Today, the typical union member is female and professional. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 55 percent of trade unionists are women and 21 percent of all union members are professionals.
Teachers make up a significant proportion of the union movement (21 percent), and within the IEU, 76 percent of members are women. Belonging to a union gives women an opportunity to have a voice and promote their rights in work and in society at large.
Without union advocacy, women would not have achieved equal pay, paid maternity leave and other workplace rights and conditions. It is crucial that women maintain these hard-won gains, and improve their conditions going forward, by joining their union.
Only through the work of active women union members can we safeguard the future for young women entering the workforce.
