Shauna Olney

Shauna Olney is the former Chief of the Gender, Equality and Diversity Branch of the International Labour Organization (ILO), a specialized agency of the United Nations. She studied law at the University of British Columbia, Canada, and as a postgraduate at the University of Oxford. During her over 25 years at the ILO, Ms Olney promoted equality at work from a range of perspectives. She led the ILO’s Women at Work Centenary Initiative, which generated an important body of new research and data, promoting a transformative agenda for gender equality. In this context, the work on violence and harassment supported the adoption of the first international treaty on the topic (Convention No. 190). She was also instrumental in the establishment of the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC). Ms Olney is a member of the Advisory Council of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership, Kings College, London. She has also been elected by the UN General Assembly to be a Member of the International Civil Service Commission from 2022-2025. She was named by Apolitical as one of the 100 most influential people in gender policy (2019), and also received the Gallup Global Impact Award (2020). She has authored and co-authored a number of publications on equality and non-discrimination, including “Gender Equality in the COVID-19 era and beyond’ in Essays on Equality (GIWL, King’s College, London); “Migrant Workers and the Right to Non-discrimination and Equality” in Migrants at Work (OUP); “A Better Future for Women at Work” (University of Oxford Human Rights Hub Journal); Equal Pay: An introductory guide (ILO); ‘The ILO, gender equality, and trade unions’ in Making globalization work for women (Suny Series, Praxis).

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Time to Demystify Equal Pay and Gender Pay Gaps

Time to Demystify Equal Pay and Gender Pay Gaps

More than two decades ago, one of my colleagues, a well-respected lawyer, declared with conviction that in countries where seniority was a priority, equal pay was not relevant. I was baffled that anyone could think equal pay was only ...
A Global Mandate to End Violence and Harassment in the World of Work: ILO Convention No. 190

A Global Mandate to End Violence and Harassment in the World of Work: ILO Convention No. 190

“For me, as for most women workers I know, this Convention and this Recommendation are personal… This Convention, and its recognition of violence and harassment as a range of behaviours and practices, tells me that what I have ...