The International Women's Day celebrated by IUF affiliates this year is devoted to the struggle to end violence against women, violence which is rooted in resistance to equality. Sexually harassing a woman is an insidious reminder that she has no right to be at work. This is why this struggle is everybody's business, and why the trade union role is so vital.
IUF members around the world are taking action to combat the rampant sexual harassment to which workers are subjected in the hotel, restaurant and catering industries.
Global brewery giant Carlsberg is using the courts to bully and intimidate the IUF-affiliated Cambodian Food and Service Workers Federation (CFSWF), the union representing workers at its Cambodian joint venture Cambrew. 
On January 26, 2016, Unilever, the IUF and IndustriAll signed a Joint Commitment on preventing sexual harassment. A new brochure from the IUF based on this agreement presents concrete actions every union should take to prevent sexual harassment.
On March 8, International women's Day, IUF affiliates around the world took action to demand 'More women - more power' in factories, hotels, farms, plantations, meeting halls and in the streets.
Women continue to suffer systematic discrimination concerning remuneration, access to jobs, social security, unpaid household and care work.
In a grim prelude to International Women's Day on March 8, the celebrated Honduran indigenous and environmental rights campaigner Berta Cáceres (pictured left) was murdered in Honduras, barely a week after she was threatened for opposing a hydroelectric project.
Women are disproportionally affected by malnutrition and food insecurity. Today, some 793 million people are chronically undernourished, of whom 70 percent are women. The causes of women's massive overrepresentation among those who are deprived of one of the most essential human rights - the right to food - are also well known. They include discrimination with regard to access to employment, pay equity and property rights, lack of maternity protection and access to child care facilities and an unequal burden of family responsibilities. 
The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF) is an international federation of trade unions representing workers employed in agriculture and plantations; the preparation and manufacture of food and beverages; hotels, restaurants and catering services; all stages of tobacco processing. The IUF is composed of 425 affiliated trade unions in 127 countries representing over 10 million workers.
How to contact the IUF:
Email: [email protected]
Post: Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213, Petit-Lancy (Switzerland)
Phone: + 41 22 793 22 33
Fax: + 41 22 793 22 38
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How to contact the IUF:
Email: [email protected]
Post: Rampe du Pont-Rouge, 8, CH-1213, Petit-Lancy (Switzerland)
Phone: + 41 22 793 22 33
Fax: + 41 22 793 22 38
Login