Gewerkschaftliche Geschlechterpolitik

How are trade unions reacting to the persisting gender inequalities in the labour market in Germany and France? This study addresses this question using a historical comparison, a comparison of the organisations in question as well as a comparison of typical interpretation patterns of trade union gender politics. While gender relations in French trade unions turn out to be more egalitarian, positive discrimination of women is especially important in German trade unions. Historically, this can be explained by the development of different structures and the cultures of women’s employment and trade unions in both countries. However, gendered knowledge, which was reconstructed here from qualitative interviews with union secretaries, also shows cross-national similarities. Thus, the typology of interpretive patterns of union-based gender politics expresses parallel problems in the unequal division of labour between the sexes and the spread of precarious employment.