Their initiative did not go unnoticed - one night they were attacked with clubs, leaving them seriously wounded. Ingrid Bastardo was pregnant. In a difficult sector to organise women are often poorly paid, exploited and raped or abused by their employers. In 1990, Veronique Akobe, from the Cote d'Ivoire, a maid in France, received a 20 year sentence for killing her employer and wounding his son, both of whom she accused of rape. Following an international campaign, she was freed in July 1996.
Women form the bulk of public service workers.
In Zimbabwe in 1996 nurses went on strike because of the government's refusal to respect an agreement to raise salaries. Following a call to President Mugabe, half the nurses were reinstated, but not the trade unionists. However, they refused to start work before the trade union leaders were also reinstated. Women activists are the target of death squads trying to wipe out trade unionists in Colombia. Luisa Barrantes, leader of the Colombian public service trade union was declared a military target by paramilitary groups.