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Women are leaving unions in droves: we need answers
From sexual harassment to the denial of flexible working patterns, women’s issues are sidelined and their voices silenced in our movement – and they are voting with their feet, writes HELEN O’CONNOR
NHS

STATISTICS published by the Department of Business and Trade reveal that trade union membership declined by 200,000 in 2022. Women employed in the private sector account for a staggering two-thirds of this decline (129,000).

Women employed by the private sector, likely to be in low-paid, part-time or precarious work, are those most in need of trade union protection — so why are so many leaving?

If the most oppressed half of the population are leaving trade unions surely this is a red flag that must be taken seriously by the entire labour and trade union movement?

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