Trade unions across Europe are becoming increasingly female

Across Europe, unions are becoming increasingly female, according to a major survey carried out by the Labour Research Department for the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).


The ETUC Annual Gender Equality Survey 2019, the 12th in the series, analysed data from 41 national union confederations in 26 European countries. (Unlike in the UK, many countries have more than one union centre.) It found that, on average, women account for 45.1% of union members, a figure only slightly below the 47.1% figure for the proportion of women employees across Europe. In the UK, the TUC’s female membership, at 51.9%, is substantially above the confederations’ average.


Looking just at the 18 confederations who have responded to each of the ETUC 12 annual surveys since 2008, there has been what the report calls “a gradual but fairly steady growth” in the proportion of women in membership. They accounted for 44.9% of the total membership of the 18 in 2008, and the figure was 48.9% by 2019.


However, the report also found that there is a way to go before this feminisation of union membership is reflected in the leadership of union confederations. While women account for 45.1% of union members, they make up only 37.1% of people in the leadership teams, 35.0% of the members of top decision-making bodies between congresses and just 25.6% of key leaders.

https://www.etuc.org/sites/default/files/circular/file/2019-05/ETUC_Annual_Equality_Survey%202019_FINAL_EN.pdf