Convening global leaders to address femicide in the world of work

In November 2024, during the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence, FAR co-convened a high-level global discussion on femicide in the world of work – an issue that remains deeply under-recognized in policy, labour, and gender justice spaces.

The convening, Femicide in the World of Work: A Call to Action, brought together a remarkable group of speakers across international human rights, government, multilateral institutions, labour organizing, and frontline feminist advocacy. The event included Dubravka Simonovic, former UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls; Valentina Cataldo from Chile’s Ministry of Women and Gender Equality; Rafaelle Rafin of UN Women; Thivya Rakini, President of the Tamil Nadu Textile and Common Learning Union; Mary Ann Abunda, Founding Chairperson of Sandigan Kuwait Domestic Workers’ Association; and Randa Siniora of the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling in Palestine.

The convening made a clear case: the most extreme form of gender-based violence at work is too often unseen and underreported, despite its profound consequences for women workers, justice systems, and development. It also highlighted that femicide in the world of work cuts across sectors and geographies, affecting women in formal and informal work, public-facing roles, leadership, and migrant labour.

This event reflects our role as a transnational feminist alliance able to connect global advocacy with grounded labour and women’s rights leadership. By bringing together actors from government, the UN system, women workers’ organizing, and conflict-affected contexts, FAR helped push a necessary conversation into public view: ending gender-based violence in the world of work requires naming, documenting, and preventing its most extreme forms.