Women

RESOURCES & STATISTICS ON WOMEN IN UNIONS

 

RESOURCES

1987 A Changing Base. Strategies for Organising Women Union Members. Victoria

1991 Facing the Challenge
Women in Victorian Unions

1994 Strength in Numbers
Increasing women's representation in Unions. SA. Kathie Muir

1994 Raising Our Voices
Activism among Women & Men in SA Unions. SA. Barbara Pocock

1992 Women Count
Women in SA Unions
SA Barbara Pocock

1998 Gender Representation in Australian Unions
SA Sonya Mezinec

1998 The Slow Road to Fairer Unionism
Changes in Gender Representation in SA Unions
SA Sonya Mezinec

1999 Uniting to Eliminate Sexual Harassment
A Guide for SA Unions

STATISTICS

Women's Union Membership

Women now make up 42% of all unionists compared to 46% of all workers (ABS, 2000).

 

In 2000 the total number of union members increased by 23,500, or 1.3%.  Almost all the growth was among women (ACCIRT, 2000).

 

The profile of the workforce is undergoing dramatic change.  Ten years ago there were more blue collar workers than white collar professionals.  Today there are now 300,000 more white collar employees than blue collar workers, including big changes n the way we work and the gender breakdown of the workforce.  Most of Australia's unionists now work in education, retail and health.

 

In SA women make up 44% of all workers and 44%

of all union members (Centre for Labour Research, 1999)

 

A majority of Australians - 52% of people agree with the proposition that "I'd rather be in a union", up form 44% 2 years ago (ACCIRT, 2000).

 

This supports earlier studies specifically looking at women's attitudes to union membership (Pocock, 1994 and Rodan, 1990), which discounted the idea that women are less supportive of union membership than men.

 

Unions are recruiting women and support strategies to balance working life for all workers.

 

 

contact the SA Unions : saunions@saunions.org.au