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Gender politics in trade unions. The representation of women between exclusion and inclusion

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  • Sue Ledwith

    (Ruskin College, Oxford)

Abstract

How can we account for the persistence of exclusion of women from organizational power and leadership in trade unions in spite of their increasing proportion of the labour force and of trade union membership? For a while, often as part of revitalization strategies, trade unions have put in place extensive structural reforms to encourage gender equality, but in practice these do not result in gender proportionality in formal positions in unions. We have to seek for deeper explanations, and this article explores how at a more profound level cultures of exclusionary masculinity are strongly embedded especially in traditional unions and among traditional male leaderships. However, there is also increasing evidence of changing attitudes among younger and more diverse workers and trade unionists, those from different cultural and ethnic groups, migrant workers, men as well as women, as their experiences of increasingly precarious work align with patterns long established by women juggling family and part-time insecure work. An optimistic reading of these changes sees the possibilities for increasing inclusion and gender equity within trade unions.

Suggested Citation

  • Sue Ledwith, 2012. "Gender politics in trade unions. The representation of women between exclusion and inclusion," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 18(2), pages 185-199, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:18:y:2012:i:2:p:185-199
    DOI: 10.1177/1024258912439145
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Judy Wajcman, 2000. "Feminism Facing Industrial Relations in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 38(2), pages 183-201, June.
    2. Edmund Heery, 2006. "Union Workers, Union Work: A Profile of Paid Union Officers in the United Kingdom," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 44(3), pages 445-471, September.
    3. Jeremy Waddington & Colin Whitston, 1997. "Why Do People Join Unions in a Period of Membership Decline?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 35(4), pages 515-546, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ann Cecilie Bergene & Cathrine Egeland, 2016. "Interventionism as a union strategy? The strategies of the Norwegian Nurses Organisation in relation to temporary agency work," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 22(4), pages 521-534, November.
    2. Raquel Rego & Ana Espírito-Santo, 2023. "Beyond density: Improving European trade unions’ representativeness through gender quotas," European Journal of Industrial Relations, , vol. 29(4), pages 415-433, December.
    3. Kurt Vandaele, 2013. "Union responses to young workers since the Great Recession in Ireland, the Netherlands and Sweden: are youth structures reorienting the union agenda? 1," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 19(3), pages 381-397, August.
    4. Drakopoulos, Stavros A., 2024. "Non-orthodox Economic Approaches to Labor Unions and Union Leadership," MPRA Paper 119787, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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