Female Union Delegates: The Class Struggle and Sexual Equality

Abstract

Compulsory unionism in New Zealand in the past meant that women had to sign up and join their local trade union branch - but there was no compulsion to become actively involved. Yet many women did permit themselves to be nominated and became union delegates. They persisted too, even though much of the literature tells us that male unionists were either indifferent or hostile to female involvement in the trade union movement. In the strictly male hierarchical trade union movement, women had little chance, until very recently, of gaining representation at influential levels. Despite this, many women stuck with their principles and represented their co-workers. Why did they do it? Was it because the class war was more important to them than the sex war? Did they try to fight both oppressions simultaneously? Did they believe overcoming one- the battle against the employers- would help alleviate male oppression generally? Or did they not find the attitudes of some male unionists a problem at all? Five older trade union women were interviewed on audio tape for this research topic and were asked to discuss their experiences with male trade unionists and, specifically to talk about their attitudes towards feminism and the feminist movement. The international work published by Alice Cook on the experiences of women as both members and office-holders in trade unions forms the empirical base of the paper.