North West Regional Women’s Officer Calls Out Sexism At Work

Relating her own expereinces as working in a male dominated environment, our Regional Women’s Officer, Karen Bosson moved motion 46 this morning (24th April) at the Union’s annual conference being helds in Bounemouth.

The motion which came from the NW Regional Women’s Committee, was seconded by a delegate from Greater Manchester Amal Branch, Clare Drummond, who is also the chairperson of the Region’s Women’s Committee.

Clare added her expereince to that of Karen, making it clear that sexism is still alive and well in the workplaces of our Union members. She also poitned out that not all victims of sexual harrasment at work actually report it to their Branch Officers.

The terms of the motion were:

46 The Northwest Regional Women’s Committee
(NWRWC) welcomes the publication of the TUC/Everyday Sexism Project
report “Still just a bit of banter?” which highlights the extent and nature of
sexual harassment in modern workplaces.

The research highlights:-
– More than half of all women polled have experienced some form of sexual
harassment
– 32% have been subject to unwelcome jokes of a sexual nature
– A quarter have experienced unwanted touching
– Four out of five women did not report the sexual harassment to their
employer.

The NWRWC feel that this is an issue that the CWU should do further research
on within our own workplaces. We therefore instruct the NEC in conjunction
with the Equality Department to create a suitable questionnaire that can be
sent out via the Regional Women’s Committee’s to Women’s Officers, Equality
Officers and lay members to feedback their experiences. This information to
then be collated and reported back to the NEC and Women’s Advisory
Committee by January 2018.

Proposer: North West Regional Committee

The motion was carried without any opposition and supported by the Union’s Equlity Officer Linda Roy.

You can watch the video of the debate below: