Women Workers in the Mondragon System of Industrial Cooperatives

Abstract

A feminist analysis of the Basque Mondragon system of industrial cooperatives suggests that women fare somewhat better in cooperatives than in private firms in employment, earnings, and job security. Market phenomena and the family as basic economic unit affect women workers negatively, as does increasing professionalism in the technical core of the system. Similarities in gender stratification and segregation in capitalist, socialist, and cooperative workplaces call into question the ability of all three to deal adequately with gender equality. Full workplace democracy may depend on the distribution of goods and services based on need rather than work or the wage, socialization of homework and child care, degendering of technical and scientific knowledge, its dissemination as widely as possible throughout the workplace and the community, and the inclusion of all members of the community in major decisions. The article ends with modest suggestions for alleviating one pervasive problem in large industrial cooperatives—the concentration of technical and scientific skill among a few, primarily men.

Gender In/equality in Worker‐owned Businesses

“…Despite this historical legacy, Hacker and Elcorobairutia () find that women working in the Mondragon system in general fared better than women who worked in conventional firms, experiencing better job opportunities, earnings, and job security. However, the authors argue that women's responsibilities for carework in the home combined with continued occupational gender segregation reproduce similar pattern of gender inequality in conventional and cooperative work organizations (see also Hacker ; Rothschild and Whitt ).…”

Women's Work: A Challenge to the Sociology of Work

“…In the contemporary organization, a masculine form of sexuality is pervasivein residential homes (Parkin 1989), in the managerial ranks (Sheppard 1989), amongst secretaries (Pringle 1989), and on the shop floor (Collinson and Collinson 1989). Sexuality is an important means of control (Tancred-Sheriff 1989), as sexual mechanisms assist in controlling the organizational interface with workers or consumers/clients ( e g air line passengers, business clients). Women can also be controlled through sexual manipulation; in both cases, the formal, regulatory means of control are complemented by sexuality as a control mechanism.…”

“…Rothschild-Whitt 1979), and the position of women within them (e.g. Hacker and Elcorobairutia 1987). At least within the patriarchal context, alternative Organizations are, it appears, no panacea for women's unequal workplace position…”

Producing and Reducing Gender Inequality in a Worker-Recovered Cooperative

“…These principles are institutionalized through the adoption of horizontal workplace structures and participatory cultures (Rothschild‐Whitt ), which may disrupt inequality between men and women. Indeed, studies that examine gender in worker cooperatives suggest that although inequalities persist, women fare better than they do in conventional workplaces (Hacker and Elcorobairutia ; Rothschild and Tomchin ; Meyers ; Miller ). These findings raise important questions for the study of gendered organizations.…”