Risk Preferences and Gender Differences in Union Membership in Late Nineteenth-Century Swedish Manufacturing

ABSTRACT

Women are generally seen as less inclined to join trade unions. This study matches firm–worker data from the Swedish cigar and printing industries around 1900 and examines information on men and women holding the same jobs; such data are rare but important for understanding gender gaps. The results explain the gender gap in union membership among compositors, but not among cigar workers. Differences in union membership varied considerably across firms, with the largest differences found in low-union-density cigar firms where indirect costs (that is, uncertainty and risk) accrued in particular to women workers. The lack of gender differences in mutual aid membership indicates that women were not hard to organize but avoided organizations associated with greater risk for employer retaliation and uncertain returns according to a cost–benefit analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• union membership
• manufacturing industry
• firm-level data
• working conditions
• workers’ rights

JEL Codes:

• J16
• J51
• J83

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors acknowledge financial support from the Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy (IFAU) [Dnr 2012/144]; and the Swedish Research Council (VR) [Dnr 421-2013-671 and Dnr 2014-1491]. A previous version of the paper was presented at seminars at Cornell University and Binghamton University. Comments and suggestions from George Boyer, Chris Hanes, and Solomon Polachek are gratefully acknowledged.

Notes

1 The only historical study based on individual-level data that we are aware of is Steven Maddox and Barry Eichengreen (1989). There are more micro-studies of recent times that include both men and women (Kornhauser 1961; Moore 1986; Schnabel 2003).

2 This section draws on standard economic reasoning on what unions do and what affects union membership (see Freeman and Medoff [1984]; Hirsch and Addison [1986]).

3 As regards technological change in the printing industry, see Cynthia Cockburn (1981). For the tobacco industry, see Patricia A. Cooper (1987).

4 The printing industry was segregated, with women dominating bookbinding and men dominating other occupations, such as compositing.

5 Calculations are based on benefits and average earnings for the year 1898 and are conditional upon the worker having been a union member for at least one year. Since the support provided was intended for men and women workers equally, the different percentages reflect a raw earnings gap between men and women.

6 The relationship between individual earnings and union membership is often discussed (Schnabel 2003). Earnings were positively related to membership, particularly if flat-rate fees were applied, but membership may also have caused earnings to rise (Freeman and Medoff 1984). In this paper, we exclude earnings from the presented findings. Because women on average earned less than men, the exclusion of earnings may lead to an overestimation of the gender gap in unionization. We also estimated models including weekly earnings. These results, available from the authors upon request, suggest a positive association between earnings and union membership, tailing off at high-income levels, similar for cigar workers and compositors.

7 These variables are common to all individuals in any one factory. Location indicates whether the factory was situated in one of the big cities (Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö) or elsewhere. It was intended to capture differences in the supply of union services. Size serves as a proxy for the trade union’s costs of organizing members (Olson 1965).

8 Gender, age, experience, tenure (and their squared terms), civil status, the presence of dependent children at home, occupation, and workplace location and size are theoretically motivated independent variables, whereas birth location, wage form (applicable only for cigar makers), and being an apprentice were introduced as controls.

9 We also tested for gender differences in the determinants of union membership through interactions between sex and other variables (such as age, marital status, and kids at home). Overall, we found that men and women were affected similarly by these factors in their decision to join the union, with a couple of minor exceptions.

10 Cigar workers were more varied as a group than were compositors. While the former included four occupational specialties ranging from unskilled preparation workers to skilled rollers and sorters, the latter group was homogeneous and basically only faced distinctions as to whether they worked with machines or not.

11 For studies on the gender dimension of mutual aid societies, see Mary Ann Clawson (1989) and Liselotte Eriksson and Lars Fredrik Andersson (2015).

12 We believe that these aspects warrant further analysis and would be worth investigating as a separate issue. Another issue that also merits attention is to what extent membership in trade unions and mutual aid societies were seen as substitutes or complementary, and if the decision to join either or both was independent, which we assume here.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tobias Karlsson

Tobias Karlsson (PhD) is Associate Professor in Economic History at Lund University. His research focuses on the history of labor markets and employment relationships in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He is currently involved in projects on labor conflicts, workforce reductions, and absenteeism, respectively. Recent publications include contributions to Economic History Review, Enterprise & Society, Scandinavian Economic History Review, and Continuity and Change.

Maria Stanfors

Maria Stanfors (PhD) is Professor in Economic History at Lund University. Her research interests include the economic histories of education, female labor force participation, housework, and family formation, as well as the interrelationships between them. She is involved in parallel projects on past and present gender differentials in labor market outcomes (focusing on wages and careers) and the roles of assortative mating for income inequality in contemporary Europe. Recent publications (2013–16) include contributions to Economic History Review, European Sociological Review, Historical Methods, Business History, Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, Journal of Family Issues, and Demographic Research.