Feminist Labour Futures at the 113th Session of the International Labour Conference
This year’s International Labour Conference (ILC) comes at a time when we are seeing a disruptive reconfiguration of geopolitics, with the politics of digital technology taking center stage. If there was ever any doubt, it should now be clear that the digital reconfiguration of our media landscapes and the growing conquests of right-wing populism go hand in hand (DataSyn 2025). Demands for human rights and a better world are now simply perceived as a hindrance to the race for dominance and are being met with open hostility and economic reprisals. When it comes to workers' rights, we have seen a steady erosion of labour protections as digital platforms increasingly dictate the dynamics of labour across the world. With so much at stake, it is critical to elevate the voices and perspectives of the majority world in global discourse, particularly feminist voices and alternatives.
As conversations on decent work in the platform economy come to the fore in this year’s Conference, it is crucial to recognise that the struggle against the exploitation of platform workers is an extension of the long fight against neoliberal capitalist oppression. The algorithmic chains that bind platform workers today are but a new manifestation of the age-old tactics used to extract maximum value from labour while minimising worker power. African feminists have long shown the detrimental impacts of neoliberal capitalism in the majority world and continue to produce new knowledge, weaving new stories away from the Western gaze and challenging the ever-changing manifestations of neoliberal capitalism and its implications. It is with this background that African feminist voices are critical in the discourse of this year’s Conference. With the capture of all spaces by Big Tech, there is a need to build workers’ political power to ensure that workers' rights and interests are protected during the Conference.
The Nawi Collective, in collaboration with FEMNET, Siasa Place, Akina Mama wa Afrika, and Action Aid, therefore invites you to a webinar series on Feminist Labour Futures: Decent Work in the Platform Economy. The webinar series will bring together African feminists, economists, labour and workers’ rights groups, and equality advocates across struggles and borders to build solidarity and articulate an African feminist vision on decent work in the platform economy in preparation for the 113th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC). Through these conversations, we will develop an African Feminist Common Position on Decent Work in the Platform Economy that we hope will shape discourse during the ILC and beyond.
To be part of the conversations, please register here. The sessions will run in English, with French interpretation available.
Session 1: Digital Economies and Feminist Labour Futures - 7th May, 2025
This session invites us to ground the conversations on digitalisation, labour, and other factors of production in the fourth Industrial Revolution in Pan-African feminist politics, thought, and consciousness. It will be a journey of trying to make sense of this 'new world of work', exploring what the advent of technology and the emergence of platform-based work have meant for the labour market and what it means for the employment question, particularly for our African context.
Session 2: Platforms of Precarity: Workers' Struggles in the Platform Economy - 14th May, 2025
This session will delve into emerging frontiers of workers’ struggles in the digital platform/gig economy, locating African women workers within these struggles. We will explore the landscape of the digital platform/gig economy in Africa, looking at the shifts, challenges, gains, and opportunities when it comes to workers' rights. We will also listen to workers on how they are organising to defend and claim their rights in this new technology-based world of work, and what new forms of organising and resistance have been adopted.
Session 3: Launch of the African Feminist Common Position on Decent Work in the Platform Economy - 20th May, 2025
As the ILO negotiates standards for decent work in the platform economy ahead of the upcoming International Labour Conference, this session will explore what some of the critical considerations should be for shaping an international labour rights agenda that centers workers' rights, needs, and interests.
