Sisters organising — women and their trade unions

Abstract

Women make up almost half of the British workforce. Yet only one-third of trade union² members are women, and within their unions women rarely reach the top; in 1994 there were four female general secretaries. Throughout the 1980s there were never more than five unions led by a woman, and in only a third were women represented on national executive bodies in proportion to their membership.

The authors would like to acknowledge the funding provided by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) which assisted in some of the research reported in this chapter.