The pressures of globalization and diversity are increasingly requiring organizations to rethink their priorities and methods. In this collection, leading researchers examine the debates and developments on gender, diversity and democracy in trade unions in eleven countries. Offering an authoritative basis for comparative analysis, this book is essential reading for researchers, teachers, trade unionists and students of industrial relations and equal opportunities, along with all those concerned with ensuring that modern organizations reflect and represent the needs and concerns of a diverse workforce.

This book, first published in 1994, explores the impact of work and gender roles on union activism, and identifies factors that support and hinder women’s representation in trade unions. These issues are discussed in terms of gender role, work-related and union-related factors. The author details what trade unionists are doing to challenge inequalities that still exist, and identifies factors that divide and unite men and women within trade unions. The author shows the impact that feminism has had on the trade union movement and explores the extent to which men and women have similar priorities for collective bargaining.

Reflecting the increased attention to gender and women in the field of employment relations, there is now a growing international literature on women and trade unions. The interest in women as trade unionists arises partly from the fact that women comprise 40 percent of trade union membership in the USA and over 50 percent in the UK. Further, despite considerable overall union membership decline in both the UK and USA, more women than men are joining unions in both countries. Recognition of the importance of women to the survival and revival of trade union movements has in many cases produced an unprecedented commitment to equality and inclusion at the highest level. Yet the challenge is to ensure that this commitment is translated to action and improves the experience of women in their union and in their workplace. Gender and Leadership in Trade Unions explores and evaluates the similarities and differences in equality strategies pursued by unions in the US and the UK. It assesses the conditions experienced by women union members and how these impact on their leadership, both potential and actual. Women have made gains in both countries within union leadership and decision-making structures, however, climbing the ladder to leadership positions remains far from a smooth process. In the trade union context, women face multiple barriers that resonate with the barriers facing aspiring women leaders in other organizational contexts, including the gendered division of domestic work; the organization and nature of women’s work; the organization and nature of trade union work and the masculine culture of trade unions. The discussion of women trade union leaders is situated more broadly within debates on governance, leadership and democracy within social justice activism.

Examining the experiences of leadership among trade unionists in a range of unions and labor movements around the world, this volume addresses perspectives of women and men from a range of identities such as race/ethnicity, sexuality, and age. It analyses existing models of leadership in various political organizational forms, especially trade unions, but also including business and management approaches, leadership forms which arise from fields such as community, pedagogy, and the third sector. This book analyzes and critiques concepts, expectations, and experiences of union leaders and leadership in labor organizations, while comparing gender and cultural perspectives. Contributors to the volume draw on empirical research to identify key ideas, beliefs and experiences which are critical to achieving change, setting up resistance, and transforming the inertia of traditionalism.

Explores the potential for trade unions to defend the socioeconomic rights of women. Making Globalization Work for Women explores the potential for trade unions to defend the socioeconomic rights of women in a global context. Looking at labor policies and interviews with people in unions and nongovernmental organizations, the essays diagnose the problems faced by women workers across the world and assess the progress that unions in various countries have made in responding to those problems. Some concerns addressed include the masculine culture of many unions and the challenges of female leadership within them, laissez-faire governance, and the limited success of organizations working on these issues globally. Making Globalization Work for Women brings together in a synthetic and fruitful conversation the work and ideas of feminists, unions, NGOs, and other human rights workers. “Making Globalization Work for Women is an illuminating, timely, and original collaboration among three prominent scholars that fills an important and missing niche in studies of transnational activism, global employment policy, and women’s work.” — Dorothy Sue Cobble, author of The Other Women’s Movement: Workplace Justice and Social Rights in Modern America

This guide provides managers in charge of self-employment promotion schemes with the tools to enhance the performance of their programmes. It focuses on common, recurring problems that are typically encountered when setting priorities, selecting staff, managing finances, tracking performance and more. It offers numerous examples of best practice as well as an extensive list of resources, references and helpful websites.

This book explores the representation of women’s interests in the world of work across 4 trade unions in France and the UK. Drawing on case studies, it unveils the social, organisational and political conditions that contribute to the reproduction of gender inequalities or, on the contrary, allow the promotion of equality.