Gender, Class and Equal Opportunity Policies: A Grass-roots Case Study from the Trade Union Movement

Abstract

This paper reports a case study of failure to implement equal opportunity policies at the grass roots of a large UK trade union, recently formed by national merger and over 70% female. It focuses on two of the union's constitutional principles, proportionality (relating to gender) and fair representation (relating to occupation), designed to guarantee members representation on decision making bodies proportional to their numbers in the membership. The failure to implement these two principles during a local merger between branches from two constituent unions is explained by three factors: firstly the lack of enforcement mechanisms at grass roots level; secondly class differences between women; and thirdly the fading of gender issues as power struggles between the branches burgeoned. These struggles fed on the different cultural identities and feminist perspectives of the constituent unions; they masked men's resistance to yielding power to women. Personal rivalries between individual men were also an issue.