Gender, Power and Trade Union Democracy

Teresa Rees

Chapter 7 in Trade Unions and their Members, 1990, pp 177-205 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract The 1980s have been a decade of considerable change for trade unions in Britain. The decline in union membership since the peak of 1979 has been attributed to shifts in the industrial structure and the increase in the proportion of the workforce who are unemployed or who work part-time. Legislative changes have reduced and reshaped unions’ freedom to participate in industrial action. The locus of power, the collective bargaining system, has been seriously threatened for some unions which have been involved in protracted disputes. But the decade is characterized too by the growth of women’s participation in the unions, and by the extent to which the issue of gender inequality, both in the workplace and in the unions themselves, is receiving attention. It is now ten years since the TUC Charter of Action identified ten means of pursuing the goal of equality for women in unions. The limited progress in achieving those aims (Ellis, 1988; TUC 1986; Labour Research Department 1988; Trade Union Research Unit 1986) underlines, among other factors, the complex interrelationship between men and women’s positions in the union, the workplace and in the family.

Keywords: Sexual Harassment; Trade Union; Union Membership; Union Activity; Gender Segregation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1990
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DOI: 10.1007/978-1-349-11931-8_7

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