To share their woes and experiences, to inspire and get inspired, around 2,000 working women from all corners of the country gathered at the Ramlila Maidan, Delhi on 17 November 2004 for a mass convention putting forward 14 important demands. Some major demands raised in the convention were equal wages and equal opportunities for work, maternity benefits, creches, legislation against sexual harassment, an end to amending laws lifting ban on night work, ratifying the ILO Convention on Home-based Workers and enacting a law for them. The participants were representatives of both the organised and unorganised sectors - the bangle maker, domestic worker, home-based worker, teachers, bank workers and government employees - and a lot many, under one banner and with one voice.

“We term this Convention as unique because it is for the first time in the last many years such a massive get-together of working women has taken place in India,” said K Hemalatha, Secretary, CITU. “We have collected two lakh signatures in a memorandum to be submitted to the Prime Minister,” she added.

In India, 96 per cent of the women workers are engaged in the unorganised sector and majority of them have no job security. The minimum wage is very low and even that remains only on the paper. A few legislations enacted to benefit women workers, like the Equal Remuneration Act, Maternity Benefit Act and some provisions in the Factories Act, are implemented only in contravention. Millions of women workers, particularly those in the agriculture and construction sectors are not paid the wages that are paid to their male counterparts. Jobs are segregated in such a manner that women are engaged mostly in unskilled and low paid jobs. To put an end to the situation, the participants unanimously demanded legislations for unorganised sector workers and agricultural workers.

The Convention, organised by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), focussed on the plight of the women workers and unanimously aired their demands. They demanded that discrimination against women in training, promotion, deployment and retirement in both public and private sectors be immediately stopped. Strict implementation of eight-hour working day for all women workers, including those in the EPZs and in the unorganised sector, was stressed. Overtime wages should be paid whenever they are asked to work for longer hours.

Women in the unorganised sector do not get any maternity benefits. Many a times, women working under the salaried structure in the private sector are denied of these benefits. The workers who participated in the Convention emphasised the need for maternity benefits and demanded that maternity benefits should be provided for all women workers, including those in the unorganised and agricultural sectors. This should cover miscarriages also. They also demanded that creches should be provided near their places of work and the women workers given time to feed their babies.

Another demand was legislation against sexual harassment at the workplace and until it was enacted, the Supreme Court’s judgment on sexual harassment, including formation of complaints committees should be ensured. It was also emphasised that no amendment in the laws lifting the ban on night work should be done. Ensuring women worker's safety and protection along with provision of proper transportation facilities wherever they are required to work in night shifts like in hospitals, telecom, and fisheries was also underlined. The thousands of women workers who attended the Convention later marched to Parliament to hold a massive rally. The Convention was preceded by a four-month campaign during which thousands of signatures were collected and group meetings, gate meetings, distribution of leaflets and local and district level conventions in many states were held.