Women in the CWU
The CWU has several initiatives to support its women members and to encourage them to participate in the union. Around 20% of the Union's membership is female, and, although we are still encouraging greater representation at all levels in the Union, CWU women do still make their voices heard!
There is a national committee - The Women's Advisory Committee (WAC), which is elected by Branches at Conference. The WAC deals with a variety of issues including: Domestic Violence, Abortion, Women's Health, and Childcare. The Committee also organises the CWU Women's Conferences (next one - 20th January in Bristol). The theme for the 2007 Conference is Women in Public Life (WiPL). To download an informative FAQ on WiPL, please click here.
At local level, each region has a Women's Committee, and Branches are allowed to send delegates who debate and discuss issues affecting them locally as well as nationally. You can get information from your Regional Secretary about the next meeting. Regional Secretaries information is found under the Regions section of the CWU "Branches" part of the CWU web page.
All Branches are now required to have a Women's Officer - does yours? If they have, make sure you hook up with her and see what's going on. If they haven't, stand for the position yourself at the AGM - most of them will be taking place early next year.
The CWU has adopted the "Women's Charter" which is a manifesto for women at work, in society and in the Labour movement. It seeks to deal with these three areas in order to improve women's rights and representation.
The CWU takes an active part in the Women's Trades Union Congress (WTUC), and sends delegates each year to its Conference. This year, the CWU successfully moved a proposition calling for the TUC General Council to allow direct representation from the Equality Structures and for the Equality Conferences to be able to submit proposition to the main TUC.
The highly regarded CWU Training and Education department runs Women's schools at its centres in Oxford and Bournemouth. Local courses are also run via the Regional structures.
So, as you can see, the CWU offers a lot to its female members, and their involvement is always appreciated.
