NUJ gets more women on the executive without reserved seats
In 2011 the TUC audit reported that the NUJ had decided not to introduce reserved seats for women on its National Executive Committee. Following that decision, there was a campaign to improve female representation in other ways.
A motion was passed at its delegate conference that said everyone in every branch needed to take responsibility for gender balance and this included nominations for NEC seats and other councils. Some branches went further and formally adopted gender balanced nominations into their standing orders. As a result of these activities, more women’s names have appeared on voting papers and, as the union’s equality officer says, “although some of them didn’t get through at the first go, many did – which showed that women could get elected once their name was put before the wider electorate”. Twelve of the 41 NEC seats are now occupied by women compared to just three out of 41 in 2011–12.
The NUJ also reports that its policy of reserved seats for BME and disabled members on the NEC has had comparatively little impact on improving representation. Nevertheless, the union feels it has had a ‘status’ effect in that it has demonstrated that the union takes these issues seriously.
Case study from Equality Audit 2014: Improving representation and participation in trade unions.
Stay Updated
Want to hear about our latest news and blogs?
Sign up now to get it straight to your inbox