From ‘a woman’s place is in her union’ to ‘strong unions need women’: changing gender discourses, policies and realities in the union movement

ABSTRACT

This article draws on research that I along with others have conducted in various countries and regions of the world, which highlights the changed and evolving gender context within the union movement. From the late 1970s onwards, the campaign for women’s equality and gender democracy within unions gathered pace under the influence of second wave feminism. New discourses were espoused and new practices adopted towards these goals, and some countries, some unions have achieved greater success than have others. The article considers the contemporary landscape, continuity and change in the global union movement’s unfinished gender democracy project.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• unions
• democracy
• women’s representation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The 10 surveys were conducted approximately every 4 years since 1987, the latest being 2016.

2. Proportionality means having women represented in decision-making structures in the same proportion as in membership.

3. The report ‘Women officers in Unite’ (2016) was prepared by independent researchers for Unite’s Officers’ National Committee. It claims that more than half of male-dominated Unite’s female officers have been bullied or harassed. The report was leaked to the press in October 2016, apparently by a male challenger in the 2017 general secretary election (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2017/jan/19/unite-members-slate-len-mccluskey-rival-after-sexism-report-leak).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gill Kirton

Gill Kirton is a professor of Employment Relations in the Centre for Research in Equality and Diversity at the School of Business and Management, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom. Her research interests lie in the area of gender, equality and diversity in employment, careers and the workplace. Recent research has investigated women’s participation in unions and union gender democracy, gender and diversity in the IT industry, gender and union effects of public sector restructuring and outsourcing, and diversity management in UK organisations. Gill’s work has been published in many international journals and she is an associate editor for two refereed journals: Human Resource Management Journal and Gender, Work and Organization.