Women, Power and Trade Union Government in the UK

Healy, Geraldine; Kirton, Gill

doi:10.1111/1467-8543.00168

Cited by 69 publications

(88 citation statements)

References 6 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…When you come back to work, you think I've done it before, I can do it again.' For activists to be effective, the confidence to articulate and to challenge is a critical part of their personal power resources (Bradley 1999;Healy and Kirton 2000), and this study suggests that women's confidence and perceptions of their personal power can grow within the 'safe space' of a women's course. The reflexive nature of Bradley's approach to identity suggests that, for experienced activists, such safe space allows an individual to affirm her activist or politicized union identity.…”

Section: 'Safe Space'mentioning

confidence: 89%

Shaping Union and Gender Identities: A Case Study of Women‐Only Trade Union Courses

Kirton

Healy

2004

Brit J Industrial Rel

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In the context of efforts to revitalize unions and the acknowledged need to widen participation within trade unions, this paper argues that women-only trade union education acts as a vehicle for increasing women's participation and for improving their experiences of unions. Drawing on a qualitative research study of women-only courses in two large male-dominated British trade unions, the findings indicate that such courses provide the conditions for women to question, reinforce or transform their social identities and thereby can lead to greater union identification and participation. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2004.

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Section: 'Safe Space'mentioning

confidence: 89%

Shaping Union and Gender Identities: A Case Study of Women‐Only Trade Union Courses

Kirton

Healy

2004

Brit J Industrial Rel

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“…Numerous studies have explored how women's roles and interests can contribute to union renewal, transformation and the decision-making structures of unions (Cunnison and Stageman, 1995;Dickens, 2000;Healy and Kirton, 2000;Kirton and Greene, 2002;Parker, 2009). Such research highlights a tension between whether women's interests are best advanced through separate union structures or more general mainstreaming, through the transformation of practices, policies and cultures (Colgan and Ledwith, 1996).…”

Section: Women Trade Unions and Modernizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Women and the Modernization of British Trade Unions: Meanings, Dimensions and the Challenge of Change

Stuart

Tomlinson

Lucio

2013

Journal of Industrial Relations

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This article examines the position of women within the modernization processes of British trade unions, based on the first analysis to date of projects funded under the British government's Trade Union Modernisation Fund. The focus of the article on the Trade Union Modernisation Fund provides unique insights into the relatively underexplored 'inner workings' of unions, and allows an examination of the types of modernization projects that may advance women's interests within unions and the types of challenges such initiatives face. The projects suggested that reflection and learning around women's interests and equality agendas were taking place, along with a degree of mainstreaming and embedding activity within union structures. However, projects had to face not only deeply entrenched constraints, but also a new set of challenges raised by the process of modernization itself.

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“…There is a dearth of published research on equality structures and processes within contemporary Irish unions. For example, there are no detailed Irish case studies similar to those of Colgan and Ledwith (2000) or Healy and Kirton (2000 and 2002) in the UK.…”

Section: The Irish Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Trade Unions, Gender and Claims under Irish Employment Equality Legislation

Quinn¹

2004

Gender Work & Organization

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This article examines trade union activity in representing claimants at Equality Officer investigations under the Republic of Ireland's Employment Equality Act, 1977. This is set in the context of traditional trade union support for gender segregation in employment and the observation that trade union decision-making bodies still tend to be heavily male dominated. Use of the Act by trade unions is shown to have been mainly reactive rather than strategic. Evidence is presented that, while some individual union officials actively supported claims, this was not necessarily typical. It is argued that this represented a lost opportunity by trade unions to push the equality agenda forward and is consistent with continuation of the patriarchal trade union tradition. The article concludes by arguing that significant change to this approach is unlikely, given current gendered patterns of trade union governance.

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Women, Power and Trade Union Government in the UK

Cited by 69 publications

References 6 publications

Shaping Union and Gender Identities: A Case Study of Women‐Only Trade Union Courses

Shaping Union and Gender Identities: A Case Study of Women‐Only Trade Union Courses

Women and the Modernization of British Trade Unions: Meanings, Dimensions and the Challenge of Change

Trade Unions, Gender and Claims under Irish Employment Equality Legislation

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