International Encyclopedia of Men and Masculinities
UNIONS/ORGANISED LABOUR MOVEMENTS
Feminist research reveals that many unions remain dominated by men and are still characterised by highly masculine policies, structures, cultures and practices. Trade unions were originally established as a collective response by working people designed to counter employer practices that were deemed unfair, exploitative or discriminatory. A key strength of the union movement has always been its collectivity, typically expressed in the motto ‘unity is strength’. It is somewhat ironic, then, that organisations set up with the expressed aim to improve workplace equity and fairness should themselves be criticised for reinforcing various inequities (such as status, gender and ethnicity).
Within Western capitalist economies, unions were most influential in the middle of the twentieth century. The influence of UK unions and the extent of their membership began to decline after the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979 (although they still tend to retain more power than their US counterparts). It may be partly because of this reducing influence that the male dominance of unions has been neglected by critical studies of men and masculinity, an area of research that has grown during this same period.
Most of the research on gender within trade unions has been conducted by feminist women writers. In particular, they have examined the ways in which male-dominated unions have maintained a policy of either excluding women altogether or ensuring their segregation into subordinated, low-paid and insecure forms of employment (Walby 1986). Union officials have often seen women as a threat to male employment levels and pay because employers often use women as ‘cheap labour’. In certain jobs and industries women’s entry is also seen as a challenge to the gendered view of specific skills being the exclusive province of men. Cockburn (1983) examined the exclusionary labour market practices of the UK print unions. She revealed how the National Graphical Association (NGA), as a male-dominated craft union, historically sustained its members’ wages by resisting women’s entry into printing.
Feminist researchers have also explored the internal dynamics of unions, revealing how their masculine cultures often constitute an important barrier to women’s participation. They document women’s historical and contemporary struggles to be recognised and heard within union cultures that are predominantly male, white and working-class. Studies reveal the masculine governance of unions, how men remain dominant in terms of union participation rates, hierarchy profiles, activism rates and membership (Rees 1992). Although there has been a growth in women’s labour market participation and union membership, this has not been matched by proportionate increases in female representation in lay or full-time union positions.
Men’s numerical dominance can also shape union policies and strategies. For example, unions have often neglected important ‘women’s issues’ such as equal pay, maternity leave, job segregation and job sex-typing, part-time work, childcare, maternity leave and sexual harassment. Quinn (2004) examines trade union activity in representing claimants at equality officer investigations in the Irish Republic. She found that union use of the Equality Act over twenty-five years had been mainly reactive rather than strategic. At best, unions merely followed members who had initiated claims. At worst, they supported discriminatory agreements with employers against members’ claims. She concludes that the patriarchal trade union tradition is continuing in Ireland.
Cunnison and Stageman (1995) show how different unions are characterised by various mechanisms of male control. Parker (2003) examines the reasons for unions’ ‘underengagement’ with women. Comparing the proportion of women union members in the ten largest UK unions with the proportion of women in key posts within union hierarchies, she argues that paid union official posts remain disproportionately dominated by men. Those women who have progressed within union hierarchies tended to be older, single and without dependent children, typically conforming to the ‘masculine’ job model of a union official with a long unbroken record of activism and full-time employment. Roby and Uttal (1993) found that Canadian female stewards with children tended to reduce their union work outside work time in order to prioritise family commitments. In contrast, their male counterparts often allowed union work to spill over into non-work time and relied heavily on the support of their wives.
This male dominance of the union movement can also facilitate the emergence of aggressive forms of (men’s) sexuality and of sexual harassment within trade unions (Collinson and Collinson 1989). It may also inform a tendency for union officials to mismanage members’ claims of sexual harassment, especially by seeking to ‘keep the lid’ on these issues through highly informal mechanisms (Collinson and Collinson 1992).
References and further reading
Cockburn C. (1983) Brothers, London: Pluto Press.
Collinson, D. and Collinson, M. (1989) ‘Sexuality in the workplace: the domination of men’s sexuality’, in J.Hearn, D.Sheppard, P. Tancred-Sheriff and G.Burrell (eds) The Sexuality of Organization, London: Sage, pp. 91–109.
—(1992) ‘Mismanaging sexual harassment: blaming the victim and protecting the perpetrator’, Women and Management Review, 7, 7:11–17.
Cunnison, S. and Stageman, J. (1995) Feminizing the Unions, Aldershot: Avebury.
Parker J. (2003) Women’s Groups and Equality in British Trade Unions, Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press.
Quinn, M. (2004) ‘Trade unions, gender and claims under Irish employment equality legislation’, Gender Work and Organization, 11 (6): 648–67.
Rees, T. (1992) Women and the Labour Market, London: Routledge.
Roby, P. and Uttal, L. (1993) ‘Putting it aU together: the dilemmas of rank-and-file union leaders’, in D.Cobble (ed.) Women and Unions, New York: ILR Press, pp. 365–77.
Walby, S. (1986) Patriarchy at Work, Cambridge: Polity Press.
