Women and trade unions : a sociological perspective

Abstract

In spite of the continuous active role of women in the labour market and an increase of female labour supply in several countries, women trade union membership is still low when compared to that of men. Furthermore women seldom hold important decision-making posts within trade unions. The scope of this study is to give a sociological account of the reasons and barriers tied to women trade union membership and participation. Apart from giving information about women trade union membership in various countries, the study focuses on Maltese women and their participation in trade unions. This information is supplemented by a survey consisting of questionnaires distributed to randomly selected Maltese speaking females who have different occupations and a number of focused interviews with women occupying decision-making posts within a selected number of unions. This dissertation is divided into five chapters. The 1st chapter gives an outline of the history of trade unions in Malta since the 19th century and Maltese women trade union participation throughout the years. Chapter two gives an analysis of statistics about women trade union membership in various countries, the number of women occupying top posts within the trade unions and women friendly structures that arc being included in trade unions. The third chapter deals with the reasons and barriers tied to women trade union participation. These are classified into three main groups: work related, union related and cultural-societal-personal factors. Chapter four analyses the data collected by the questionnaire and the information received from the focused interviews. Finally the conclusion sums up the research findings and compares them with the information gathered in the previous chapters. In addition several appendices relating to the questionnaire and the focused interviews are supplemented.