ETUC 8 th of March Survey From membership to leadership… where do we stand? Cinzia Sechi 11 March 2010, Luxembourg

2 Political background ETUC political commitments towards a more balanced representation of women in decision making positions –Equality Plans (1999, 2003) –Mid term Review (2005) –Charter on Gender Mainstreaming (2007) –Framework of Actions on Gender Equality (2005)

3 Charter on Gender Mainstreaming Annual monitoring of ETUC members’ gender disaggregated data (membership and decision-making positions) Every year one specific focus  2008: Pay gap  2009: Work-life balance/childcare facilities  2010: Women in trade unions’ leadership and collective bargaining Same methodology ETUC 8 th of March Survey

4 Replies from 55 national confederations (out of 82) from 30 EU countries –3 PERC members (out of 20) –4 EIF (out of 12) Number of contributions increased since national confederations did not take part in this year’s survey 20 have never replied since this exercise started 2010 ETUC 8 th of March Survey Results / Replies

5 How many women in trade unions? 2010 ETUC 8th of March Survey Results / Membership

6 National confederations that replied represent million members, of which million are (44%) 2 Nordic unions recorded the highest rate of female members ( UNIO-Norway 75,4 % and STTK-Finland 70% ) 2 Turkish unions the lowest rate ( HAK-IS 10%, TURK-IS 11% ) 8 confederations reported more female than male members ( EAKL-Estonia, LBAS, LDF, LPSK/LTUC Lithuania, YS- Norway, TCO-Sweden, UNIO-Norway, STTK-Finland ) 20 national confederations have a gender balanced membership (comprising between 45% and 51%) 2010 ETUC 8 th of March Survey Results / Membership

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8 Trade Unions with … Presidents: 4 (out of 42) –UATUC-Croatia, LO, SACO - Sweden, FNV-Netherland Vice Presidents: 24 (out of 71) –13 unions position held jointly with men Secretary General: 8 (out of 39) –ABVV/FGTB-Belgium, LPSK/LTUC and LDF - Lithuania, LO and UNIO Norway, AKAVA and STTK-Finland, TCO-Sweden Deputy Secretary General: 7 (out of 22) –ICTU-Ireland, CGIL-Italy, LCGB-Luxembourg UGT-Portugal held with a male colleague –ELA-Spain, TCO-Sweden and TUC-UK: only a woman 2010 ETUC 8 th of March Survey Results / Leadership

9 TU policy departments usually held by –International/European, Equality/Women, Training/Education TU policy departments usually held by –Economics, Trade union action (i.e. organising and recruitment), Legal affairs Balanced representation –H&S, Collective bargaining/Social dialogue Environment/Sustainable development, Social policy, Employment, Press & Communication, Finance & Administration, International/European, Training/Education 2010 ETUC 8 th of March Survey Results / Leadership

10 71% of confederations have a specific policy designed to increase the presence of women in their decision-making bodies –For 1/3 of respondents: not a relevant issue Unions that deem having such a policy important : –Why (social democracy, women’s issues are promoted in TU agenda…) –How (trainings, research and surveys, action plans, positive actions, quota…) –Arguments used against (stereotypes, not a priority, financial shortages…) Most perceived barriers to women in TU leadership positions 1.Lack of time due to the unequal sharing of family responsibilities 2.Preconceived, stereotyped ideas concerning the role of women leading to attempts to dissuade them 3.Lack of a specific policy within the trade union organisation! 2010 ETUC 8 th of March Survey Results / Leadership

ETUC 8 th of March Survey Results / TU as employers 34 national confederations took concrete measures in order to facilitate female employees in their activities –Everyone can speak at meetings (64%); –Flexible working hours schemes for their employees (60%) –Recruitment of women for areas where they are under-represented (51%) –Regulating the timing of meetings (i.e. avoiding meetings at times that cause problems for people with family responsibilities) (50%) –Code for the protection of dignity at work and the elimination of sexual harassment in the workplace (49%) –Gender disaggregated data of the situation of their employees with regard to employment, recruitment, promotion and wage (44%) –Regulating the frequency of meetings (41%) –Gender pay gap schemes (37%) –Limited working time (33%)

ETUC 8 th of March Survey Results / Collective bargaining Instruments developed by trade unions to incorporate gender mainstreaming in collective bargaining –Guidelines (60%) –Trainings trade union representatives to negotiate with a gender perspective (54%); female negotiators (48%) on gender issues; male negotiators (40%) on gender issues ; –Ensure that women are present in negotiating teams (46%)

ETUC 8 th of March Survey Results / Collective bargaining How the content of negotiations is usually affected by gender mainstreaming –discussing the gender dimension of general issues in collective bargaining (77%) –Finding out legislative instruments that deal with equality and that can be used during negotiations (71%) –Adding issues to the collective bargaining agenda that are traditionally seen as women’s issues (71%) –Collecting gender disaggregated facts and figures to be used during negotiation (50%) –Finding out the opinions of female workers on the topics to be negotiated (36%).

ETUC 8 th of March Survey Results / Collective bargaining Main factors that limit the presence of women in collective bargaining units –Lack of time of female trade unionists (60%) –Lack of a specific policy within the unions addressing the issue of women in bargaining units (54%) –Discouragement or hostile reactions from male colleagues (40% ) –Lack of specific knowledge of women in bargaining methods (23%) Arguments to ensure/improve women's’ presence in collective bargaining units –Different experiences/point of view, social democracy, raise gender issues in CB agenda… –For half of respondents: not relevant

15 Women still under represented in national confederations’ TU leadership positions –What next for ETUC? New policy instruments/measures? –Berlin workshop (29 September 2010) –Towards the Congress (Athens, May 2011)… and afterwards Collective bargaining: a mixed picture, but more can be done –ETUC Guidelines on mainstreaming gender equality in collective agreements? –Gender Mainstreaming within ETUC working methods Brochure / Publications /Awareness raising Results of th of March Survey soon available on ETUC website: Conclusions & next steps

16 THANK YOU!