Women and Decision making in Trade Unions

1. Women and Decision making in Trade Unions David Joyce Congress Equality Officer

2. Tipping the balance..? • Total membership: 812,848 • Of whom 414,719 are female • i.e. 51%

3. 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.

4. Equality Audit 1

6. Union Activity 90 80 70 60 Male 50 40 Female 30 20 10 0 RC Officer VP SS HS Other Total President NE Officer BC Officer RC Member BC Member NE Member Equality Audit 2

7. Equality Audit 3

8. 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.

9. 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

10. 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.

11. 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 )

12. 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.

13. 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

16. Upcoming Events • March 4/5th National Women’s Seminar • March 8th – International Women’s Day link up with Palestinian Women