Women and Decision making in Trade Unions

David Joyce

Congress Equality Officer

Tipping the balance..?

• Total membership: 812,848

• Of whom 414,719 are female

• i.e. 51%

Equality Audit

• first equality audit with a major focus on gender.

• Out of a total of 52 unions, 18 unions responded to the survey.

• 82% of the total trade union membership on the island

• 12 public sector unions, • 3 private sector unions• 5 unions that cover both the public and

private sectors.

Equality Audit 1

Union Employment

0102030405060708090

GS AGS Officials Admin

Level

Per

cen

tag

e

male

female

Equality Audit 2

Union Activity

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Presid

ent

VP

NE Offic

er

NE Mem

berRC O

fficer

RC Mem

ber

BC Offic

er

BC Mem

ber SS HS

Other

Total

Male

Female

Equality Audit 3

Union Policies

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Equality Policy Positive Action DisabilityPolicy

FlexibleWorking

Yes

No

ETUC

• ETUC represents more than 60 million workers across Europe, just over 40% of whom are women.

• Actions to promote gender equality and gender mainstreaming • Since 1993 a series of detailed, in-depth studies on the position

and representativeness of women in trade union structures, in order to:– have an overview of the situation across its membership; – appreciate the specificities that exist within the various trade union

structures and across different countries; – understand the many obstacles that are in place and prevent

women accessing their rightful place in trade unions. – Most importantly, these studies have helped ETUC to identify

strategies and solutions to improve the situation.

ETUC Survey Results

• 22 confederations that reported a rise in their female membership, half of them experienced a general reduction in their respective trade union membership levels since 2008

• of the 14 confederations that reported a fall in their trade union membership since 2008 only 3 of them also reported a decrease in their female membership. (attracting more women to their ranks is playing a crucial role in maintaining trade union growth).

• Trade union leadership, still considerably low in most of the trade union high level positions surveyed (presidency, vice-presidency, secretary general, deputy secretary general) and very little progress

ETUC Survey 2

• trend of an increasing number of female workers joining the trade union ranks, reiterates the importance for unions to put in place specific measures to address women’s underrepresentation at decision-making levels.

• point to the need for a continued focus on gender equality within the movement and the importance of building upon the past achievements.

From membership to leadership: advancing women in trade unions

• project throughout 2010 has made a strong case for a renewed and strategic approach to achieving gender balance in decision-making and leadership structures, as a basis for union democracy and for realising gender equality at societal, economic and political levels.

• resource guide published to spread good practice cases and to support affiliates’ efforts to achieve gender balance (see: http://www.etuc.org/r/1368 )

ETUC 10 point plan

• 1. Make the argument for gender balance as a core union priority.

• 2. Actively promote gender equality at all levels of the organisation through gender mainstreaming.

• 3. Introduce statutory rule changes on gender balance.

• 4. Prepare women for decision-making and leadership roles.

• 5. Engage men to build a consensus for balanced gender representation.

ETUC 10 point plan

• 6. Address the image and culture of unions.

• 7. Build union organisation so that women’s activism, involvement decision-making roles exists at all levels of the union.

• 8. Ensure that trade union organisations promote gender diversity through their own internal human resources.

• 9. Provide gender disaggregated data.

• 10. Take a strategic approach and develop concrete actions plans to improve gender balance, including

Upcoming Events

• March 4/5th National Women’s Seminar

• March 8th – International Women’s Day link up with Palestinian Women