Radio feature on women in trade unions in Africa

A poster recognising women's role in the struggle. Pic from www.saha.org.za

A radio feature on women’s participation and influence in trade unions on the continent. Produced by WWMP in 2014.

Throughout history women have played a significant role in changing societies. Black working class women were at the forefront of struggles against colonisation in Africa that were led by liberation movements and the trade unions. A study conducted in 8 African countries by the African Labour Research Network revealed that there are few women in positions of influence or power in trade unions, even where they constitute the majority of members. The radio feature that follows was produced in 2014 and it explores the causes of women’s poor participation and lack of leadership in trade unions.

Trade unions are well positioned to fight women’s oppression and the fight should not take place on paper through policy documents but in real actions that are taken from workplace level to the communities. Also trade unions have to pressurise those in power to address the socio-economic factors that keep women oppressed.

Also read:  For us, by us: Amsterdam’s life-saving transgender clinic

Copyright policy

Creative Commons LicenceThis work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Should you wish to republish this Elitsha article, please attribute the author and cite Elitsha as its source.

All of Elitsha's originally produced articles are licensed under a Creative Commons license. For more information about our Copyright Policy, please read this.

For regular and timely updates of new Elitsha articles, you can follow us on Twitter, @elitsha2014, and/or become a Elitsha fan on Facebook.