From anger to action: Reimagining trade union power through gender justice

Making gender justice policy central to union transformation

Gender justice means tackling patriarchy and structural power imbalances! The first two sessions of our "Building Gender Just Trade Unions"-discussions series tackled the strategic importance of gender justice in trade unions head on. Marcela Arellano Villa, president of the Trade Union Confederation CEOSL Ecuador, emphasized: “Power disputes always have a class and gender perspective.” Understanding power struggles from an intersectional approach is important to recognize entrenched hierarchies – from shop floor to the bargaining table – and to realize how inequalities are reproduced.

Gender justice is not an add-on, as many people tend to believe. It must be embedded into everything, from governance to organizing. “Gender justice is only possible if we build unstoppable power with women workers,” said Kate Lappin, regional secretary for Asia and the Pacific with Public Services International, the global union federation of workers in public services.

Speakers and participants stressed the need for policies that embed gender justice within union structures. Leisl Orr, a researcher at the National Labour and Economic Development Institute of South Africa, highlighted: “Gender policies are about the mission, vision and the expectations members have in their union. They make gender visible.” Unions need formal policies that create spaces for women and marginalized groups to strategize, lead, and institutionalize gender justice in constitutions and bargaining agendas.

Tamara Garcia of FUECYS, the Uruguayan Federation of Commerce and Service Employees, fully agreed. She pointed out that even when women have formal rights on paper, that isn’t enough. “We have rights, but not enough representation,” she said. “We need training program for women workers—to generate power and to learn how to do things inside our organizations.” Spaces such as mentoring programmes are valuable and have proven to be effective in bringing women into leadership positions and broaden the agenda of unions.

From values to power: Leading with gender justice

Internalizing gender-just values strengthen union power. It builds solidarity around key demands like fair pay scales, lifecycle-responsive policies, zero tolerance for harassment etc. Consequently, it positions trade unions as agents of transformative change in the world of work.

But transformation requires power shifting and value-driven leadership. “Gender-just policies will realize their full implementation only when we have leadership that internalizes the values of gender justice,” added Lieketseng Leteka from the Independent Democratic Union of Lesotho. “Effective implementation of gender justice requires shifting power structures,” Lubna Naqvi, from the International Federation of Journalists Pakistan, added during the closing of the first session.

Tackling internal barriers

Clearly, there is work to do inside the labour movement. Speakers acknowledged the persistent barriers of macho culture, traditional political structures and gender gaps in leadership and education. Boitumelo Tsotetsi of BWI (Building and Wood Workers’ International) South Africa challenged the culture within unions themselves: “We can stop macho culture in our unions. Calling out micro-aggressions and establishing sexual harassment policies can change behaviour so that we all feel safe and respected.”