The purpose of this course is to examine theoretical propositions and relevant empirical data concerning the gender of trade unions. Both Canadian and international data will be considered. The major topics will include:
1) Theoretical considerations of the dual nature of trade unions. Are unions agents of stabilization or change? We will focus on variations in feminism, patriarchy, democracy, and bureaucracy in the social organization and policies of unions. Linkages among major concepts will be illustrated by computerized interactive multimedia techniques.
2) Gender differences in trade union membership. Data from Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the United States and Canada will be presented and discussed in the form of tables and 2- and 3-dimensional charts presented on the computer.
3)Barriers to union participation and ways of overcoming them The main areas considered will be: domestic structures and ideologies; male union attitudes to women's participation in the labour market and unions; structures of the economy and labour markets; employer policies, especially opposition to union certification and attempts to undermine collective bargaining; and, state legislation. An interactive multimedia display showing the linkages among the barriers will be used as a basis of discussion.
4) The 'special' structures in which women have organized in the context of trade unions. Three such special structures -- ladies' auxiliaries, wives' committees, and women's caucuses and committees internal to unions -- will be discussed. Illustrative material will be drawn from the film, 'Wives Tale', on the organization of a wives committee in Sudbury in the context of the strike by the United Steelworkers of America (USWA) against the International Nickel Company (INCO).
5) Gender differences in access to trade union leadership including policies and structures of affirmative action. Computerized presentations of charts and tables will form the basis of discussion.
6) Gender differences among union leaders in domestic activity, including child care. Tables and charts in a multimedia format are based on the Scandinavian countries, Germany, Australia, the United States, and Canada.
7) The transition from sexism to feminism among trade unions. A multimedia presentation, combining voice, music, charts, pictures, and animation, will be made on the history of sexism in the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union.
8) Case studies of the difficulties in the organization of women in the service sector, with particular emphasis on the T.Eaton Company and American and Canadian banks. Case material will be drawn from two videos, 'No Small Change' (Eaton's) and 'The Willmar Eight' (banks).
This course outline is meant to serve only as a general guide to the structure of the course, its requirements, and the weekly schedule of lectures and readings. Adjustments will be made depending upon the needs and requirements of the course, the changing context of its development, and the needs of the students enrolled in the course. I will run the course by teaching from Guelph and McMaster on alternate weeks (see schedule).
The course is premised on the philosophy that collaboration among students and instructors is an effective learning tactic, and that computer-mediated communications increases the range of such collaboration. Hopefully this course will be a unique learning experience. Students will have a chance to develop their skills in using the hi-tech equipment in our classrooms, and in communication via e-mail, through the course newsgroup, and via LearnLink. In the course of such communications, students can learn from one another (as well as from the instructor and the course material). For this reason, most of the requirements for this course are organized on a group basis (1-3, 6 under Requirements). Groups of 3-4 students will be formed to write and post the mini-essays, and to do the in-class oral presentations.
There are six ways to communicate with other students or with the instructor in this course:
A UseNet newsgroup on the Internet has been set up for this course. You can access it by clicking the coloured text in the title above. Please note that this will be used only as a backup communication device in this course. The reason for this is that McMaster students from the computer labs do not have access to it until 3 p.m. on Mondays to Fridays. Therefore, posting messages on LearnLink will be the first option. If , for whatever reason, you have difficulty posting your work on LearnLink, you may post it on the UseNet course newsgroup. If a group cannot find a message or document it is looking for on LearnLink, you may wish to check the UseNet course newsgroup in case another group has posted it there.
Compared to the undergraduate students in the course, graduate students will be expected to demonstrate a greater understanding of the empirical and theoretical issues in the readings and essays. For this reason, grad students will form a separate group for several of the requirements of this course.
Note: An individual's group marks will be weighted by the average or consensual assessment of that person's contribution by the group members. Weighting categories to be used are: far below average, below average, average, above average, far above average. This takes into account the fact that, in some groups, some individuals may contribute far above average, or far below average. This system balances group and individual work, and ensures a measure of equity and fairness.
The written work above will be graded on
All work posted or handed in past due deadlines will be deducted 1% per day off the weighted grade for the particular requirement. In the case of requirement 1 and 2, they will be added to the mark of the group that had to wait for the posting of the late material.
The staff in the Department of Sociology at McMaster University DO NOT DATE STAMP ASSIGNMENTS.
No exam or test can be given the last week prior to the formal examination period. In the fall: Thursday, November 28 - Thursday, December 5.
Students are expected to read and be prepared to discuss the articles and books in the course outline assigned from week to week. Throughout the course outline there are hot pointers to my notes on many of the readings. These can be saved to your hard or floppy disk, and printed. Many of these notes can be downloaded from LearnLink as wordperfect 6.1 files.
The following book has been ordered through the Guelph and McMaster bookstores:
Julie White, Sisters and Solidarity: Women and Unions in Canada. Toronto: Thompson Educational Publishing, 1993. {Note: This is the main text. My notes for the entire book are available in six wordperfect files on LearnLink, and in this web site in a more interactive form. }
Most of the readings have been placed on reserve in the Libraries at the University of Guelph and McMaster University.
There will be considerable reliance on audio-visual materials in the weekly classes. These will take the form of videos in three of the weeks
and computer-generated text and graphics in several other weeks. They are not available in the hard-copy readings.
Both McMaster University and the University of Guelph have policies on academic ethics. For McMaster, "Please refer to the STATEMENT ON ACADEMIC ETHICS and the SENATE RESOLUTIONS ON ACADEMIC DISHONESTY as found in the SENATE POLICY STATEMENTS distributed at registration and available in the Senate Office".