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Last updated: June 4, 2009

Special report on women's union leadership:

How can we close the Gender Gap?

Taken from an article in the WorkingUSA Journal

Michelle Kaminski

"There is a saying in the labor movement: The leadership should look like the membership." That’s how Michelle Kaminiski and Elaine Yakura begin their article, "Women's Union Leadership: Closing The Gender Gap."

Now that 44% of union members are women, the old myths about how it’s hard to organize women are dead. These days it’s also not unusual to also see women and people of color in union leadership positions – but if you start counting, chances are you won’t find 44% women.

While it’s hard to know how many women hold local union offices, they point out that in the leadership councils of the two main labor federations, 20% were women in 2007. One-third of the top officers of the AFL-CIO were also female and the chair of Change to Win is a woman, Anna Burger.

Women moving up in many unions

It takes a long time to work your way up union ranks, so it’s a hopeful sign that women are a little better represented at the top of some unions within those feds -- in 2000, 38 percent of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees' (AFSCME) top leaders were women.

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"It’s bigger than just our yard, even bigger than our whole company. You get a sense that we’re changing the whole industry — if not the whole world.”

– Gloria Beasley, a First Student bus driver and new Teamster

"While the metaphor of the glass ceiling has been quite popular in describing the predicament of women in leadership, . . .the glass ceiling metaphor suggests there is only a single barrier for women. Once this barrier is broken, the implication is the advancement of women leaders is unimpeded. Since this is seldom the case, [researchers] Eagly and Carli find it more appropriate to use the image of the labyrinth or maze, with winding paths, dead ends, and unexpected obstacles.”

–Kaminski and Yakura
Women's Union Leadership: Closing The Gender Gap

"While nearly two out of three men surveyed in 1992 felt that 'women's concerns are accurately represented by male union leaders,' barely one out of four women agreed.

–Kaminski and Yakura
Women's Union Leadership: Closing The Gender Gap

"You will never find an employer with a union in place without a reasonfor the union being there. It's that simple. If workers have a desire to unionize, there is a reason for it. And that's why I stand with Diane."

–Janice Wing,
Niagara Falls City Councilor