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NUJ President attends ‘Women at Work’ event in Dublin


NUJ President Sian Jones told a Women at Work lunch organised by the Irish office of the NUJ that childcare was a barrier to women becoming more involved in the union. A mother of young children herself, Sian


admitted she would not be able to do her job without the necessary additional family support. Sian was the special guest at the lunch, held


at the Gresham Hotel as part of the union’s Strength in Numbers recruitment week programme. The guest speaker was Dr Laura Bambrick, Social Policy Officer with ICTU, whose opening presentation detailed the historic development of women in the workplace. Bernie Mullen, joint Cathaoirleach of the IEC who hosted the event with the NUJ President, welcomed the opportunity for women to get together to discuss how they can play a more active role based on their experiences. She said she hoped that the event would be the first of a series of such meetings aimed at helping to develop a union-wide strategy to recruit more women and encourage them to become more active at all levels of the NUJ. Addressing the need to recruit more women,


Sian said: “The number one reason they don’t join is because nobody has ever asked them.” She said she joined the NUJ during a “recruit a colleague” push while relatively new to her workplace. Urging women members to invite others to sign up, she said: “Do ask them to join, ask them to do something and give them support in terms of childcare,” pointing out that the NUJ will pay for childcare for those who want to attend a delegate meeting.


NUJ President Sian Jones pictured with some of the NUJ women who attended the ‘Women at Work’ event in Dublin during Recruitment Week.


“And if people say no, let’s find out the


reason behind that,” the union president added. She said the NUJ continued to be “a really


vibrant union” that can bring about positive change for its members not just in terms of the employment and legal protections on offer, but also for the professional networking, campaigns and policy work it actively leads.


The working lunch was attended by NUJ


women activists from the Irish Republic and Northern Ireland, drawing women from provincial and national print, broadcast, freelance, communication and PR sectors, as well as DIT staff and media students.


Participants also took part in a roundtable


discussion on ways to recruit more women to the NUJ and to encourage more participation by women at all levels of the union. The issue of the gender pay gap also came


up for discussion, as well as concerns over job security for women returning from maternity leave.


During the discussion, the role of Irish


women journalists was also recognised in terms of achieving social change.


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