by James Parks, Dec 5, 2007

Working women make up about half of the workforce and nearly half of the union movement. But the number of women in union leadership roles do not reflect the growing numbers of women members. The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR), a nonpartisan research group, today issued a report that can help unions promote women’s voices and leadership.

Based on interviews with women who are union activists, the report, I Knew I Could Do This Work, points out the many obstacles women experience for becoming union activists and suggests ways to overcome them. 

Here’s Amy Caiazza, IWPR’s director of democracy and society programs and author of the report:

Unions are good for women workers, but they could be much better at promoting women into leadership positions. The strategies outlined in this report are designed to help women claim a voice of authority in an area that is traditionally dominated by men.

Having women as powerful and effective union leaders can benefit women as a whole, according to the report: 

Promoting women and their perspectives more visibly within unions can benefit them even further by ensuring that their issues as workers are prioritized in all aspects of union work, from contact negotiations and representing individual workers to lobbying and other political work. Because unions shape policy and practice in both economic and political life, having women at the table has broad implications for their well-being, their autonomy and their rights as workers. 

The report outlines seven strategies to promote women’s leadership in unions:

• Address women’s true priorities. If unions more visibly address women’s concerns, they are more likely to inspire their long-term, active involvement. (The AFL-CIO’s Ask A Working Woman survey provides strong insight into the chief concerns of working women. Click here to read the latest results of the survey. We’re getting set for another Ask A Working Woman survey in 2008.)
• Create and support formal mentoring programs. Although a good deal of mentoring occurs informally, formalizing the process will ensure more successful outreach.
• Provide opportunities for women to strategize together. Unions can cultivate women-specific training programs, conferences, women’s committees and networks at the local, regional and national levels.
• Ensure women are in leadership roles. Women in visible local and national leadership roles provide role models and articulate respect for their authority.
• Highlight the importance of women’s contributions. Unions can provide examples of women’s current and past union leadership as models for what union women can accomplish. 
• Provide flexible options for involvement. To accommodate the conflicting demands of women’s lives, unions can offer creative opportunities to get involved.
• Provide training on mobilizing women. Unions can train their leaders and organizers on strategies that effectively inspire women’s activism and promote their leadership.

A related strategy that unions can use, according to the report, is to support women’s involvement in groups such as the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), 9to5, Chicago Women in the Trades and Oregon Tradeswomen. The report says:  

These groups provide resources and support for women’s union work through conferences, research and other activities. Encouraging or even financially supporting women’s involvement in them could be an effective way to promote women’s leadership and solidarity with one another, as well as support for the union, particularly when unions have limited resources for providing these kinds of resources themselves.

Click here to download a copy of the report, which was funded in part by the Berger-Marks Foundation and the Ford Foundation. 

Many of these strategies mirror the suggestions made during four AFL-CIO Power in Diversity conferences this summer. At those conferences, several union leaders from across the country explained how they increased diversity in their leadership by consciously attempting to hire more women organizers, by seeking advice and potential leaders from constituency groups and by expanding their boards to provide more opportunities for women and people of color.

To better represent all workers, and meet today’s organizing and political challenges by engaging all our members, delegates to the AFL-CIO 2005 Convention adopted a sweeping plan to increase the diversity of union leadership at all levels. Federation President John Sweeney called approval of Resolution #2 

one of the most important landmarks for the union movement in our generation. It will change the face of the union movement.

Resolution #2: “A Diverse Movement Calls for Diverse Leadership,” calls for:

• AFL-CIO Convention delegations to reflect the diversity of their unions;
• Central labor councils and state federations to implement plans for diverse leadership; and
• Job, training and promotion opportunities.

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