IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/treure/v6y2000i2p193-208.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Collective bargaining and the promotion of gender equality at work: opportunities and challenges for trade unions

Author

Listed:
  • Linda Dickens

    (Industrial Relations Research Unit, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK)

Abstract

Four areas are discussed to make the case for the importance of harnessing collective bargaining for the promotion of equality. These concern contemporary European developments; advantages of collective bargaining compared with other strategies for promoting equality in employment; the benefits which can accrue to unions from making a positive link between equality and collective bargaining, and the negative consequences of failing to make such a link. The article then discusses some of the issues which harnessing collective bargaining for equality promotion raises for trade unions. These concern the content and priorities of bargaining and the identity of negotiators and union power holders. I argue that an approach which seeks simply to 'add women on' to bargaining agendas and as union members is an inadequate one and that more radical change in trade unions is required.

Suggested Citation

  • Linda Dickens, 2000. "Collective bargaining and the promotion of gender equality at work: opportunities and challenges for trade unions," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 6(2), pages 193-208, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:6:y:2000:i:2:p:193-208
    DOI: 10.1177/102425890000600205
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/102425890000600205
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/102425890000600205?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eva Cyba & Ulrike Papouschek, 1996. "Women's interests in the workplace. Between delegation and self-representation," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 2(1), pages 61-81, February.
    2. Séverine Lemière & Rachel Silvera, 1999. "Equal opportunities policies for women and men : a critical analysis of the 1998-1999 Employment Action Plans," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 5(4), pages 502-521, November.
    3. Richard Hyman, 1997. "Trade unions and interest representation in the context of globalisation," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 3(3), pages 515-533, November.
    4. Peter Leisink, 1997. "New union constituencies call for differentiated agendas and democratic participation," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 3(3), pages 534-550, November.
    5. Danièle Meulders & Robert Plasman, 1999. "The third pillar: adaptability," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 5(4), pages 481-501, November.
    6. Jeremy Waddington & Reiner Hoffmann & Jens Lind, 1997. "European trade unionism in transition? a review of the issues," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 3(3), pages 464-497, November.
    7. Adelheid Hege, 1997. "Trade unions in crisis - a European renaissance ?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 3(3), pages 498-514, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Uwe Jirjahn & Thi Xuan Thu Le, 2024. "Political spillovers of workplace democracy in Germany," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 95(1), pages 5-31, March.
    2. Susan Milner & Hélène Demilly & Sophie Pochic, 2019. "Bargained Equality: The Strengths and Weaknesses of Workplace Gender Equality Agreements and Plans in France," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 57(2), pages 275-301, June.
    3. Linda Dickens, 2007. "The Road is Long: Thirty Years of Equality Legislation in Britain," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 45(3), pages 463-494, September.
    4. Eunice S. Han, 2023. "What did unions do for union workers during the COVID‐19 pandemic?," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 61(3), pages 623-652, September.
    5. Anni Weiler, 2000. "Innovative agreements on equal oppportunities: new horizons of collective bargaining?," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 6(2), pages 209-226, May.
    6. Eunice S. Han, 2024. "How did the COVID‐19 pandemic affect men's and women's returns to unionization?," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 63(2), pages 172-204, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mia Latta, 2000. "Side-streaming gender? The potential and pitfalls of the European ideology on mainstreaming gender issues," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 6(2), pages 290-304, May.
    2. Marcial Sánchez-Mosquera, 2024. "The influence of the political attitudes of workers and the effect of the Great Recession on the decision to join a trade union in Southern Europe," Economic and Industrial Democracy, Department of Economic History, Uppsala University, Sweden, vol. 45(2), pages 579-599, May.
    3. Muhammad Saddam Hussain, 2023. "Commitment or Conspiracy? A Historical Exploration of Freedom of Association in the Readymade Garment Industry of Bangladesh," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(6), pages 1820-1834, June.
    4. Pedro Mendonça, 2020. "Trade union responses to precarious employment: the role of power resources in defending precarious flight attendants at Ryanair," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 26(4), pages 431-445, November.
    5. Reiner Hoffmann, 1997. "Time in the cities - a new action field for trade unions," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 3(4), pages 775-785, December.
    6. Jon Erik Dølvik, 2000. "Building regional structures: ETUC and the European Industry Federations," Transfer: European Review of Labour and Research, , vol. 6(1), pages 58-77, February.
    7. 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.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:treure:v:6:y:2000:i:2:p:193-208. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.