Following the adoption of this Convention in 1996, we have continued to campaign for its ratification and implementation by national governments. In the 1970's and 1980's, homebased work increased throughout the world. This was the opposite of what people had expected. Homework was seen as something that was part of old-fashioned, backward economies. But it has increased with the growth of international subcontracting and global markets in both developing and developed countries.
Homebased workers are generally invisible.
Most are women working behind closed doors in their own homes. They are not recognised as real workers. But from the 1970's onwards, new organisations began to develop representing homeworkers. In Madeira, the autonomous region of Portugal, the Union of Embroiderers began to include rural homeworkers, who make up the majority in the embroidery industry, in their trade union. Following these, new organisations developed in different countries of Asia and Europe, both trade unions and NGOs.