MALE-DOMINATED TRADITIONS

As with society in general, trade unions have historically and traditionally been very much a male domain; it is still the case that women are under-represented within trade unions, and UNISON is no exception to this long-standing pattern of sexism. However, with the advent of women making up an increasingly large proportion of the nation’s workforce, attitudes amongst trade unionists are gradually changing, and more women are now trade union members; some are actively involved .UNISON nationally has women holding senior positions within the organization – although we’ve yet to see a woman in the very top job – the General Secretary post…

Women make up approximately 75% of UNISON members nationally, and this has led womens issues being given a higher priority than ever before.

PROPORTIONALITY AND FAIR REPRESENTATION

UNISON has taken positive steps to promote equality for women; the principle of proportionality is applied throughout the organization; this means that if the membership is 80% female, then the Branch executive committee should reflect that by also being 80% female.

UCL BRANCH

Within UCL Branch, women make up approximately 80% of our membership, and we are proud of our track record in protecting and promoting women’s rights within UCL.

We are also proud that women play an important and significant role within UCL UNISON. Most Branch Officer posts are held by women, and we also have an increasing number of female shop stewards within the Branch; women members have also played a pivotal role in all of UCL UNISON’s campaigns such as the recent London Weighting industrial action.

WOMEN’S OFFICERS

The Women’s Officer post is currently shared by Marcela Wanasen and Wendy Biggin.

Marcela works as a Dining Hall Assistant in Ramsay Hall Student Residence; as a manual staff member on very low pay, Marcela is particularly concerned with the London Weighting Campaign. She is also concerned about Health and Safety issues and computer training for manual staff members at UCL. She has shared the Women’s Officer post for 18 months.

Marcela also holds the Reserved Low Paid Female Seat (RLPFS) on the UNISON Higher Education Service Group Executive Committee.

Holding the post has raised issues for Marcela, the Women’s Group, and the Branch generally in terms of the level of support Marcela has received; this led the Branch to put forward a motion to National Conference this year (2003) on the issue - see Conference motions below- proposing that more comprehensive help and support be offered to those holding RLPFS’s.

Marcela can be contacted via [email protected].

Wendy is a clerical staff member, working in Library Services as a Library Assistant; her particular concerns are Institutionalised Sexism: the socio-cultural undervaluing of traditionally female work, e.g. domestic, catering, and childcare work and the socio-cultural undervaluing of traditionally feminine qualities such as altruism, pacifism, networking- interpersonal skills, and sociability.

Wendy is also concerned about issues around fertility – a woman’s right to choose, maternity rights, childcare facilities within the workplace, and flexible working hours.

She has been Women’s Officer for almost 2 years

SELF-ORGANISED GROUPS:

UNISON nationally promotes self-organised groups (SOG’s) for under-represented and/or disadvantaged groups; the 4 recognised SOG’s are for Black, Disabled, Lesbian & Gay, and Women Members.

Women are unique in that, although they are not a minority group, they are disadvantaged, and are still struggling to achieve equal status to men within the workplace and society in general.

UCL UNISON Women’s Group meets once a month (usually the second Wednesday of the month) and talks about anything and everything attenders want – in past meetings we have discussed portrayal of women in the media, women in Iraq, whether there should be trade union recognition of prostitution as a service, rape not being acknowledged as justification for women to seek asylum in this country, UCL’s sickness absence, maternity leave, and flexible working hours policies. We’ve talked about the way the Branch is run in terms of structure, organization, etc. and we also talk about any significant meetings that have taken place such as UNISON Regional HE Committee, UNISON-HR Consultation meeting, etc. Oh, and we were also the key food organisers for UCL UNISON’s summer social event!

The group are hoping to organise a theatrical production in the autumn to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Women’s Suffrage. The play was written by UCL UNISON member Beth Shaw. Please contact Wendy Biggin for more details: [email protected].