Women Workers.
WOMEN TRADE UNIONS
[Labor] (Trade Union Congress) Women Workers. Report of the 29th Annual Conference of
representatives of Trade Unions Catering for Women Workers. Lytham St. Anne’s. April 24 and 25.
[Printed by Victoria house Printing Company, ... London], 1959.
8vo.; printed wrappers; stapled.
Professor Mary Davis, at the Centre for Trade Union Studies, London Metropolitan University, writes,
In 1925, the TUC established its own Women’s Conference and in 1930, a Women’s Advisory
Committee to assist the General Council to tackle the “problem” of women. The Women’s
Committee launched a campaign to increase the involvement of women by establishing local
women’s committees. This initiative was greeted apathetically, so a new range of publicity
material was launched in 1937 based on the assumption that trade unionism would only appeal to
women if it was concerned with “womanly” issues such as health and beauty ... Employment in
manufacturing had risen to an all-time peak of 39% of the workforce in 1951, and it remained at a
high level throughout the decade. Facing chronic labour shortages, employers began to adapt
working conditions to attract women with childcare responsibilities back to work. Unions
responded by mounting recruiting campaigns targeting women, and creating new internal
institutions to ensure women’s voices could be heard and reflected in union policy. Whilst these
efforts did not succeed in increasing female membership, the historically high level of 25%
organisation reached in 1945 was maintained ... By 1960 the female membership was
approaching 2 million. (TUC website)
(#4657122)
Print Inquire
