“Crossing geographical, cultural and hegemonic frontiers in the pursuit of greater equality”
In reviewing Gender, Diversity and Trade Unions, the question could be asked, “How relevant are trade unions to EOI readers today?” In answer to this question, there are a number of reasons why the book is an essential source of knowledge and understanding for readers interested in diversity and equality.
Colgan and Ledwith present a unique collection of contributions by different writers covering the experiences of women and other minority groups in trade unions across ten countries. Although primarily focussing on western countries, extra insight and cultural diversity is offered through research in South Africa, India and Malaysia. The book demonstrates that unions still remain a very influential vehicle for addressing inequality and driving forward the diversity agenda. It could be argued that there is scope for further research to extend the analysis to cover other developing countries. This is the challenge for future writers. In the meantime, through the strength of its comparative analysis, there are many cross‐cultural lessons we can take from the experiences of women and other disadvantaged groups covered by this book.
In the opening chapter, the editors outline the key themes of the book, emphasising the increasing influence of global market forces on the gender and diversity agenda of unions organising in the countries under discussion. A number of the contributions demonstrate how restructuring in the workplace due to globalisation is impacting on minority groups, their jobs and consequently their struggle to be heard in their unions. The editors stress that, although still very relevant, we must look beyond the question of representative vs participative democracy and recognise that, “the study of cultural and social processes involved in the dynamics of class, gendered, sexualised and racialised hegemonies can… [also]… help explain the oligarchic tendencies involved in structural practices of closure, exclusion, demarcation and segregation in trade unions” (p. 9). They offer a very useful conceptualisation of the different approaches adopted by unions and equality activists in maintaining or seeking to contest these hegemonic and oligarchic tendencies. Although, total exclusion of minority groups is no longer practised in the unions under discussion, the book does offer evidence of demarcation and segregation where, for instance, in South Africa, women are “routinely segregated into secondary positions and excluded from union power elites and collective bargaining” (p. 11). In contrast, there is also evidence of inclusive practices such as the success of self‐organisation for minority groups and elections based on proportionality in UNISON (Chapter 8). Similarly, transformational practices in terms of real “structural and cultural organisational change” (p. 18) are reported in the book.
In discussing the dilemma facing trade unions to balance the rights and aspirations of organised labour as a collective against the needs of the individual groups that make up that collective, Baumgarten's review of gender, diversity and German trade unionism is instructive. She notes that, “German scholarly literature … heavily influenced by the idea of (class or internal group) homogeneity, ignored the division of labour and its organisation by gender” (p. 132). This highlights a key theme of how internal union equality must be seen in the context of the drive for external equality in the workplace. Furthermore, it exposes the tendency in a lot of industrial relations literature not to recognise these contradictions. This is something that this publication redresses to very good effect.
Another key strength of the book is that it draws on the experiences of women union activists from culturally, politically and economically diverse environments. For instance, the “averted” equality crisis of the Swedish union federation, L.O., in terms of making concessions to women for greater representation rights, stands in stark contrast to more fundamental economic and gendered issues faced by Indian and Malaysian women trade unionists contesting the additional barriers presented by religion and caste.
Interestingly, and building on the themes developed in the preceding chapters, the final two chapters by Franzway then Williams consider the degree to which a “pronounced form of masculine culture” (p. 292) continues to “pervade” the trade union movement, particularly in “blue‐collar and male dominated” sections, that can act as a detriment to greater gender equality. The studies are set in Australia and consider how sexuality impacts on traditional patriarchal trade unionism, in terms of the ways in which women and non‐heterosexual members seek to challenge that traditional hegemony.
The complexity of the challenge for women activists reinforces the underlying theme in the book of seeking to build alliances through recognising differences – be it on the basis of gender, occupation, class or creed. Todd and Bhobal in their account of the struggles of Malaysian women activists, for instance, highlight a complex mixture of politics, class and ethnicity that serves to disadvantage workers, in particular women from working‐class backgrounds. As the writers emphasise, for union solidarity to be successful it must transcend, yet still respect, ethnic, gender and class differences in a political environment still quite hostile to organised labour. Cultural hegemony remains a key theme for the book and echoes Cockburn's call for all members to challenge non‐representative value sets and ideologies (Kirton, 2006). As Williams succinctly argues, “the fear of femininity central to heterosexual male identity poses serious problems for trade unions” (p. 293). This is a key theme that is articulated in a number of the contributions to this book and, again, is in concert with Cockburn's classic conceptualisation of “the long agenda” (1989) towards cultural change that will realise benefits for women and men in terms of greater equality for all groups in society.
Overall, the book offers an illuminating account of the struggles and successes of women and other minority group activists in addressing the inequalities of power and influence still prevalent to various degrees in unions across the world. Its comparative approach is a particular strength and allows the writers to contextualise the common themes of the book in terms of the political, economic and cultural variations in the different countries covered. This book will be of interest to trade unionists, managers and scholars who want to enrich their understanding of a key aspect of employee relations, and wish to better understand how the increasingly global markets of today impact on the equal rights of the workers that service those markets.
