International Day of the Girl Child

Conference notes that in 2011, as the result of youth advocacy around the world, the United Nations declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl Child. Its mission is “to help galvanize worldwide enthusiasm for goals to better girls’ lives, providing an opportunity for them to show leadership and reach their full potential.” […]

Lack of Black women participation in UNISON

More than 70% of UNISON members are women and UNISON is committed to fair representation and proportionality (Rule D1.4). However, in the public sector where many of our members are Black women, we see very few Black women represented at branch, regional and national level; despite statistics telling us that Black people are amongst those […]

Equal pay and Black Women

Conference as we all know the pay gap between men and women is widening, but it will come as no surprise that the pay gap for Black women is even greater. 37.6% of Black workers are in occupations which are traditionally low paid and dominated by women – cleaning, care work and catering, compared to […]

Proportionality

UNISON was formed in 1993 and at that time, proportionality was a radical and hotly contested inclusion within the rule book. UNISON rules state: 2.12.2 “Proportionality” is the representation of women and men in fair proportion to the relevant number of female and male members comprising the electorate. UNISON women’s membership is currently at 77% […]

Sexual harassment is rife at work

According to figures published by the TUC, 52 per cent of all women and nearly two thirds of women between the ages of 18 and 24 have experienced sexual harassment at work. The study, “Still just a bit of banter?”, which was carried out in conjunction with the Everyday Sexism Project, also found that: • […]

Dress Code Inquiry

This conference is pleased to know that the House of Commons is holding an inquiry into high heels and workplace dress codes, following a petition asking for the law to be changed attracted almost 150,000 signatures. MPs on the Petitions and Women and Equalities Committees have already heard evidence from the person who started the […]

Young women must not suffer under Brexit

This Conference believes that the impact of Britain leaving the European Union has the potential to be extremely damaging for workers, and public service workers in particular. This conference also believes that young women will be amongst those hardest hit as the scramble to establish trade deals will not only see an attack on crucial […]

Abortion rights in Northern Ireland

This Conference notes that women in Northern Ireland live under some of the most restrictive abortion legislation in Europe. They are denied access to abortion information, advice, and services that are available to women in the rest of the UK. This Conference believes that these barriers to reproductive rights are a class issue and barriers […]