WOMEN'S WORK ---- Women are 51% of the population but 70% of the poor
and 83% of single parents, doing 66% of the work; producing 50% of thefood but earn just 11% of the pay and own only 1% of the land... In case
you wondered why we still need feminism. ---- Facebook meme - so I
can't vouch for accuracy, But it makes the point. ---- The Patriarchy is
alive and well ---- The 2024 median pay gap between men and women still
runs at 13.1% - 87pence for every pound.(TUC figures on UnionLearn
website). Work available to women is still largely low paid and lower
graded whether because of their need for part-time work or specific
hours to fit in with childcare and domestic duties, or because 'women's
work' has always been undervalued, or because women are not often
encouraged to train to do 'non-traditional' jobs. Whilst there have been
enormous improvements in Health and Safety at work since the HSAW Act
in1974, there are still great inequalities in the treatment of hazards.
We know a great deal about the lifting of materials in the construction
industry - but far less about lifting in the care industry. Safe levels
of toxicity and tolerance of chemicals and hazardous substances are
calculated according to the physical attributes of 'Reference Man' -
caucasian men aged twenty-five to thirty who weigh 70kg. Women have very
different physical attributes and tolerances which are not taken into
account, and have largely not been properly researched (size, weight,
fatty tissue, bone size and density, hormones etc).
It is not long since our TV screens were full of harrowing scenes of
nurses, care-workers, domestics suffering from exhaustion, stress and
illness; with inadequate and ill-fitting PPE, during the Covid pandemic
- our method of solidarity to stand in the street and clap! How quickly
their commitment and courage has been forgotten.
Join the Union
As the women's movement grew in the '70s, so women began to make more
demands on the unions that they had joined to defend their rights and
conditions at work. It was commonplace that men in more supervisory
roles would represent women workers (e.g. cleaners and caretakers in
schools) and women stewards and branch officials were few and far
between in many workplaces. At my first national NUPE conference in 1976
I was one of only two women who spoke - this in a union with 75% women
membership. NUPE had reserved women's seats on regional and national
executive bodies, but otherwise not much organisation devoted to the
bulk of the membership and it was easy to shout down the few lone voices
of women. There were many disputes during the 70s and early 80s among
women workers. My experience was in the public sector, where I was a
local government manual worker. As we got to know each other, we began
to demand women's committees, so that we could discuss and formulate our
own demands. These we won and then began to campaign and make demands
around so-called 'women's issues': Low pay, insecure contracts, women's
health, childcare and creches for meetings, women's educational
sessions, sexual harassment, violence against women, menstruation and
menopause, and so on. Most importantly, we established that women could
and should be represented by other women who would understand the issues
and be able to properly put forward the case. At that time there were
also many hospital occupations, where local women sat in the buildings
and supported the health workers. Women were bridging the gap between
community and workplace by supporting other struggles - housing, nursery
provision and organising coaches to support Greenham Common women,
miners' strike and other disputes.
Where now?
Although attitudes have changed enormously and most unions now do
encourage women's self-organisation, there is still plenty of misogyny
about and the struggle for women's autonomy is still live. The sectors
where women work are still often the lowest paid with the worst
conditions also where many migrant and immigrant women work. Cuts and
on-going privatisation in the National Health Service and in the care
and education sectors continue to affect women heavily. The racism and
sexism that drive women into insecure and poorly paid work continue
without too much challenge. Non-hierarchical unions such as UVW (United
Voices of the World) and IWW (Industrial Workers of the World) provide
opportunities for the least organised workers to come together and
fight. Unite Community, UNISON and GMB, with self-organised groups,
along with some other unions can be a platform for women to get
together, formulate demands and organise. The greatest successes will be
where women find common ground across community and workplace to
organise and build solidarity.
https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/jackdaw23c.pdf
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