FEATUREWomen’s equality


BECAUSE CHA COMES FROM


A century on Unite is still ‘righting the wrongs’ in women’s equality


One hundred years ago was the beginning of equal rights for women in Britain. But the limited right to vote introduced


in 1918 was not gifted to women by parliament, it was achieved by the heroic


and courageous suffragettes, and those who fought with them, who forced the government to act.


Because change never comes from above. It has to be won by those who need and demand it.


Much media fanfare accompanied the celebrations of the anniversary of the Representation of the People Act. But as we also mark International Women’s Day, Unite equalities officer Siobhan Endean is clear that the fight for equality at work, in our wider society and internationally, goes well beyond women’s suffrage.


Which is why Unite’s purpose as a trade union, in standing up against injustice and inequality at work, is building women’s power in their workplaces, communities and in their union.


“Unite women have been standing for election to workplace rep and branch officer positions,” Siobhan said. “We can only achieve greater equality in our workplaces if our union is representative of the workforce.


“By building the biggest and most democratic structure of women we strengthen organisation and build Unite. Women’s voices are essential


workplaces and our society.” But one woman’s voice marking that suffrage milestone was striking for what it didn’t say.


When prime minister Theresa May made a speech in Manchester, the birthplace of the women’s suffrage movement, it was as if the political party she


24 uniteWORKS Spring 2018


leads had nothing to do with the economic policies that have hit women, ethnic minorities and families the hardest.


Diana Holland, Unite assistant general secretary for equalities, picks this up. “Women as workers and carers have faced an onslaught of government-led attacks on their rights, their finances and their security,” she said.


“We’ve had eight years of austerity, public sector cuts, job losses and the pay cap and some 86 per cent of the burden of that austerity has fallen on women, increasing women’s poverty. Where was the acknowledgement of this shameful, disproportionate impact on women’s lives?”


Theresa May also claimed the gender pay gap is at its smallest ever. The reality is it hasn’t really changed in 100 years. Women still earn on average 20 per cent less an hour than men and low pay is endemic in jobs done mainly by women, the kind of insecure jobs that dominate the so-called gig economy.


to changing our


“Too many women are stuck in temporary, zero-hour or other unstable work and missing out on basic rights at work including rest breaks, paid holidays, and the right not to be sexually harassed,” says Siobhan Endean.


When Britain’s second woman prime minister doesn’t speak for working women, there is an urgent need for more female MPs who do. Unite’s future candidates programme and the leadership training the union’s equalities committees provide are


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