We must break free from stereotyped gender roles and design a new development agenda which enables men and women, boys and girls everywhere to fully enjoy their right to a decent life throughout the different stages of their lives. Madam Chair, as contribution to an integrated framework and to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing PFA, the ILO, with its tripartite structure, has been developing, since last year, a strategic agenda for a global vision of Decent Work. Work is central in the lives of women and men everywhere - its availability, absence, quality or loss are key concerns not simply for the individual but for his or her family, the community and the nation. Because work takes many forms, and is performed in many places and under many different conditions, it embraces everyone, men and women everywhere, North and South. Not only those in formal employment working in factories, on farms or in shops, but also the self-employed, casual and informal workers, the hidden, predominantly female workers of the care economy or of the domestic scene, and also those in the workspace that the new information technology is creating.
Decent work is productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity.
It means work that brings men and women security and assures a decent standard of living for themselves and their families. The Decent Work agenda seeks to change women's relative position vis a vis men and improve the overall choices for both. The decent work agenda is an integrated development strategy, which links rights at work and social protection with employment and enterprise creation in a framework of social dialogue backed by international cooperation. As an important component, the decent work agenda also works for the elimination of child labour so that girls and boys have the right to a healthy childhood and are not exploited as soldiers, servants, slaves or sex workers. Decent Work is a dynamic concept based on the realities of women's and men's lives as they change over time.