Vive la différence? Women and trade unions in Britain

In all respects, and especially in the field being discussed in this issue on British trade unions, women are both similar to, and different from men. In a class analysis working women and men are each oppressed by capital in its various forms, with the expectation that they will both collectivise against this oppression. However in a patriarchal analysis women are oppressed by men wherever they sit in the class structure. This fundamental difference leads in interesting directions, and informs the discussion in this article about women and gender politics in British trade unions. This article aims to explore the tensions and paradoxes about the role of women in trade unions, discuss how exclusionary practices against women in the workplace and in trade unions have shaped their trade unionism over the 200 years since industrialisation in Britain