Gender Equality Measurement, Collective Agency, and Trade Unions: A Way Forward

Resource type
Authors/contributors
Title
Gender Equality Measurement, Collective Agency, and Trade Unions: A Way Forward
Abstract
This chapter provides an extensive but not exhaustive overview of gender equality indices. Two key concerns emerge: frst, the confation of measures of gender equality and assessments of women’s rights and status; and second, the focus on individual empowerment used in almost all international indices, the indicator for which is frequently political representation.The chapter proposes an alternative frame of collective agency as a measurable dimension that shifs attention from those institutions that reproduce gender inequality to those that promote gender equality. The second part of this chapter argues that trade unions are a key institutional vehicle for women’s collective agency and voice. Union membership increases women’s income and reduces the gender pay gap, a central dimension in all gender equality indices. It also improves the quality and conditions of working life. Union membership, then, helps progress women’s status, supports gender equality, and ofers a valuable measure of women’s collective agency. --Introduction
Book Title
Counting Matters: Policy, Practice and the Limits of Gender Equality Measurement in Canada
Place
Vancouver
Publisher
UBC Press
Date
2024
Pages
191-223
Language
English
ISBN
978-0-7748-7017-7
Citation
Briskin, L. (2024). Gender Equality Measurement, Collective Agency, and Trade Unions: A Way Forward. In C. Gabriel & P. Rankin (Eds.), Counting Matters: Policy, Practice and the Limits of Gender Equality Measurement in Canada (pp. 191–223). UBC Press. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_url?url=https://www.academia.edu/download/122600067/Chapter_9_unlocked_with_citation.pdf&hl=en&sa=X&d=10143387434659937920&ei=XxY8aMD0Dsy8ieoPz-jf4A8&scisig=AAZF9b_jwdLOxdZPAgNWTdqWnTCk&oi=scholaralrt&hist=8mwW-VMAAAAJ:2229494208792904835:AAZF9b_2eQ2gYhukFj4L5lD0WCVg&html=&pos=1&folt=kw