Trade Unions: Political Advancement for Women

• The demand for female industrial labour during WW1 meant many women joined trade unions for the first time between 1914 and 1918, even if some unions denied them or accepted them on a temporary basis helped enable some political progress
• Margaret Bondfield who had already been a Suffrage and trade union activist before the war, served as part of the Wartime Central Committee for Women's Employment
• Margaret Bondfield was elected to the General Council of the TUC in November 1918 and the national profile paved the way for her to become a Labour MP in 1923
• However, most unions remained highly masculine environments until the 1980's, whilst several unions, such as UNISON, took deliberate steps to increase female representation at the highest decision-making levels
• Between 1970 and 1979, the number of female trade union members went from 2.6 Million to 3.8 Million (or 24% to 30% of total membership)
• It was not until the early 2000's that women began to lead trade unions (first female leader of the TUC was Frances O'Grady, appointed in 2012)