Collective Bargaining and Gender Equality, Paperback

Description

Women constitute the largest number of low-paid, part-time workers in precarious employment in both the developed and developing world. Historically, collective bargaining through unionization has been a major force in negotiating and delivering social justice, decent work, and fair wages in the workplace. However, the role of collective bargaining in achieving gender equality in the workplace is relatively underresearched. There are critical successes and notable challenges of collective bargaining for gender equality that deserve closer analysis, such as equal pay for work of equal value, work-life balance, maternity and parental leave rights, nondiscrimination in access to employment and the spillover of domestic violence into the workplace.

In this short, policy-oriented book, Jane Pillinger and Nora Wintour present data and evidence that demonstrates the complex and expanding areas of global action and policy making for women's rights. They explore how the feminization of unions in both developing and developed countries is changing their bargaining agenda; the recent policy developments in institutions such as the ILO, EU and UN; and potential solutions to tackle some of the challenges using case studies to propose a vision for the development of collective bargaining as a tool for equality in the workplace. About the Author

Jane Pillinger is senior research fellow in the Department of Social Policy and Criminology at the Open University. She is a former specialist advisor to the House of Commons Select Committee on Employment and regularly advises the International Labour Organization, European Commission, and the European Institute of Gender Equality, among others, on gender equality issues.

Nora Wintour is an independent researcher, writer, and policy advisor on child labor, women in the informal economy, workers' rights, and gender inequality. She has been a trade union education officer with the agricultural and building and wood workers Global Union Federations and served as Deputy General Secretary for Public Services International from 2006 to 2009.