what we need to dispose of those products, or even the access to a toilet near where we are stationed – and, sadly, too often these issues just aren’t taken seriously,” said Lorena Pintor Silva, International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) Seafarers’ Section Women’s Representative, and member of SINDMAR, Brazil.
“Women seafarers know these experiences well, how we have to pack supplies of sanitation products to last months at sea, how we fear asking for what we need onboard because of how we know some of our male crew members will respond. It creates stigma for women – and that means women seafarers being turned away from a life at sea.”
“Women seafarers know these experiences well, how we have to pack supplies of sanitation products to last months at sea, how we fear asking for what we need onboard because of how we know some of our male crew members will respond. It creates stigma for women – and that means women seafarers being turned away from a life at sea,” she adds.
A crucial recent win for maritime workers was a Maritime Labour Convention amendment won after a joint International Labour Organisation-International Maritime Organisation Tripartite meeting earlier this year. Guideline B3.1.10, due to come into force in December 2027, states that “appropriate and sufficient menstrual hygiene products and means of disposal should be available for seafarers”.
While legislative wins like the MLC amendment are vital steps forward, safe access to sanitation remains a profound challenge for maritime workers globally.
“We’ve seen some improvements for women dockers, but far too few and only in particular locations,” said Jessica Isbister, ITF Dockers’ Section Women’s Representative, and member of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU), Canada.
“So, while we’ve seen some real change in Canada, for many women dockers around the world, the struggle to turn legal rights into lived reality is real and goes on every day. This is precisely why we must use World Toilet Day as an opportunity to remind governments, companies and investors that we urgently need change that meets the specific needs of women, transgender and non-binary workers.”
This need for change extends beyond ports to other maritime sectors, highlighting that this is a systemic issue across the maritime industry.
“Women working on tugboats and on our inland waterways face precisely the same problems as women working at sea – what we are demanding are not luxuries, they should be ours by right.”
“Women working on tugboats and on our inland waterways face precisely the same problems as women working at sea – what we are demanding are not luxuries, they should be ours by right,” said Olga Losinskaya, ITF Inland Navigation Section Women’s Representative, and member of ver.di, Germany.
“This is about respect for women’s rights and the provision of a safe and healthy workplace – how many more times must we come out and demand that our basic human dignity is respected?”
In an attempt to address some of these issues, the ITF launched its Transport Workers Sanitation Charter to outline its key demands in 2019. The ITF's Sanitation Toolkit provides trade unionists, activists, and transport workers with the practical resources, research and campaign materials needed to turn the demands of the Charter into reality. It is a vital, living resource to help unions negotiate for and win sanitation rights in workplaces globally.
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