University of Massachusetts Amherst From the SelectedWorks of Dan Clawson January, 1992 Women's Participation in Local Union Leadership: The asM sachusetts Experience Dale Melcher Jennifer L. Eichstedt Shelley Eriksen Dan Clawson, University of Massachusetts - Amherst Available at: https://works.bepress.com/dan_clawson/19/ Women's Participation in Local Union Leadership: The Massachusetts Experience Author(s): Dale Melcher, Jennifer L. Eichstedt, Shelley Eriksen and Dan Clawson Source: Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 45, No. 2 (Jan., 1992), pp. 267-280 Published by: Cornell University, School of Industrial & Labor Relations Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2524834 . Accessed: 31/07/2013 11:50 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp . JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Cornell University, School of Industrial & Labor Relations is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Industrial and Labor Relations Review. http://www.jstor.org This content downloaded from 128.119.169.202 on Wed, 31 Jul 2013 11:50:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WOMEN'S PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL UNION LEADERSHIP: THE MASSACHUSETTS EXPERIENCE DALE MELCHER, JENNIFER L. EICHSTEDT, SHELLEY ERIKSEN, and DAN CLAWSON* A 1989 survey of leaders of a sample of Massachusetts AFL- CIO-affiliated union locals indicates that although women are repre- sented in these union locals' leadershipin numbersnearly proportional to the femalepercentage of membership,they are under-representedin the mostinfluential positions. Women are over-representedas secretariesand seriouslyunder-represented as presidents;they chair many committees, but rarelythe keygrievance or negotiationscommittees. Minority women appear to be even more under-representedin leadership positionsthan are whitewomen. Both male and female union leaders said theywould like to see more women in leadership,but mostof the men did not seem to view the need for more female leaders as urgent,since theyindicated thatwomen's issues were adequately representedby male leaders. W OMEN continueto be seriouslyun- the female proportionof unionized work- AV Tder-representedat the top levels of ers. Only three of the 35 members of the union leadership, despite an increase in AFL-CIO Executive Council are women, and only three AFL-CIO international " Dale Melcher is Visiting Lecturer, Labor Rela- unions have a female president(the Retail, tions and Research Center, Universityof Massachu- Wholesale, and Department Store Union, setts-Amherst;Jennifer L. Eichstedt is a doctoral the Association of Flight Attendants,and candidate in the Departmentof Sociology,University Actors Equity). Despite growingawareness of California-Santa Cruz; Shelley Eriksen is a of the need for more women in leadership doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology, University of Massachusetts-Amherst; and Dan positions, the increase over the past Clawson is Professor of Sociology, Universityof decade in the number of women who hold Massachusetts-Amherst. national union officeis far fromdramatic. Funding for this project was obtained through a Some evidence suggests,however, that the Faculty Research Grant from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Many people helped increase in the representationof female make the survey and article possible. The authors officersat the regional or local level has thank Harvey Friedman, Arthur Osborn, Gary outpaced that at the national level, hold- Chaison, Sandra Morgen, Naomi Gerstel,Alice Rossi, ing hope for future increase at the Ann Whitehead, and the Women's Institute for national leadership level. Leadership Development steering committee.They particularlythank Robert Haynes, Secretary-Trea- Although there have been a number of surer of the MassachusettsAFL-CIO, withoutwhose case studies of women in local unions, our support and expertise this survey would not have understandingof the nature and scope of been possible,and M. G. Wheatley,who made major women's participationat the local level is contributionsin all phases of the survey. Copies of the questionnaireand data are available still far from complete, and the subject from Dan Clawson, Department of Sociology, Uni- merits further investigation for several versityof Massachusetts,Amherst, MA 01003. reasons. First, the presence of female Iindustrialanid Labor Relatoions Review, Vol. 45, No. 2 (January 1992). ? by Cornell University. 0019-7939/92/4502$01.00 267 This content downloaded from 128.119.169.202 on Wed, 31 Jul 2013 11:50:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions 268 INDUSTRIAL AND LABOR RELATIONS REVIEW officersquite likelybenefits female union past decade. Berquist (1974) analyzed BLS members. The contract is often negoti- data for the years 1952-72 and concluded ated, and usually administered and en- that although women had significantly forced,at the local level. Women's partici- increased their membership in unions, pation in these activities affects policies there had been little corresponding in- concerning such issues as sexual harass- crease in their representation in higher ment, child care, and pay equity,and the elected or appointed positions. Baden presence of women in leadership stimu- (1986), in a study of 15 national unions lates greater union involvementby rank- and 2 national associations, found little and-file women (Heery and Kelly 1988). significantchange in female representa- Additionally,as Needleman (1988) argues, tion on these national governing boards women's participationat all levels of union between 1979 and 1985. Furthermore,of activityand decision-makinghas the po- the 15 national unions, she found that tential to strengthen the movement to- only 5 were significantlycommitted to ward more internal union democracy, allocating the union's time and financial more rank-and-fileinvolvement, and so- resources to women's issues. cial activismwithin unions. Second, local Previous research has developed much leadership positions are a common route more complete informationon women's to national office. Women's rise to key participationat the national level than at local union offices,and acquisition of the the local level, although fragmentarydata needed skills and contactsin the process, indicate that women's participation is shape future avenues to national leader- greater at the local level (Baden 1986; ship positions (Gray 1989; Koziara, Brad- Berquist 1974; LeGrande 1978; Glassberg, ley, and Pierson 1982; Nelson 1989; Baden, and Gerstel 1980). Baden (1986) Wertheimerand Nelson 1975). focused primarily on the situation of The data employed in this study, de- women in national leadership, but she rived from a survey of leaders of AFL- found scatteredevidence to suggest wom- CIO-affiliated union locals, provide the en's greater participationat the local level, most complete and currentpicture to date particularlyin public sector unions and in of the participation of women in local associations that have female majorities union leadership. Massachusettsis a good and engage in collectivebargaining, such site for such a survey because it has a as the American Nurses Association and broad range of union settings, ranging the National Education Association.Given from occupations with a long historyof the limited and provisional nature of unionization to a large number of more Baden's data on locals, we are stillleft with recently unionized jobs in education, no clear picture of what positions women health care, and governmentservice. We hold at the local level, in what numbers, investigatenot only the relativenumber of and under what conditions. women in leadership positions, but the Chaison and Andiappan's (1982, 1983, nature of those positions as well. We also 1987, 1989) research on Canadian na- report local union leaders' perceptions of tional and local unions represents the specificbarriers to women's participation most systematicwork available on women in local leadership. in union leadership. Their initialresearch agenda was twofold: to determine the characteristicsof female leaders and their Previous Research unions, and to explore the explanations The Bureau of Labor Statisticsceased offered by officers for the low level of collecting official statistics on women's women's involvementin national unions. participationin unions in the early 1980s, In their sample of female national offic- makingit difficultto accuratelygauge the ers, women were more likely to be number of women who hold national and presidents (26.3%), vice-presidents local leadership officesor the rate at which (28.8%), or "others" (a category that that number has been changing over the included positions such as director, re- This content downloaded from 128.119.169.202 on Wed, 31 Jul 2013 11:50:59 AM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions WOMEN IN LOCAL UNION LEADERSHIP 269 gional coordinator,and general chairper- programs, on the grounds that training son) than secretaries,treasurers, or secre- would impart the skills and confidence tary-treasurers (18.8%) (Chaison and necessary for higher office (Wertheimer Andiappan 1982:768). In their follow-up and