The Role of Women’s Groups in New Zealand, UK and Canadian Trade Unions in Addressing Intersectional Interests

Abstract

Trade union women’s groups (WGs) may be defined as collective mechanisms such as women’s committees, conferences, networks, caucuses, branches/locals and training courses located within the wider union setting (cf. independent, self-organized WGs). The study draws on national surveys of trade unions in the UK, Canada, and New Zealand to examine the role(s) played by WGs, particularly in terms of voicing and advancing diverse or intersectional interests. Diversity builds on the more or less stable identities on which ‘difference’ ideas of (gender) equality are premised. Intersectionality is defined here as recognition of a person or group’s membership in more than one marginalized group, and intersectional interests as (i) interests held by subgroups of women (e.g., ethnic minority women); (ii) interests which transcend gender but may have gendered impacts; and (iii) more traditionally conceived gender interests which emphasize women’s situation relative to that of men (i.e., ‘intra-’, ‘trans-’ and ‘inter-gender’ interests). We also examine the equality approaches that underpin these pursuits before considering how intra-WG, union, and wider contexts help account for similarities and differences in union WG foci in the three countries. Based on extant research and the study’s empirical findings, the concluding discussion considers the broad directions in which UK, Canadian and New Zealand WGs may be headed in terms of representing intersectional interests and what this may mean for internal cohesion and union revitalization.