"Struggling to get the position and struggling to keep it": how women become trade union leaders
Date
2011-08-12
Authors
Tsomondo, Constance Chiedza
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Abstract
The study sought to understand the journey through which women travel in order to become
trade union leaders in an environment that is male dominated. Through an analysis of the
exceptional women who are trade union leaders, it looked into their motivations to become
trade union leaders, the steps they take, the struggles they face, and the mechanism which
they employ to successfully overcome the barriers to their rise to top hierarchies of trade
unions. This qualitative study identified the limiting factors to women’s involvement in trade
unions as leaders and simultaneously identified the positive forces that support them the
opportunities that exist for trade unions to foster and strengthen the integration of women
leaders.
Participants in the study were trade union officials from COSATU affiliates: nine were
women with leadership positions at national level and six were gender coordinators from the
trade unions (one was a man). The women leaders had experience of trade union activism for
a number of years ranging from four to twenty-eight. The study employed an in depth
interview method where all the interviews with participants were carried out face to face.
There were two separate interview schedules; one for the women leaders and one for gender
coordinators.
This study contributed to the body of existing knowledge about women in trade unions. It
confirms other studies’ findings that in addition to women’s personal attributes there are
opportunities for trade unions to promote women’s leadership but they remain weak in
implementing strategies for increasing the participation of women as leaders and are
hampered by the persistence of male culture and bureaucracy which disadvantages women