Class, Gender and Power

Abstract

Women in top posts in trade unions are contributing to the shift in the balance of power which I have identified in the workplaces I studied. Feminization and changes in the employment structure have increased women’s access to economic resources in relation to their menfolk and allowed at least a minority of women to achieve positional power. Processes of change have also undermined some of the traditional bases of men’s technical dominance, as new technologies replace old manual skills and a new stress is given to skills of ‘people-management’ and communication which are seen as ‘natural’ feminine attributes.