Financial Times

National women's cooperative movement mooted
The formation of a national cooperative movement for women to campaign for their rights was mooted recently at a regional workshop organized in Colombo by the Asian Women Commission of the Brotherhood of Asian Trade Unionists (BATU) in association with the National Congress of Women, Sri Lanka.

Padma Jayaweera, consultant and specialist on the cooperative movement, told women trade union leaders from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka that there was a need to focus on women in the cooperative movement. "Women entrepreneurs need to fight for their rights which could be done only if they organize themselves into a national movement," she said speaking on the formation of cooperatives for women.

The Colombo seminar from September 7 to 11 discussed issues relating to socioeconomic ventures, entrepreneurship, livelihood and cooperatives. Jayaweera suggested the need for cooperative education programmes focusing on women and for gender equality to be maintained in all development programmes and organizing successful cooperative networks like in Japan, Korea and India.

She said the Japanese cooperative movement was so successful that every aspect from birth to death of its members is taken care of by efficient cooperatives. "Even weddings and funerals are taken care of by the cooperatives. Marketing networks have also been set up so farmers need not worry about selling their products," Jayaweera added, suggesting that South Asia should follow the Japanese model.
In Japan, farmers don't depend on the government as the powerful cooperative movement takes care of all their needs. In India, the dairy industry is driven by a powerful cooperative movement that owns the popular Amul brand of products which include fresh milk, butter, cheese and chocolate.

Participants and observers also came from the Philippines. South Asian trade unions represented were the Bangladesh Sanjukta Sramic Federation (BSSF), the All Pakistan Trade Union Congress (APTUC), the Confederation of Free Trade Unions of India (CFTUI), the Women's Organisation - Nipu Free Federation of Women of the Indian Control of Labour (ICL) and the National Congress of Women (NCW), a social wing of the National Workers' Congress.

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