Shaping Union and Gender Identities: A Case Study of Women-Only Trade Union Courses

In the context of efforts to revitalize unions and the acknowledged need to widen participation within trade unions, this paper argues that women-only trade union education acts as a vehicle for increasing women's participation and for improving their experiences of unions. Drawing on a qualitative research study of women-only courses in two large male-dominated British trade unions, the findings indicate that such courses provide the conditions for women to question, reinforce or transform their social identities and thereby can lead to greater union identification and participation. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd/London School of Economics 2004.